The latest trailer for Ron Howard’s In the Heart of the Sea has arrived, promising an epic, harrowing showdown between Thor and Spider-Man and a great white sperm whale. Okay, it’s not actually the Marvel heroes, but Chris Hemsworth and Tom Holland do star in Howard’s upcoming film, which recounts the horrific true story of the Essex whaling ship and the crew’s encounter with a gigantic whale, which later inspired Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.

If you’re familiar with the story of the Essex, then you know what horrors lie ahead for the whalers on board — that giant sperm whale is only the beginning of the problems the men will face over the course of the movie. For those unfamiliar with the story, it might be best to avoid Wikipedia and go in to this one completely unaware.

Howard’s film features an excellent cast, including Hemsworth as Owen Chase, the Essex’s first mate, with Benjamin Walker as the captain, Cillian Murphy as second mate Matthew Joy, Tom Holland as newbie whaler Tom Nickerson, and Ben Whishaw as Herman Melville, the author who had the terrible tale of the Essex recounted to him by an older Nickerson, played by Brendan Gleeson.

In the Heart of the Sea is officially described as follows:

In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex was assaulted by something no one could believe: a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance. The real-life maritime disaster would inspire Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. But that told only half the story. “In the Heart of the Sea” reveals the encounter’s harrowing aftermath, as the ship’s surviving crew is pushed to their limits and forced to do the unthinkable to stay alive. Braving storms, starvation, panic and despair, the men will call into question their deepest beliefs, from the value of their lives to the morality of their trade, as their captain searches for direction on the open sea and his first mate still seeks to bring the great whale down.

In the Heart of the Sea hits theaters on December 11.

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