In The Avengers, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki will square off against each member of the superhero team, meaning that he had the most fight sequences of any cast member to learn. For that reason, the British actor knew he would have to spend a lot of time in the stunt gym. “I have bruises all over my body, but it’s called ‘The Avengers’ and if it wasn’t action- packed, we’ve failed to do our jobs,” the actor reveals. “We have the greatest stunt team in the world led by R.A. Rondell and Jon Eusebio, so the first thing I did when I got to Albuquerque was hit the stunt gym. I started going through the movements and as I did more and more, I started reconnecting to the character because I believe how you move informs everyone of who you are.”

“I love shooting action because my brain switches off and it’s almost like a dance once you get the moves down,” he continues. “All you have to do then is add in the emotion of throwing or catching a punch and it almost becomes a very Zen-like experience. So by the time you get to the day of shooting a fight between Loki and Captain America, hopefully the preparation and training kick in and it becomes about the simplicity of execution.”

However, the biggest challenge for Hiddleston wasn’t just the preparation for his fight scenes. Wearing Loki’s iconic helmet and costume presented enough difficulties of its own. “The stunt training was my way of evolving Loki from who he was in ‘Thor’ and creating a new sense of danger in that he is physically stronger and more dangerous. I did all kinds of martial arts training: Wushu, boxing, lots of stick and staff work, knife work and hand-to-hand combat. There were also a lot of daily repetition drills that condition your body and muscle memory. That’s how you learn to jump off a building, fly through the air, barely miss Chris Hemsworth’s head and get slammed to the ground on your back, pick yourself up and repeat the same motion 12 times over the course of a day in a costume of leather and metal that weighs forty pounds.”

One of the biggest battles in the film is the clash between Thor and Loki on the top of Stark Tower. “We were trying to design the fight so it had big brother-versus-little brother mentality,” says fight choreographer Jonathan Eusebio. “Thor wants to take Loki home without harming him, while Loki wants to approach the fight with deadly intentions. As the fight continues, emotions escalate and the stakes get bigger. Thor becomes really angry and the fight becomes very brutal at its conclusion.” Tom Hiddleston adds, “Each of us has a particular weapon and skill and in this fight it’s Loki’s scepter up against Thor’s hammer. Thor uses his hammer like a boxing glove and Loki uses his scepter in more of a Wushu way. But after a little bit, Thor drops his hammer, Loki drops his scepter, and it’s just two brothers fighting sloppy and nasty.”

However, despite the difficulties that came with performing many of his own stunts and training for the various battles Loki faces throughout The Avengers, it was an experience that the actor enjoyed. “As a cinephile and movie lover, I get such a kick when you see an actor flying across the screen and you know that it’s the real actor who’s done the stunt. I hate when they just cut around a stunt double and you just see the back of the actor’s head. I don’t want to see the back of my head, so I am always ready to get in there and mix it up with the stunt team.”

(Source: comicbookmovie)