It’s been a known fact for a while that Loki actor and James Bond potential favorite Tom Hiddleston once auditioned to play Thor himself in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you haven’t seen the footage before, gifs and footage abound on the internet.
Luckily, whether or not this is all brand new to you, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon took the opportunity to actually play back Tom Hiddleston’s big Thor audition when he was actually on the late night series this week, and it’s everything and more. You can catch the full exchange via the video below.
Jimmy Fallon mentions this has never been released, but it’s been running around since at least 2014 and is part of some special bonus feature content related to Thor: The Dark World, so I’m not sure where he got that intel (although the audio on this video is pretty fabulous, so maybe he means the first time it's been fully released). What is definitely new is Tom Hiddleston having to literally watch the footage of his wild audition in front of a live studio audience and react to it. He does not disappoint, dryly noting:
Thank you very much, you really are too kind. I think we can all agree that they cast the right actor.
The actor did also talk to Jimmy Fallon about how this audition even became a thing, noting that if it weren’t for the audition to play Thor he probably would never has been seen as a good fit for Loki, as he didn’t actually try out for the role he ultimately nabbed in the MCU. Tom Hiddleston spent three months actually auditioning for Thor, explaining:
At the time, they were looking for less well-established actors so the audience wouldn’t have an association. They wanted people to see these new characters, these new actors. The remit was, if you’re over 6' foot and you’ve got blond hair, you could come and have a pop at it.
Actual Thor actor Chris Hemsworth is reportedly a might 6'3" in stature. Regardless, Tom Hiddleston isn't too far behind at 6'2." Height isn't everything, however, and these days it seems as if Tom Hiddleston is very happy he ended up with the Loki position, as Loki is one of the most well-liked characters in the MCU (despite being a villain) and is one of the most well-drawn characters, as well. There are lots of pros to Hiddleston playing Loki. Now that you've seen him wield Mjolnir, we know exactly how different he would have been as Thor as well.
If you've ever wondered how tall all these men and women are in the MCU, we have already broken the actors down by height, so we have you covered.
Otherwise, given the events in Avengers: Endgame, which totally messed with Loki's timeline in particular, the character has his own Disney+ series on the way that will follow Loki's alternate timeline and could maybe even potentially lead into Thor: Love and Thunder. Meanwhile, we'll have to wait and see what's up with (maybe still fat?) Thor in the major MCU films. In the meantime, relive what could have been with this video and gif to your heart's content.
