Most widely known for his role as the villain Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tom Hiddleston slipped into character while visiting a local station in Chicago to explain just who is behind the terrible weather: Thor. Check it out!
Poor Loki. Even despite being the most notorious big screen Marvel villain, he’s still known in certain parts of Illinois as “Thor’s brother.” Meteorologist Mike Caplan of Fox 32 is just lucky that Tom Hiddleston is so unlike Loki in real life; that kind of slight seems like something that would turn him into the unfortunate target of an epic revenge quest. As Hiddleston is not actually Loki, this local news clip likely isn’t the beginning of Caplan's doom.
Hiddleston is really a pretty good sport about making a cameo as Loki. He obviously wasn’t particularly prepared to jump into the forecast, and he wasn’t quite as sneeringly scary as Loki without full wig and wardrobe, but he was an awful lot of fun. Besides, even if he may not have looked the part, Loki going on the news to blame his brother for something is pretty in-character. Surely there’s no bad situation that Loki wouldn’t want to pin on Thor somehow.
I’m not sure what my favorite part of the clip is. Hiddleston improvising tie-ins to the Marvel universe was awfully entertaining, but Mike Caplan’s enthusiasm was contagious. It was definitely entertaining to hear Caplan’s voice grow progressively louder the more excited he got. I’m definitely glad that Caplan didn’t try to say the name of Thor’s hammer live on television. “Mjolnir” doesn’t exactly roll off of anybody’s tongue, and secondhand embarrassment is the last thing any of us need out of a silly local news clip featuring Tom Hiddleston.
Of course, this forecast wasn’t the first time that a major comic character made a local news cameo. Batman has been known to show up to contribute to the forecasts on a station in Indiana. Who better to report on dark and stormy nights than the Dark Knight himself? Loki can't do everything.
Hiddleston isn’t the first celebrity to join in the news either. Bruce Campbell became an honorary member of the same Fox 32 Chicago team to help with the weather, and Flava Flav spiced up a segment in Salt Lake City.
The weather isn't always the most exciting part of a news broadcast, so it’s always nice to see unexpected twists to add a little something extra. Tom Hiddleston showing up to lend his talents in an unlikely appearance as Loki in Chicago definitely had to be a bright spot in what was about to be a stormy near future.
