‘Loki’: Why Fans Are More Hyped Than Ever to See Tom Hiddleston’s Character Again
The year 2021 has been an exciting year so far for Marvel Cinematic Universe fans. A
fter WandaVision outpaced audience expectations, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier has followed it up with more poignant and relevant TV that doesn’t lack any of the action and drama of the films in the franchise. Fans are especially eager for the next installment in Disney+’s MCU additions, Loki.
Tom Hiddleston’s portrayal of the god of mischief was beloved by fans during the early days of the MCU, and long-time marvel viewers are intrigued to see him playing a slightly different version of the character that eventually met his demise in Avengers: Infinity War.
Loki in the MCU
Loki is a recurring character in most of his brother Thor’s adventures in their comic book history, but in the MCU Loki played by Hiddleston quickly became a fan favorite after his appearance in 2011’s Thor. Though 2013’s Thor: The Dark World is arguably the least popular movie ever made by Marvel Studios with only a 66% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, fans loved Hiddleston’s performance in the film.
In the latest installment in the franchise, Thor: Ragnarok, Loki plays a central role and Hiddleston again wowed fans with a sympathetic and powerful performance.
Loki is a beloved character in the MCU not just because he’s a great recurring villain, but because he’s complicated. While he starts as a clear antagonist in Thor, he’s shown to have complex and sympathetic motivations from early on.
As his journey through the movies continues, Loki bounces between the role of villain and hero. He has excellent character development and the character’s personal struggles are brilliantly illustrated by Hiddleston’s performance.
Time-travel, alternate universes, and creative use of plot holes
When last (chronologically) viewers saw Loki, he was dying at the hands of Thanos in an emotional scene of redemption and sacrifice in Avengers: Infinity War.
The golden rule of comic books, however, is nobody stays dead. While fans mourned the tragic death of such a beloved character, Avengers: Endgame saw Ant-man, Captain America, and Iron Man return to New York and (accidentally) set Loki free after the plot of the original Avengers.
While many fans wrote this massive change to the timeline off as the inevitable plot holes that go along with time travel misadventures and shenanigans in stories, Marvel has actually used this moment to spawn the new Loki series.
This means that the Loki who appears in the series will still be played by Hiddleston, but will be a version of the character from just after Infinity War.
Fans are incredibly intrigued to see how the character develops in this new alternate timeline, as this Loki never had anything from Thor: The Dark World and after in the MCU happen to him.
The Loki hype
Fans love complicated characters that they can identify with. While this isn’t the Loki that MCU fans have fallen in love with for over a decade, this gives them a chance to fall in love all over again with a new Loki. Many fans are incredibly excited by this and encouraged by the fact that Hiddleston’s expert performances have never left audiences disappointed in the character before.
One fan commented on Reddit, “Gotta remember that this Loki never got his character development from Thor 2 and 3. So he is way more likely to be pulling some evil stunts here to get out of this. This just sets my expectations higher.”
Fans are thrilled to see a version of Loki that still is a little more villain than not and still has that exciting personal development ahead of him for viewers to watch. Everybody is excited to see how the god of mischief turns out this time and where his personal journey takes him.
