Loki Actor Tom Hiddleston Explains the Appeal of His MCU Villain

Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, the adopted brother of Thor, is one of MCU’s breakout characters. It’s only fitting that the anti-hero will return in his own Disney+ series and that too with an added twist.

There is no hiding the fact that he was able to outwit a slew of powerful characters in the first Avengers film and even his brother Thor in nearly every one of their encounters.

Additionally, his razor-sharp wit, Machiavellian cunning, and the fact that he found success despite being the second favorite son contribute to his popularity among the audience.

In any case, Loki’s popularity was great enough to facilitate his own series. Disney+ has decided to follow the alternate universe version of the Trickster God and his exploits. Actor Tom Hiddleston took it upon himself to explain the character’s appeal in a recent interview with Empire magazine.

“The arc of Loki in Thor is very poignant and full of pathos,” Hiddleston explained in the interview. “He begins that film as Thor’s brother, and Thor is heir to the throne.

I think he genuinely loves his brother, but possibly has some deep jealousy or unspoken resentment about the favoritism that his elder brother has received from his mother and father. Loki is awakening to his origins and birth, and that’s been withheld from him.”

Hiddleston also added that although Loki is a deceptive and dangerous character, his progression is also marked by vulnerability and pain. It is this sense of pathos which makes it easier for fans to empathize with him.

“Loki’s progression to antagonist has a lot of vulnerability and pain inside it,” Hiddleston said. “So that even by the end of Thor, when Loki is the villain, the audience could see that it had come from a very poignant well of heartbreak and loneliness and confusion.”

The Disney+ series has been scheduled for a June 11, 2021 release.

About Loki

Loki is an American TV series created by Michael Waldron for Disney+ and Marvel. It is based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name and is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with events of the series taking place after Avengers: Endgame.

Tom Hiddleston reprises his role as Loki along side new faces like Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Sophia Di Martino, Richard E. Grant, Sasha Lane, Eugene Cordero and Erika Coleman.

After stealing the Tesseract in Avengers: Endgame, Loki is apprehended by the mysterious Time Variance Authority (TVA) and their Time-Keepers. Loki is given a choice between fixing all the timelines he broke with the Tesseract and death at the hands of the TVA.