Last week, Empire Magazine released their new list for the 100 Greatest Movie Characters of all time. Empire being a British publication, the list did skew towards British characters or characters traditionally played by British actors. Still, I was surprised to see some American or American-adjacent characters so high up on the list – the “greatest” character of all time is apparently Indiana Jones, then James Bond, then Han Solo, Batman, Ellen Ripley, The Joker, John McClane, Tyler Durden, Darth Vader and The Dude (from The Big Lebowski). #19 on the list? Loki, as played by Tom Hiddleston. Is Loki truly one of the top-twenty movie characters of all time though? Really? In any case, it seems like Tom Hiddleston gave a brief interview to Empire for this honor:

Tom Hiddleston has a lot to thank Thor for. In Empire magazine’s 100 Greatest Movie Characters, Loki comes in at number 19.

“Within the film industry, the success of the Marvel films has given me incredible opportunities to do other work that I’m very proud of,” Tom smiled to the publication. “Besides that, I’m just grateful to have been given the chance to play a remarkable character: larger-than-life, deep, complex and relentlessly good fun. He’s the god of mischief – in a cinematic universe of superheroes, there’s no-one else I’d rather be.”

Tom first became aware of the character as a youngster, while playing card game Top Trumps. To really nail Loki, the actor set about finding what really made him tick.

“I had to find his smile, his innate love of anarchy and chaos. I had to make his pain real. Great villains are born from tragic circumstances. They become dangerous when their vulnerability hardens into vengeance,” he explained.

“The cornerstone of his psychology for me was the scene between Loki and Odin in the vault in Kenneth Branagh’s Thor, when Loki discovers his true lineage for the first time. It was one of the very first scenes to be shot, and what happened in that scene became an anchor of the whole character. I understood all his motivations after that.”

[From TV3]

So Tom is proud of Loki mainly because Marvel made him famous enough to do other non-Marvel projects. I’ve got to wonder, as Loki is scheduled to appear in several upcoming Marvel films, whether Loki has become a little bit of an albatross for Hiddles. Yes, it’s his most famous and celebrated role and Tom loves being a singing and dancing bear. But I would imagine that Tom is now at the point where he’s having to say “no” to quality projects because he has to keep his schedule open for Marvel.

Also: Tom is still filming The Night Manager and this Instagram was posted a few days ago. Tommy is looking so fit and tan! Bless his v-neck.

Hugging it out on the set. With the best producer @robbullock1969 and the best Jonathan pine!!!

A photo posted by Kristin Jones (@kikibeach) on Jun 28, 2015 at 6:26am PDT

Photos courtesy of PR Photos, Instagram.