Loki, villain and antihero of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and star of the upcoming Marvel television show, Loki, has had a dedicated following since Tom Hiddleston played the character in Thor. But that's not something Marvel predicted, even after the villain appeared in The Avengers.
In a dedicated TV spot from Entertainment Weekly, Feige commented on the character's fame following the first Avengers movie, recalling Hiddleston's appearance at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con. "Did we know that after he was the villain in two movies, he would be bringing thousands of people to their feet in Hall H, in costume, chanting his name? No, that was above and beyond the plan that we were hoping for and dreaming of." The plan for Loki was always to feature the character as the primary villain of The Avengers, so it was important to Feige that the character found some appreciation from fans following the first Thor movie.
With the character being integral to Feige's intentions for the MCU, the response to Loki as a dynamic and appreciated character was one that the Marvel Studios head appreciated. He recounted a story of how during the Avengers press tour, a Russian fan snuck past security in order to give Hiddleston a piece of fan art she'd created. The fan snuck into the car of Mark Ruffalo, who plays Hulk and Bruce Banner, in order to ask him to hand off the art to Hiddleston. "That was one of the early signs there was much more happening with this quote-unquote villain," Feige recounts.
In spite of the character's popularity, however, Marvel planned on killing off Loki in 2013's Thor: The Dark World. The decision was ultimately reversed following audience testing, where viewers of the film refused to believe that the character could have actually died. Eventually, Loki would be killed in the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War by Thanos, but with the revised timeline present in Avengers: Endgame, the character found life once again.
With the upcoming series Loki, premiering June 9 on Disney+, Marvel continues its journey with the character. With the show honing in on Loki's ever-changing identity, fans will get a closer look at the Asgardian as he stars in his own feature.
Loki stars Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Sophia Di Martino, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Richard E. Grant. The series premieres June 9 on Disney+.
Source: Entertainment Weekly