Tom Hiddleston may be best known for playing Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but he’s also an accomplished dramatic actor, as well. Hiddleston has starred in some big films, most recently Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Life of Chuck (2024). Now he’s taking on a major biopic drama with Tenzing, the story of how two climbers, Nepalese-Indian Tenzing Norgay (Genden Phuntsok) and New Zealand’s Sir Edmund Hillary (Hiddleston), scaled Mount Everest back in 1953.
ComicBook’s Chris Killian got the chance to speak with Tom Hiddleston at the press junket for Tenzing. In addition to all the talk about historical research and the grueling physicality of being a climber, there was also some fun talk, in the tradition of Marvel’s What If?… series. The question was: as the man who plays Loki, which of the Avengers could Hiddleston trust to get him up Mount Everest?
Tom Hiddleston took offense to the idea that Loki wouldn’t be a good pick for a mountain climb, “Loki would be great. Listen, Loki is from is from Jotunheim. He’s from the land of the ice Giants. He knows about snowy mountains. Come on. This is his. This is his terrain.” Obviously, the hesitation with Loki wasn’t based on his climbing skill: it was the very real possibility of manipulation and backstabbing during the climb.
As for the Avengers characters Hiddleston said, “Thor is beefy; they’re all pretty beefy, to be honest. Like, I think Hemsworth could do it. I’ve never seen him at altitude, though, so I, you know… (Chris, I have faith in you always.) If the Hulk is in a good mood, that’s some leg power just puts you up the mountain.”
Hiddleston’s main criteria seemed to be “no cheating.” The Avengers picked for a climb like Everest had to actually do the climbing. Ergo, flying characters were not a cheat code. “You don’t want to cheat. Okay, so that takes out Doctor Strange. It takes out Sam Wilson. Who else? Iron man’s flying you up there. Scarlet witch has got a magical spell…”
Hiddleston ended up deferring to his co-star Genden Phuntsok, who chose “Black Panther.” Everyone agreed that was probably one of the most sensible answers, as do we. How about you?
Tenzing is now streaming on Apple TV. Tom Hilddleston will return as Loki in Avengers: Doomsday on December 18th.
