THE AVENGERS (Tom Hiddleston Speaks)

• LOKI's RISE FROM LOYAL BROTHER TO MASTER VILLAIN

Avengers on New York Set

Earlier in the year we watched Thor, and we saw how Loki(Played by Tom Hiddleston) goes from jealous but supportive little brother toroyal usurper in the course of the film. Now for the majority of comic bookfans there weren’t any real surprises when it came to Loki’s story. Howeverthere was one major surprise when it came to Loki in the film, and that was TomHiddleston, who took the role on so perfectly and it was fascinating to see hisperformance as the ambiguity was stripped away and his real motives wereultimately revealed.

Loki and Thor On Set

In The Avengers, Tom Hiddleston will once again play Loki,but this time there's no question about his motivations. He's officially theBig Bad (as director Joss Whedon might put it), come down from Asgard toconquer humankind. But there's a ragtag band of heroes who just might havesomething to say about that. So what made Loki the guy to take on Earth'sMightiest Heroes? IGN asked Hiddleston that very question. He explained thattheir epic clash is right out of the comic book.

Mark Ruffalo & Robert Downey Jr.

"The very, very first edition of the first Avengerscomic is all of them on the front and they're going up against Loki,"Hiddleston told us in a phone interview this week. "Because Loki's comedown to Earth and he's trying to get back at his brother and he mind-controlsthe Hulk. And it takes Iron Man and Thor and Captain America and the otherAvengers to stop him. Actually, I'm not sure that Captain America is in thatcomic. He might be. Anyway, there's a very rusty Iron Man. He's not quite asstreamlined as he is now. ... But I love the fact that there's a kind ofadherence to the original comic-book mythology."

Loki Concept Art

“We will see a slightly different version of Loki in TheAvengers,” Hiddleston hints. “He's been on Midgard (a.k.a. our world)formulating his plans and gathering strength. To go along with this new statusas an outright villain, we'll see him sporting a new, more menacing look.”

"It's a little less princely, if you see what Imean," Hiddleston says. "In Thor, Loki is a prince of Asgard. But bythe time The Avengers starts, Loki's been around the block of the universe.He's met some shady gangsters and he's gone undercover and he's come backlooking a bit meaner. There's a lot more leather. There's a lot more black.There's a lot more weaponry. He's just more of a badass."

Hiddleston also had some hints at the action we can expectin the film.

Chris Evans as Steve Rogers

"I get to fight with everybody," he promises."Every single superhero, every single Avenger, every single wonderfulactor playing every single superhero. And it's great. What Joss has encouragedme to do is to kind of stoke a fire of unpredictability and joy. And here youhave a true god of mischief who is enjoying the chaos he creates. And that'spart of the fun of playing a character like that. You get to do some incrediblycool things, and smile through it."

Though making the film has been one of the most satisfyingexperiences he's had as an actor, Hiddleston also says that it's also one ofthe most challenging. He told us a little about Whedon's particular take on thecharacter.

"Just inhabiting him every day, it demands such a levelof intensity and a kind of volatile energy," Hiddleston says. "AndJoss is constantly saying, 'More feral. Wilder. I want feral. Give me feral.'And a lot of time I'm throwing myself around. Throwing myself through walls andonto the floor and getting up and dusting myself off and doing it again. It'sfun, but I wake up with cracks and bruises for sure."

Hawkeye & Black Widow

But as with all Whedon characters (he was the screenwriterhere as well as the director) there may be more to Loki than just pure evil.

"One has to ask the question philosophically, how muchcontentment and inner peace can be found in destruction and worlddomination?" Hiddleston suggests. While in Thor, he was an ambiguouscharacter with a hint of villainy, in The Avengers he's more of "theall-out villain in the end with a hint of ambiguity."

Tony Stark & Bruce Banner

Don't expect to see the last of Hiddleston's Loki in thenext movie. According to the actor, he may be around for some time to come."What's fascinating about Loki is that there is all of that complexitywithin him. There is such range. And I hope in the course of future Thor filmsand Avengers films that Loki will change again. He's known in the comic booksas a perennial shapeshifter. And who knows? He might be recruited back to thegood side. His time will come. I love playing every flavor, whether it's thelost prince of Asgard or the power-hungry maniac of Avengers. It's allgood."

The Avengers will be Assembling on the 4^th of May2012

Check out this Vid from the Set!!!