Richard E. Grant Wanted Muscles In His Loki Costume

Not every actor that plays a superhero gets a costume with built-in muscles, but then again, not everyone gets as jacked as the likes of Dwayne Johnson, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans and even Kumail Nanjiani. Anthony Mackie revealed he worked very hard to accomplish the fabled Dorito, but Richard E. Grant sounds disappointed that he didn’t get any extra help from the wardrobe department for his recent stint as Loki.

The older version of the trickster seen in Episode 5 is perhaps the most powerful variant we’ve seen yet, based on his abilities to conjure an entire recreation of Asgard out of nowhere. Grant’s mix of comic timing and gravitas made him the ideal fit for the role, especially when he looked completely ridiculous in his outfit, but in a new interview the 64 year-old admitted that he was hoping to look a little more buff than he did.

“They sent me a sketch, with muscles, I might add. Maybe they assumed that I had some, but of course I turned up looking like a stick insect. And I did say to the costume designer, ‘Your drawing of what I look like has got muscles and looks fantastic. That’s what I would love to look like’. So I assumed, from her drawing that she sent to me in advance, that that’s what I would have. I would step into a sort of Batman-like muscle suit, like the Jack Kirby drawings. But that was not to be and I thought, ‘Oh well, old, withered Loki is more likely what I’ve ended up with’. Not much for Asgard to fight off!”

The actor’s spindly frame ultimately added to the character, offering an extra layer of world-weariness to his portrayal of a variant hiding out in the Void, and it would have been very strange to see someone like Grant strutting around the Marvel Cinematic Universe boasting a set of bulging biceps that very obviously didn’t belong to him.

Of course, the lack of muscularity didn’t stop fans from naming him as the highlight of the episode, and given the limitless storytelling opportunities provided by the MCU’s multiverse, we may not have seen the last of Classic Loki. On the plus side, if Grant does get the call to return somewhere down the line, he can at least give the costume team a heads up that he wants to look more like Hemsworth’s Thor than Tom Hiddleston’s trickster.