Advertisement

Read Tom Hiddleston’s excited email to Joss Whedon after reading ‘The Avengers’ script

Will Perkins
·Blogger

If you asked someone what their favourite parts of “The Avengers” or the “Thor” movies were, there’s a high probability that they’d mention a scene involving the supervillain Loki.

Played by English actor Tom Hiddleston, the fan favourite is the troubled, troublemaking brother of the demigod Thor (Chris Hemsworth). Hiddleston’s character is scene-stealer in every movie he appears in, and is far and away one of the best elements of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It’s unclear at this point what role Loki will have in future MCU movies like “Avengers: Age of Ultron” or the still undated “Thor 3.” But for those currently suffering from Loki withdrawal there’s a fantastic letter between Hiddleston and “Avengers’ writer/director Joss Whedon that appeared online this week.

Business Insider published the letter, which appears in the forthcoming book "Joss Whedon: The Biography," and it gives Marvel fans some awesome insight into how Hiddleston views the character of Loki:

Joss,

I am so excited I can hardly speak.

The first time I read it I grabbed at it like Charlie Bucket snatching for a golden ticket somewhere behind the chocolate in the wrapper of a Wonka Bar. I didn't know where to start. Like a classic actor I jumped in looking for LOKI on every page, jumping back and forth, reading words in no particular order, utterances imprinting themselves like flash-cuts of newspaper headlines in my mind: "real menace"; "field of obeisance"; "discontented, nothing is enough"; "his smile is nothing but a glimpse of his skull"; "Puny god" ...

... Thank you for writing me my Hans Gruber. But a Hans Gruber with super-magic powers. As played by James Mason ... It's high operatic villainy alongside detached throwaway tongue-in-cheek; plus the "real menace" and his closely guarded suitcase of pain. It's grand and epic and majestic and poetic and lyrical and wicked and rich and badass and might possibly be the most gloriously fun part I've ever stared down the barrel of playing. It is just so juicy.

I love how throughout you continue to put Loki on some kind of pedestal of regal magnificence and then consistently tear him down. He gets battered, punched, blasted, side-swiped, roared at, sent tumbling on his back, and every time he gets back up smiling, wickedly, never for a second losing his eloquence, style, wit, self-aggrandisement or grandeur, and you never send him up or deny him his real intelligence.... That he loves to make an entrance; that he has a taste for the grand gesture, the big speech, the spectacle. I might be biased, but I do feel as though you have written me the coolest part.

... But really I'm just sending you a transatlantic shout-out and fist-bump, things that traditionally British actors probably don't do. It's epic.

Hiddleston has quite the way with words. Whedon was clearly impressed by Hiddleston’s passion for the project and replied in kind:

Tom, this is one of those emails you keep forever. Thanks so much. It's more articulate (and possibly longer) than the script. I couldn't be more pleased at your reaction, but I'll also tell you I'm still working on it ... Thank you again. I'm so glad you're pleased. Absurd fun to ensue.

Best, (including uncharacteristic fist bump), joss.

This isn’t the first time Hiddleston has sent someone a gracious note in reaction to a Loki-related matter. In 2012, the thespian wrote a letter to comic book writer Kieron Gillen after reading Gillen’s Loki-centric run on Marvel’s “Journey Into Mystery.”

“You and I see Loki the same way. He’s one dark, anarchic, bottomless black hole of rage, hatred, pity and pain,” Hiddleston wrote. “What an enormous honour to share Loki’s legacy with you. Here’s to bringing Norse back!”

He may play a superpowered megalomaniac on the big screen, but in real life Tom Hiddleston seems like a pretty nice chap. There’s no word yet on whether the Asgardian God of Mischief will be returning for “Avengers: Age of Ultron” or “Thor 3,” but given that he’s one of the only Marvel villains to appear in more than one movie, a Loki cameo of some kind seems very likely.