Tom Hiddleston Reveals The DC Movie Hero That Inspired MCU"s Loki

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Summary

Tom Hiddleston reveals that he found inspiration in Christopher Reeve's portrayal of Superman to build his Loki portrayal in the MCU's early days.
Loki parallels Superman in feeling like a powerful outcast who gradually adapts to adverse environments and learns how to interact with very different individuals.
Hiddleston and Reeve embody their characters with kindness and humanity, and they show genuine passion and admiration for their roles.

One surprising DC hero helped inspire Tom Hiddleston's Loki portrayal in the MCU, according to the actor. Tom Hiddleston's Loki might be the most developed villain in the entire MCU, having started as a villain and transformed into a full-fledged hero across the eight appearances that comprise Loki's MCU journey. Hiddleston's charisma has been essential to the character's popularity, and his genuine passion for the material is patent on the screen.
Speaking to Backstage, Tom Hiddleston discusses his thoughts on the end of Loki's journey and reminisces about his preparation for the role. Hiddleston explains that as soon as he received the script for Kenneth Branagh's Thor, he felt that Loki was part of "an elevated world of myth". In order to understand how to approach such a character, Hiddleston looked to Christopher Reeve's Superman for inspiration. Read Hiddleston's full comments below:

“I remember thinking, This is almost Shakespearean, this language,” Hiddleston says. “What’s the best example I can [look to] of an actor who managed to humanize and make real this elevated world of myth?”
He found the answer in Christopher Reeve, who played the title role in Richard Donner’s 1978 blockbuster “Superman.” “He’s masterful in that film,” Hiddleston says. “In a way, it’s a similar premise: He’s a god or he’s a being from a different realm, and it’s not naturalistic in the way that we might expect. He does it so truthfully, and it’s so clear and clean and open and honest. I thought, If I can even approximate or get close to the kind of clarity that Christopher Reeve had in those films, I’ll be lucky.”

How Christopher Reeve's Superman Is Similar To Tom Hiddleston's MCU Loki Reeve's Superman and Hiddleston's Loki Are Both Outcasts With Heroism In Their Heart Close As Tom Hiddleston explains, Loki shares some traits with Christopher Reeve's Superman, albeit in a more subtle manner than other more heroic Marvel characters. Like Superman, Loki is a larger-than-life deity figure who feels out of place in his universe. Superman's Kryptonian nature and innate innocence make him a misfit on Earth, and Loki's Jotun origin and naturally mischievous personality make him feel like an outcast among Asgardians. Both Superman and Loki must adapt to very different worlds and gradually learn how to interact with very different individuals.
Christopher Reeve left the bar extremely high with his portrayal of Superman due to the tangible kindness and humility he exuded. Despite the rather simple and lighthearted plots of Richard Donner's Superman films, Christopher Reeve's performances are also played completely straight, as if Superman's immense power were truly an intrinsic part of his life. Likewise, Hiddleston stays away from the mustache-twirling behavior of many supervillains, and instead embodies Loki's most human emotions: jealousy, self-doubt, resentment, and regret, with a growing hint of kindness.
Christopher Reeve expressed the same kind of interest in Superman as Tom Hiddleston did with Loki. Speaking to Interview in 1986, Reeve said that he accepted the role because he saw Superman as “the closest expression to something of mythical dimension.” Reeve and Hiddleston's deep respect for their respective comic book characters is visibly reflected in their performances and their genuine displays of love for their roles outside the screen.
Source: Backstage, Interview
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