THE AVENGERS (Tom Hiddleston Speaks)

• LOKI's RISE FROM LOYAL BROTHER TO MASTER VILLAIN

Avengers on New York Set

Earlier in the year we watched Thor, and we saw how Loki (Played by Tom Hiddleston) goes from jealous but supportive little brother to royal usurper in the course of the film. Now for the majority of comic book fans there weren’t any real surprises when it came to Loki’s story. However there was one major surprise when it came to Loki in the film, and that was Tom Hiddleston, who took the role on so perfectly and it was fascinating to see his performance as the ambiguity was stripped away and his real motives were ultimately revealed.

Loki and Thor On Set

In The Avengers, Tom Hiddleston will once again play Loki, but this time there's no question about his motivations. He's officially the Big Bad (as director Joss Whedon might put it), come down from Asgard to conquer humankind. But there's a ragtag band of heroes who just might have something to say about that. So what made Loki the guy to take on Earth's Mightiest Heroes? IGN asked Hiddleston that very question. He explained that their epic clash is right out of the comic book.

Mark Ruffalo & Robert Downey Jr.

"The very, very first edition of the first Avengers comic is all of them on the front and they're going up against Loki," Hiddleston told us in a phone interview this week. "Because Loki's come down to Earth and he's trying to get back at his brother and he mind-controls the Hulk. And it takes Iron Man and Thor and Captain America and the other Avengers to stop him. Actually, I'm not sure that Captain America is in that comic. He might be. Anyway, there's a very rusty Iron Man. He's not quite as streamlined as he is now. ... But I love the fact that there's a kind of adherence to the original comic-book mythology."

Loki Concept Art

“We will see a slightly different version of Loki in The Avengers,” Hiddleston hints. “He's been on Midgard (a.k.a. our world) formulating his plans and gathering strength. To go along with this new status as an outright villain, we'll see him sporting a new, more menacing look.”

"It's a little less princely, if you see what I mean," Hiddleston says. "In Thor, Loki is a prince of Asgard. But by the time The Avengers starts, Loki's been around the block of the universe. He's met some shady gangsters and he's gone undercover and he's come back looking a bit meaner. There's a lot more leather. There's a lot more black. There's a lot more weaponry. He's just more of a badass."

Hiddleston also had some hints at the action we can expect in the film.

Chris Evans as Steve Rogers

"I get to fight with everybody," he promises. "Every single superhero, every single Avenger, every single wonderful actor playing every single superhero. And it's great. What Joss has encouraged me to do is to kind of stoke a fire of unpredictability and joy. And here you have a true god of mischief who is enjoying the chaos he creates. And that's part of the fun of playing a character like that. You get to do some incredibly cool things, and smile through it."

Though making the film has been one of the most satisfying experiences he's had as an actor, Hiddleston also says that it's also one of the most challenging. He told us a little about Whedon's particular take on the character.

"Just inhabiting him every day, it demands such a level of intensity and a kind of volatile energy," Hiddleston says. "And Joss is constantly saying, 'More feral. Wilder. I want feral. Give me feral.' And a lot of time I'm throwing myself around. Throwing myself through walls and onto the floor and getting up and dusting myself off and doing it again. It's fun, but I wake up with cracks and bruises for sure."

Hawkeye & Black Widow

But as with all Whedon characters (he was the screenwriter here as well as the director) there may be more to Loki than just pure evil.

"One has to ask the question philosophically, how much contentment and inner peace can be found in destruction and world domination?" Hiddleston suggests. While in Thor, he was an ambiguous character with a hint of villainy, in The Avengers he's more of "the all-out villain in the end with a hint of ambiguity."

Tony Stark & Bruce Banner

Don't expect to see the last of Hiddleston's Loki in the next movie. According to the actor, he may be around for some time to come. "What's fascinating about Loki is that there is all of that complexity within him. There is such range. And I hope in the course of future Thor films and Avengers films that Loki will change again. He's known in the comic books as a perennial shapeshifter. And who knows? He might be recruited back to the good side. His time will come. I love playing every flavor, whether it's the lost prince of Asgard or the power-hungry maniac of Avengers. It's all good."

The Avengers will be Assembling on the 4^th of May 2012

Check out this Vid from the Set!!!