Tom Hiddleston Wasn't Okay Filming His Iconic Humiliation Scene: 'I Felt Insane and Foolish'

Back in the day — when the MCU was launching careers instead of killing them — Tom Hiddleston had a major breakthrough with his Loki performance in Avengers. The infamous God of Mischief became a much larger character than planned, now even having an entire TV show all for himself, and Hiddleston has massively profited from portraying Loki… But not every part of the journey was to the star’s liking.

Loki’s Iconic Scene Was Humiliating for Hiddleston

In The Avengers, one of Marvel’s best movies ever, Tom Hiddleston makes his first major appearance in the franchise. As the God of Mischief, he’s the main antagonist in this installment and consequently, has to deal with the entire Avengers team which doesn’t go too well for him… Especially, when he pisses off the Hulk and the latter smashes him around the room violently for a good minute.

“I felt insane and foolish. And I alternated between insanity and folly all day. <...> Loki had no idea what was coming. He was puffed up with all his sense of superiority and status and that that would be completely undercut by him just being wrenched out of frame. And that's exactly what happened,” Hiddleston shared with Variety.

As fun as it was to watch, it wasn’t the Loki star’s best experience with the MCU — especially since it was his debut. But no one actually smashed him, of course.

Tom Hiddleston Explained the Scene’s Secrets

While Marvel stars are paid very generously, there’s no money enough to justify doing to an actor what the Hulk did to Loki. Hiddleston didn’t have to undergo any violence himself, of course, but the process that substituted it was arguably even more “insane and foolish” to partake in. The actor revealed how the scene was shot.

“The effects team and the art department had dug out little Loki-shaped trenches in the set. My job was to jump in and out of these trenches as hard as I can and as high as I can to replicate the effect of being smashed. <...> We wanted to create the effect of absolute spontaneity,” the Loki star explained.

Well, as much as Tom Hiddleston can’t reminisce about that filming day fondly, the iconic scene with Loki and the Hulk was worth every trench jump in our book. But let’s face it, it would’ve probably been better if the actor had to go flying himself.

Source: Variety via YouTube