Tom Hiddleston has been a major player in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) starring as the God of Mischief Loki. He was introduced in the first Thor film along with Chris Hemsworth. The MCU then was not as big and popular as it is now. With the success of the first Iron Man, there was a hope of building a larger interconnected universe as teased by Nick Fury at the end of the film. Aside from the comic book nerds, no one knew what Fury meant when he said, “I’m here to talk about the Avenger Initiative”. The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Thor were the next batch of releases that followed and people still weren’t sure where and what this franchise was building to.
This sentiment was echoed by the people involved in these films, including Hiddleston who was unaware of what his introduction in Thor would lead to. Kevin Feige who was constructing the building blocks of the MCU had grand ideas for all of the charters that were introduced in Phase 1 of the MCU. Hiddleston would come to know of these plans after Thor was released as Feige was finally ready to put the icing on the cake of putting all these characters in one film.
Tom Hiddleston Was Initially Confused About Kevin Feige’s Grand Plan
Tom Hiddleston was first introduced in the MCU along with Chris Hemsworth in Thor. After the success of the film, along with previous successes of the Feige-led Marvel films, he approached Hiddleston to reveal his grand plans of putting all the characters together in one film (which became The Avengers). He also revealed that his character Loki will be the being the main villain of that film. He expressed his initial confusion saying, (via Slashfilm)
“He called me into his office, and said, ‘Congratulations on Thor. This is going to be great. And I’d like to talk to you about The Avengers. I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘Well, this is what I’m planning to do. I’m going to make a Captain America film after this, and then we’re going to put them all together. We’ve made Iron Man. And we’re going to make The Avengers. It’s going to be all of them, plus the Hulk and Black Widow. And I want you to be the villain, because in 1963, Loki was the villain for the first Avengers comic’.
That took me a few minutes to process because I didn’t quite realize how it just suddenly had a scope. And being cast as Loki, I realized, was a very significant moment for me in my life, and was going to remain. The creative journey was going to be so exciting”
The Avengers would become a milestone film in the superhero genre where the idea of an interconnected universe and films would become a significant and relevant narrative method in other films. The film would become the source of other new characters to join in and make the storytelling even larger and interwoven which would pay off in a a grand finale in Avengers: Endgame in 2019.
Also read: Henry Cavill, Tom Hiddleston, and 6 Other British Stars Who Will Nail it in the Next Kingsman Movie
Loki Has Been the Career-Defining Role for Tom Hiddleston
Tom Hiddleston has played Loki in multiple MCU projects for more than a decade. He has time and again talked about how the role changed his life and has brought him fame and stardom. He has also talked about how he finds unique facets to the character every time he plays him to avoid being repetitive and stale. He told Variety,
“Loki’s changed so much over the years for me. I was cast when I was 29, and I’m 41. Initially, with the wigs and the costume, I was always trying to break out of the mask, let something honest come through. By the time we got to the series, Loki’s stripped of all the things that are familiar. Immediately, he’s literally stripped and put in a jumpsuit, and his status is gone. Everyone knows who the character is now. Let’s open him up and find new aspects of him and challenge the character to change and grow.
I understand the audience sees good in Loki — they want him to get past his internal and external obstacles. They want him to repair that relationship with his brother and step into the hero that he can be. It’s exciting to retain all the characteristics that make Loki, Loki, and at the same time play a slightly different music within him.”
Audiences can experience the return of Hiddleston in the role when Loki season 2 airs on Disney+ from October 5, 2023.
