Audiences around the world were shocked to see Avengers: Infinity War open with Tom Hiddleston‘s Loki being killed off in the opening sequence. The character had seemingly gone down a path of redemption, working with his brother Thor to save Asgard in the closing moments of Thor: Ragnarok, just seconds before Thanos showed up to their ship and wreaked havoc. “You’ll never be a god,” Loki told Thanos as the Mad Titan squeezed the life out of him, but this was not before Loki made a decision to help his brother and offer some touching last words to his sibling. In an interview promoting the upcoming Loki series, Hiddleston opened up about Loki’s final thoughts in those moments from Infinity War.
“I think that whole scene is overwhelmingly terrifying for both Thor and Loki,” Hiddleston said in our exclusive interview. “Genuinely, he’s seen Thor in some tight spots before but he’s always trusted his brother will find a way out of it. In that moment, he knows that if he doesn’t do anything his brother will die at Thanos’ hand. When he first starts speaking, I think he’s just stalling for time. He says, ‘If you’re going to Earth, you might a guide. I have a bit of experience in that arena.’ He’s trying to think of a way of stalling Thanos. He’s improvising.”
At this moment, Loki was running out of time. As the story goes, he revealed a knife in his hand and approached the Mad Titan. “Then I think he realized, I’ve only got one shot at this and it might not work but at least I’ll have saved my brother and I’ll go down swinging,” Hiddleston explained. “I always found that very touching. He knows what he’s gonna do. In Loki’s defense, I know some people have been, ‘Why’s he use a knife?’ and stuff but he does go for the head. He almost makes it so he knows how to do that. I always found it very touching that when he’s listing, he’s introducing himself, he says, ‘I, Loki, of Jotunheim, Prince of Asgard, God of Mischief, Odison…’ and he calls himself an Odinson. Really, those movies, up until that point, have been, especially from Loki’s perspective, have been ‘Who gets to call themself an Odinson?’ The fact that he addresses himself in that way and looks at Thor, I found really touching.”
Ultimately, Loki was killed and Thanos took his minions and left Thor behind. Thor fell onto his brother, having lost another loved one but one who had seemingly bought fully into this family for the first time.
“So, yeah, I think in that moment, what’s going through Loki’s mind: ‘Damn, didn’t work,’ I guess.” Loki did, however, create time for the Hulk to get to Earth for a warning to the Avengers and Thor survived the encounter. Hulk and Thor would both play integral roles in the battle against Thanos and although the Mad Titan got his wish in Infinity War, the heroes took him down in Endgame (which is where this new Loki’s story begins on the Disney+ series).
Watch our full interview with Hiddleston on YouTube! Are you excited for Loki? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram! For more Marvel chatter, subscribe to ComicBook.com’s MCU podcast Phase Zero, available on all major podcast platforms.