Though Phase One of Marvel Studios’ film slate came to an end just a few months ago with The Avengers, production on Phase Two is already well underway. The studio is currently in the midst of filming two upcoming sequels at the same time: Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World. The Iron Man production is winding down to a close ahead of that film’s May 2013 release date, but filming on Thor: The Dark World is still going strong in London and today the first official synopsis for the Asgardian pic has been revealed.

The logline essentially tells us what we already know: Thor (Chris Hemsworth) must fight against Maleketih (Christopher Eccleston) and his race of Dark Elves, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) is back, the fate of the universe is in the balance, etc. However, the synopsis does tease the film’s epic scope and the fact that Thor is forced to “sacrifice everything” in order to save us all (Thor dies?!). Hit the jump to check out the full synopsis, which includes the full cast list. Directed by Alan Taylor, Thor: The Dark World opens on November 8th, 2013.

Here’s the synopsis (via Stitch Kingdom):