Q&A: The Avengers’ Tom Hiddleston Takes on Seven Heroes and Two Directors

Anything in this interview might be a lie, or at least misdirection.After all, Tom Hiddleston […]

September 7, 2017, 12:13am

Anything in this interview might be a lie, or at least misdirection.After all, Tom Hiddleston plays Loki, the God of Mischief, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Beginning in last year’s Thor, it’s a role that rolls through at least Thor 2 with a notable pit stop as the central villain in The Avengers, Marvel’s hotly anticipated superhero mash-up that sees the stars of the Thor, Iron Man and Captain America movies gather alongside newcomers like Cobie Smulders (as Maria Hill) and Mark Ruffalo (as the Incredible Hulk) to take on Hiddleston’s Loki and his mysterious army of alien soldiers.Hiddleston was kind enough to join ComicBook.com for a discussion of Loki’s character arc, his work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and what it’s like to work with two very iconic and very different directors in quick succession.Look for excerpts from this interview to be posted online tomorrow as part of a very special episode of our Panel Discussions podcast; Hiddleston’s tone and humor “make” the interview as much as the cryptic hints he drops about the plot of Thor 2.Also, he got the first word.Hiddleston: Hey, Russ. How you doing?Just dandy, how about you?“Just dandy?”Well, I felt I’d give you some American slang to thank you for bringing “mewling quim” into our vernacular.[Laughs] Yeah, let’s see if that one flies—let’s see if it takes off. It’s not my proudest contribution to the English language or even Joss’s, but it’s a good throwdown insult for a comic book badguy, that’s for sure.Yeah, absolutely. I still remember when I was a kid hearing Lex Luthor call Superman a “sanctimonious berk.”Sanctimonious berk? I think Joss Whedon has definitely topped it.Yeah, but he didn’t have the Comics Code to contend with.

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The Avengers Thor 2 Thor Thor The Avengers Thor 2 Thor 2 The character has grown a lot–he’s very different from in Thor but there’s a continuity that’s been built that makes a lot of sense. Thor Thor

Thor 2 The Avengers Thor 2 It’s interesting to me that both of the directors you’ve worked with come with certain expectations. How is it to work with the two directors in rapid succession? It’s not just two very different directors but you’re playing the same character in the same milieu and you’ve got to completely change filmmaking styles. Thor Much Ado About Nothing

Henry IV Henry V A lot of people would look at you and Branagh and question what the hell you’re doing in the Marvel Universe but you wrote a very eloquent piece for The Guardian that defended the superhero genre. The Guardian Superman Batman Raiders of the Lost Ark And of course the melodrama of this kind of work is often dismissed by critics but that’s the kind of quality that embodies mythology and Shakespeare.