SDCC 10: Loki Tells All

Following Marvel Studios' highly anticipated panel Saturday at San Diego Comic-Con, we were able to chat with some of the stars of their forthcoming Thor movie. During a roundtable chat with Tom Hiddleston, the British actor opened up about playing the villainous Loki in the Kenneth Branagh-directed adaptation.

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Q: What can you tell us about your take on Loki?

Tom Hiddleston: I hope that he is a villain that you love to hate, rather than a villain that you just hate. Well, I think throughout the course of the film I think you can understand his motivation. Loki isn't just an anarchist. He's not just someone who's out to burn the house down. I think his villainy, or what gives him credentials as a supervillain, is that he comes from a deep sense of betrayal. That he's been betrayed by his father, betrayed by his family. That he belongs nowhere. He's caught between two worlds and he's highly alone. And someone with an inclination towards mischief anyway, someone who likes pulling practical jokes, he's a prankster. That inclination is fed into the rejection and he becomes kind of a destructive force. So it's pretty fun.

Ken encouraged me to show his vulnerability. That actually he's Thor's younger brother and he wants his father's love just as much as the next man. I think I hope that's what roots the film as something very accessible is that actually it's about a father and two sons. And that those two sons want their father's approval and love. And Thor seems to get it without question. And Loki is out in the cold on his own. So I hope that that's something people can understand. And throughout the course of the film, I try to show that's all he wants. He wants to be accepted. That's where it comes from.

Thor Interview - SDCC 10: Tom Hiddleston

Q: We know Loki can be deceitful, but does he really love his brother Thor? There were moments in the sizzle reel shown at the panel that suggests he might.

Hiddleston: I like that Loki is such a good liar that you can't tell. I didn't want to do any winking at the audience to say like, this is when I'm lying. Um, I think in the film, I don't want to give too much away, but you find out that Loki has been responsible for a hell of a lot more than you first might have imagined. And that's all over the comics. You'll be following Thor through one adventure and you think there's one particular bad guy and then Stan Lee and Jack Kirby will pull Loki out from behind the curtain and you see him pulling the strings and you go, "Oh my God, it was Loki all along." Yeah, he is a shape-shifter, someone that is not to be trusted.

Read on for Hiddleston's comments about The Avengers.