'Assembled: The Making Of Loki': 15 Things We Learned About Marvel's Multiverse Mischief
Today, Disney+ surprisingly dropped Assembled: The Making of Loki documentary into their streaming library. The latest installment of the ongoing series that chronicles the making of Marvel Studios projects reveals how Tom Hiddleston's return as Loki was developed and produced, as well as plenty of fascinating tidbits from behind the scenes. It's not all Infinity Stones and wild sex either. So let's check out the 15 things we learned from Assembled: The Making of Loki.
Tom Hiddleston Got a Tesseract Cake on His Birthday
During the first day of production on Loki, actor Tom Hiddleston celebrated a birthday, and Marvel gave him a cake that was made to look like the Tesseract that Loki was chasing down in The Avengers. It looks delicious and powerful at the same time.
Tom Hiddleston's Auditioned for Thor with an American Accent
A brief snippet of Tom Hiddleston's audition for the original Thor showed off his attempt to portray the God of Thunder in the movie. For some reason, he's performing the character with an American accent rather than a British accent. It's rather odd, but at least it didn't ruin his chances of being cast in the role he was destined for in the franchise.
Loki Was on Screen for Less Than Two Hours in the MCU
Despite appearing in six movies across 10 years in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tom Hiddleston had less than two hours of screen time. That changed dramatically after Loki, which runs 280 minutes and 17 seconds, more than double the original amount of time he had on screen in the feature films.
Loki Almost Had All the Infinity Stones and Alien Sex
You can check out our larger story on this detail over here, but at one point, Loki was intended to have a montage where he escaped the Time Variance Authority and got everything he ever wanted. He wielded all the Infinity Stones and had a lot of bisexual and alien sex, and he finally became King of Asgard. But ultimately he realized that it meant nothing while the TVA was in control of everything. That sequence never made it into the show.
Owen Wilson Has Some Shakespeare Knowledge
During the interviews with the cast, Owen Wilson talks about an amusing exchange he had with Tom Hiddleston about Hamlet. This leads into a great two-hander conversation between them about William Shakespeare where Owen Wilson reveals that he actually has a good amount of knowledge about the historic playwright's work. Wilson even quotes The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
Rocket Raccoon Was Almost a Variant of the Timeline
When a piece of concept art of the waiting line for violations against the Sacred Timeline in the Time Variance Authority, Loki is seen standing behind a familiar raccoon. Dressed in a TVA jumpsuit, this appears to be Rocket Raccoon. It could very well be another anthropomorphic trash panda, but now we can't stop thinking about what an interaction between Loki and the smart-ass raccoon would have been like.
Hunter B-15 Counts "Kills" on Her Helmet
If you look closely at Hunter B-15's helmet, you'll see that it has a bunch of hash marks counted on it. Those are meant to denote the number of "kills" that she has in her career, which presumably means the number of people she's pruned and sent to The Void (though she didn't really know what was happening).
David Lynch's Dune Inspired the Time Doors
The documentary reveals that the time portals that the Time Variance Authority uses to appear at various points across time were inspired by the shield practice scene from David Lynch's adaptation of Dune (seen above). They actually tried out around 150 different variations on how the doors appeared and how people passed through them.
The Lamentis-1 City Chase Used a Huge Practical Set
The action-packed sequence that finds Loki and Sylvie running through the city of Sharoo on Lamentis-1 as it's being hit with asteroids was completed on a large practical set. There were around eight or nine different shots stitched together to make it appear as if the entire run around the city was a single take.
Richard E. Grant Was Drawn into Loki Concept Art
Tom Hiddleston says that Richard E. Grant was the first choice to play Classic Loki. In fact, everyone was so set on having him play the role that even the concept art depicted the actor in the vintage Loki costume from the old Marvel Comics. Richard E. Grant seems to think there was someone else that they might have gone to if he was unable to do the series, and now we're wondering who he has in mind. Maybe Bill Nighy?
All the Other Variant Lokis Have Nicknames
You know about Classic Loki, Kid Loki, Boastful Loki, and Alligator Loki, but all the other variant Lokis who appear in the fifth episode of the series have nicknames too. Unfortunately, we don't learn all of them, but a few are referenced in the documentary. There's Glamshades Loki, Poky Loki, In Prison Loki, and Bicycle Loki — all named by costume designer Christine Wada.
A Support Alligator Named Wally Inspired Alligator Loki
The look of Alligator Loki was influenced by a real-life support alligator named Wally. You find out more about this friendly alligator over here. Director Kate Herron told the character designers that she wanted a handsome alligator with beautiful eyes, and they delivered.
The Citadel is Carved from the Asteroid It's On
The Citadel at the End of Time in which He Who Remains has been living is carved out of the asteroid on which it sits. Kate Herron revealed this during the documentary, and if you look at the statues of the Time Keepers in Judge Renslayer's office, they have the same design with black stone and gold cracks all over them.
He Who Remains' Wardrobe is from Several Time Periods
Since He Who Remains has been around for so long and has experienced all of time, his costume is pieced together from all sorts of different time periods. The cape is from the Victorian era, the shoes are from Genghis Khan, and the pants from Mongolia, etc.
Owen Wilson Didn't Know What the Marvel Cinematic Universe Was
In one final scene of Assembled: The Making of Loki, Tom Hiddleston makes reference to the fact that Mobius is upending the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Owen Wilson reacts in a confused manner by asking, "What's that?" Hiddleston has to explain what the term is, and Wilson politely listens. He's clearly only concerned about what Mobius is doing and doesn't need to know how the rest of the MCU works.