Actor Tom Hiddleston has shared his inspiration behind portraying one of our favourite villains, Loki. During an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the actor revealed that Jack Nicholson's Joker in the 1989 film Batman, directed by Tim Burton had an impact on me. He carried a lot of elements of the DC villain into his portrayal of Loki.
Marvel's Loki, much like DC's Joker, is a villain with a tragic backstory. They are not inherently evil, but victims of their circumstances that forced them to become rebels that the society deemed unfit.
Tom Hiddleston revealed that Jack Nicholson's performance as the Joker in Tim Burton's Batman had a significant impact on him and led him to a nuanced perception of the villain.
In an episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the British actor said, "Truthfully, I don’t think I would’ve played Loki without that [Batman] film. I think the way Jack Nicholson played the Joker...it made such an impact on my imagination".
Tom added, "I understood he was the villain, but he was having such a good time — that could describe somebody else I know — and he was so charismatic and so inventive and so free. I think, probably, when I came to play Loki for the first film, I consciously carried Jack Nicholson in mind".
The actor also shared memories from the shooting days when he and director Kenneth Branagh experimented with his character, with inspiration drawn from various experiments. "We did the Peter O’Toole take, which wasn’t an impersonation of Peter O’Toole but it was a tribute to his sincerity and vulnerability in films like The Lion in Winter. And then a Jack Nicholson take, where I was having the most fun in the room. And then a Clint Eastwood take, where whatever I was feeling would be hidden deep within me and you wouldn’t be able to see it".
Tom Hiddleston will return as Loki in the upcoming MCU film, Avengers: Doomsday set to release on December 18, 2026.
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