I think we can all agree that Thor: The Dark World was not Marvel‘s best effort and it’s probably one of their worst. Some may like but some regard it as a straight-up terrible film. From its generic plot and forgettable villain, one could barely remember what happened in the film except for one key instance: Loki’s death and eventual return. Well, it seems like that plot fixture was meant to be permanent according to Tom Hiddleston.
Hiddleston’s Loki was considered the best MCU villain at the time, perhaps the only good MCU villain due to his charisma and compelling backstory. Having faced the Avengers in the 2012 blockbuster of the same name, the events of The Dark World provided him a chance of redemption as he sacrifices himself for the greater good. Turns out this was just another trick as his character replaces his father, Odin on the throne in Asgard.
Hiddleston spoke with Empire on the supposed death of his character in which he played without knowledge of his return at the end of the film:
“Loki’s death on Svartalfheim was written as a death, and I would say Chris and I played that scene for real. That was meant to be that he redeemed himself, he helped save his brother”
This changed after test screenings as audiences were not accepting of his death. Hiddleston greatly supported the twist, claiming that it added to the character’s arc. He said:
“…he wanted to be Thor’s equal, he wanted to be accepted by Odin as an equal, he ends up on the throne. It’s such a great twist…”
At this point, it’s relatively difficult for actors to criticize the films that made them but this unwillingness to stick to their guts was quite telling of the MCU back then. However, things have changed since then with new characters and stronger villains with the likes of Erik Killmonger in Black Panther and Thanos in Infinity War and the MCU’s willingness to take bigger risks in the stories.
Source: Empire
