Tom Hiddleston says Tim Burton’s Batman inspired his portrayal of Loki

Tom Hiddleston says his portrayal of Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was directly inspired by Tim Burton’s Batman, revealing that a classic DC villain helped shape one of Marvel’s most iconic characters.

Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the actor said watching Burton’s 1989 Batman — and Jack Nicholson’s performance as the Joker — had a lasting impact on him. “Truthfully, I don’t think I would’ve played Loki without that film,” Hiddleston said.

He explained that Nicholson’s take on the Joker reshaped his understanding of what a villain could be. “I think the way Jack Nicholson played the Joker was so… at the time in my life when I saw it, it made such an impact on my imagination,” he said. “I understood he was the villain, but he was having such a good time. He was so charismatic and so inventive and so free.”

Hiddleston said that sense of playful danger carried directly into his approach to Loki. “I think, probably, when I came to play Loki for the first film, I consciously carried Jack Nicholson in mind,” he said, noting that he wanted Loki to feel dangerous but entertaining rather than purely menacing.

The actor also reflected on how childhood movie villains shaped his acting instincts more broadly. He has previously said he stands “on the shoulders of the villains I loved as a child,” citing Nicholson’s Joker alongside Alan Rickman in Die Hard and James Mason in North by Northwest. “I loved villains who enjoyed themselves,” he said.

Hiddleston revealed that while filming the first Thor movie, he and director Kenneth Branagh experimented with multiple performance styles for Loki to explore the character’s complexity. “We did the Peter O’Toole take,” he said. “And then a Jack Nicholson take, where I was having the most fun in the room. And then a Clint Eastwood take, where whatever I was feeling would be hidden deep within me and you wouldn’t be able to see it.”

That layered approach helped turn Loki into one of the Marvel universe’s most enduring characters, evolving from a mischievous villain into a complex antihero across films and television series.

Hiddleston’s comments highlight how inspiration can cross comic book universes, with a DC film helping define a Marvel role — and how a childhood viewing experience ultimately shaped a career-defining performance.