Tom Hiddleston Explains Why Loki Was Never A Villain in the MCU

Tom Hiddleston’s Loki has found his glorious purpose in the MCU, sitting at the center of the sprawling branches of the multiverse and no longer cutting the villainous persona he brought to the franchise in his original appearance in 2011’s Thor. As the actor who has portrayed the complex and contradictory enigma that is Loki for 14 years, Hiddleston admitted that he never really saw the character as a villain.

Since his debut, Loki has been the envoy of Thanos, a thorn in the side of his brother Thor, a trickster with his own interests at heart, and a god given a second chance to do the right thing. Having become one of the most-loved characters of the entire MCU – with viewership stats of his Disney+ series to prove it – now that Loki’s time in the franchise is on hiatus, Hiddleston has been reflecting on what it means to be the incomparable Loki.

During a recent For Your Consideration (FYC) event for the second season of Loki, Hiddleston shared insights into his journey with the character, who despite often being cast as the villain, was seen by him as much more nuanced. As per Deadline, he said:

“Playing Loki has changed the course of my whole life, no question. And I feel so proud of where we’ve ended up in Season 2. It was very creatively fulfilling to bring something full circle. I always saw him from the very first film as a broken soul with a shattered heart who felt like he didn’t belong … all that grief hardens into grievance. That’s what binds him to Sylvie.

“And the grievance is what drives him to become a villain in the Avengers and the Thor movies, and this second chance that he’s given by Mobius to rediscover that glorious purpose that he feels he’s always been burdened with … it comes in a shape he would have never recognized and would never have anticipated. And it gave him a kind of catharsis that he wasn’t ready for.”

Loki Will Likely Return to the MCU, Despite Hiddleston’s Uncertainty About His Future

Loki has become the biggest MCU show on Disney+ across its two seasons, and although the end of season 2 seems to have given Loki the “glorious purpose” he always sought, we already know that the multiverse is not an eternal thing, and will likely be coming to an end with Secret Wars. This almost guarantees that Loki will be seen again when the branches of reality he has knotted around himself begin to crack and break down.

However, for Hiddleston, he is not taking any kind of return for granted, and maintains that for now, he is done with a character that has brought him the role of a lifetime. In another recent interview, one of several, the actor broke down why he feels, currently, that Loki’s story has found its ending. He said:

“I truthfully don’t know [about Season 3]. I am so proud of where we landed in Season 2. To go from this lost, broken soul in Asgard, and be given a second chance and learn so much about life that he actually gives himself to protect other people has been such an honor.”

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Where Can Loki Go From Here (Based on the Comics)?

With Season 2 of Loki giving a conclusion to the God of Mischief’s adventures in the TVA, where can we see him next? The Kang Dynasty? Secret Wars?

For fans, although Loki’s current status at the heart of the Marvel multiverse is a fitting place for him to be, the one thing everyone wants to see is Loki being reunited with his brother Thor, in this life or the next. It is clear that Secret Wars is going to be the end of the road for several long-standing Marvel stars, and is rumored to be a soft reset of the franchise. Both Hiddleston and Thor actor Chris Hemsworth could well be two of those responsible for delivering the same kind of emotional finale to this saga that Robert Downey Jr. did in the Infinity Saga’s Endgame death of Tony Stark. We will find out if this is true in a few years’ time.