It’s that time of the year when every inch of the Internet is packed with end-of-the-year lists, from the usual “best and worst” to more eclectic assemblages of data. In this age of widespread broadband, one annual metric that’s always interesting to check is what the most pirated films of the year were. You might think the list is inevitably going to parallel the films with the highest profile or box office — after all, more interest and more word of mouth should theoretically make it more likely that a potential pirate would have a given film in his or her cross-hairs. But that’s not always the case, and this year’s list of most pirated films does contain several surprises…and a whole lot of science fiction.

We’ve got the full list of the top 20 most pirated films below. A huge surprise right out the gate? Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, one of the biggest success stories of the year, is nowhere on the list. So kudos to Marvel for making a blockbuster that even the pirates apparently want to pay for. Here’s the list, with the numbers listing millions of times they were downloaded:

Anytime the Academy Awards rolls around, there’s usually an outcry from fans that not enough genre films are recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Luckily, this year the movie that has the most nominations is Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity, but even if the Academy doesn’t give science fiction the respect it deserves, there are several long-standing and prestigious awards focused specifically on honoring genre material. Last night we posted the Nebula Award nominations, and now the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films has announced its nominees for the 40th annual Saturn Awards.

Unsurprisingly, Gravity is a front-runner for the Saturns as well, earning eight nominations including Best Science Fiction Film, Best Actress for Sandra Bullock, Best Supporting Actor for George Clooney, and Best Director for Alfonso Cuarón. Gravity is tied with The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug for the most nominations. Some of the other nominees for Best Science Fiction Film are Ender’s Game, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Pacific Rim, Riddick, and Star Trek Into Darkness.

Thor: The Dark World was one of the most profitable movies of 2013. The Marvel movie took in $638.4 million worldwide, with $204.6 million of that total coming from domestic box office. The second movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase Two was also a big crowd-pleaser and a great break from the fall’s Oscar-bait movies such as American Hustle, 12 Years a Slave, and The Wolf of Wall Street. The movie will be released on home video at the end of the month, so Marvel is slowly releasing the Blu-ray’s bonus features to get fans excited for the new release. And you know what that means: blooper reel! My favorite bits are when Thor’s red cape gets flung into Chris Hemsworth’s bearded face. It’s priceless!

More than most films in the Marvel cinematic universe, Thor straddles the line between science fiction and fantasy. With movies like Iron Man and Captain America, and characters like the Hulk, science has always kept the films tethered to the real world. Thor, and especially the latest installment, Thor: The Dark World, allows for a certain broadening of horizons, bringing in magic and mythology, while still keeping a distinct sci-fi edge.

This is a big part of what makes The Dark World a lot of fun, that relatively little of the action takes place on Earth. You start with an ancient battle between dudes with overly large beards and creepy blank faced Dark Elves, led by the nefarious Malekith (Doctor Who‘s Christopher Eccleston). He’s developed Aether, a weapon of mass destruction capable of destroying the entire universe, but only when all nine realms are lined up, which only happens every 5000 years. Odin’s father defeats the malicious, not-so-little elf, and buries the Aether where no one will ever find it. We all know how that goes in comic books. Malekith retreats to the deepest reaches of space to lick his wounds and bide his time, and eventually Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) accidentally discovers, and becomes infested by, the Aether, while investigating rifts in time and space.