Tom Hiddleston has been a little elusive when it comes to what role Loki will play in Joss Whedon's The Avengers. Oh heck, let's just say it. He's been downright misleading, even at one point saying that Loki won't appear at all. The trickster God is going to have his hands full with his brother come this weekend when Thor finally hits theaters, but Loki's role in The Avengers has been a mystery. We know he'll be in it, and for months the speculation has been that he'll use the power of the Cosmic Cube(discovered in Captain America: The First Avenger) to summon the warlike alien race The Skrulls to attack the earth. This would be the catalyzing event that brings The Avengers together.
Well Vulture recently had a sit down with the Brit actor, who gives the impression that not only will Loki be in the thick of the Avengers action, he might be ready to take the supergroup on all by himself...
Hiddleston: Well, I think it was a plan from the get-go, but it wasn’t really dead-set until near the end of Thor. What was wonderful is that about four days after I wrapped on Thor, I went out for a cup of tea with Joss Whedon. We sat down at two o’clock in the afternoon, and we were still sitting there at six o’clock. He said, “Listen, you’ve lived with this guy for six months. I want you to spill the beans and tell me all of his dark secrets. Who is this guy? Why is he who he is?” Ken had already shown him a rough cut of the film, and mercifully, everything I had done accorded with Joss’s idea of the character, too. I’m really so flattered that Marvel and Josh think I can take them all on. In Avengers, it’s going to be me versus seven of them, and I say “Good luck to them,” frankly.
That statement can be seen a number of ways. It could mean the Skrull storyline is very much in play, or it could mean something totally different. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough. Personally I love the idea of the Skrulls showing up, because their shapeshifting powers should cause a hell of a lot of confusion in the Avengers ranks, leading to some tense moments.
One thing I'm getting really worried about is superhero overload. There are too many superhero comics out there already(although most don't last long), and I don't want there to be so many movies that I start ignoring them too. The Avengers will no doubt be the launch pad for a number of potential spinoffs, and according to Marvel Films chatty prez, Kevin Feige, Hawkeye(Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow(Scarlett Johansson) are the leading candidates for solo projects. This isn't anything new as we've heard about a potential Black Widow film since back when Iron Man 2 was shooting, but with Feige's backing you can all but take it to the bank.
Feige also revealed to The Playlist that Marvel will be introducing their next crop of films, likely for 2013 and beyond, later this summer. Whether that will be at Comic-Con in July remains to be seen. The question is which films will he announce? Black Panther actually has a screenwriter attached to it in Mark Bailey, while Doctor Strange has been mentioned more than once as well. And let's not forget Edgar Wright's slow moving Ant-Man pic. It could be any or all of them, or none at all. Personally I'm hoping for Runaways
. 
