Here’s How Tom Hiddleston Ruined NWH For This Star

NWH lacked nothing in terms of entertainment value for audiences. Those moments when the entire theater is clapping, applauding, and possibly even jumping out of

By Mabel Judith Andrady
March 5,2022
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NWH lacked nothing in terms of entertainment value for audiences. Those moments when the entire theater is clapping, applauding, and possibly even jumping out of their seats with enthusiasm are familiar to everyone. In large part, this was due to Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Men making their presence known and staying put.

They weren’t the only ones to show up in the movie. Other big surprises included Charlie Cox, who plays Daredevil, returning to the show as a cast member. Since Netflix canceled Daredevil in 2018, the character has not been seen. When the actor sat next to Holland in that chair, the cheers could be heard around the world. Many fans had assumed that he would never reprise the role.

However, Cox’s in-theater experience was marred not only by the lack of applause, but also by his own disappointment at the performance of Tom Hiddleston as Loki. Either way, the way Tom Hiddleston ruined NWH is quite a funny story.

The Hiddleston Disappointment That Happened By Accident

Loki in The Avengers 2012
Loki

ComicBook.com spoke with Charlie Cox about a story he had previously told about seeing NWH in a theater and gaining silent responses from the crowd during his appearance in it.

When he learned he’d reprise his role as Matt Murdock, the actor made a phone call to Loki’s Tom Hiddleston:

“One of my first phone calls, when I found out I was coming back, even though I was trying not to tell anyone, I was living in fear for two years of it being leaked, it was this big surprise. When I was on the set, I was wearing the thing everywhere, blah, blah. One of my first phone calls, and I knew I could tell him because I also knew he knew, was Tom Hiddleston, he’s one of my best friends.”

As soon as the film was released, Hiddleston told Cox, “no matter what you do, you have to sneak into the back of a theater:”

“He said to me, and he was shooting Loki at the time, so he’d spoken to those guys, and he knew, and they knew we were friends, and all that stuff, so he knew about it. I spoke to him, and he said to me, ‘Whatever you do when the film comes out, you’ve got to sneak into the back of a theater because it will go crazy.’ And I remember thinking, no, it won’t. It’ll be nice to be there, but I think he’s thinking what it would be like for Loki to appear in that moment, where the Loki fan base is unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Although friends in attendance at the film’s official premiere raved about how his scene got a “huge reaction,” the Daredevil star admitted that he “didn’t really believe it.”

“But it was nice him to say, but I didn’t really believe it. When we were shooting the scene, the creative decision was made, they were going to build in a moment for the fans to react before any lines were said. We had this shot with the cane, and then the camera comes around before I say anything. I remember them talking about it on set, and I’m like, ‘I hope it’s worth it, this is dead silent.’ Anyway, the movie’s coming out, and obviously, I’m not at the premiere because I’m a secret all this kind of stuff. But I have friends at the premier who texted me and called me, and they were like, “Oh my God, it was a huge reaction.”

The actor and his wife eventually went to “a big IMAX near our house,” despite their initial reluctance to go to the theater because of their concerns about COVID-19.

“My wife was going to record [his] reaction,” Cox continued, “but the theater… was dead quiet when the big moment came:”

“My cousins get to go and see the movie in the first weekend, and they filmed it, and there’s this big reaction, and there are a few on YouTube that people have sent me. I’m getting loads of emails and texts, and I knew I was going anyway, but I just wasn’t sure when, and I was traveling, I was worried about COVID and being in a movie theater and all of those kind of things. My wife and I were like, ‘We’re going.’ I’m not going to say where, but we went through a big IMAX near our house.

I’m not on social media, but I was vaguely thinking about, my wife was going to record my reaction to the reaction, and maybe it would be a nice thing, and I could then give that footage to Marvel or Sony and have them release it as a nice little moment. For whatever reason, the theater I was in was dead quiet, it was tumbleweed. I think I heard one person go, one person went, ‘Oh,’ and that was it.”

It was “a real letdown,” the actor admitted, but it made for “a funny story”:

“It was a real letdown, it was a shame. You can go online, you can go on YouTube, you can type in, ‘Spiderman reaction to Daredevil entrance,’ and there are some amazing reactions. I did not get that experience. It’s kind of a funny story.”

Is the video of this bitter disappointment still available? Hiddleston “thought it was very, very funny” when Cox shared the story with him, even though Tom Hiddleston ruined NWH for him and that the video is on his wife’s phone:

“Yeah. On my wife’s phone… It literally ends with me going, ‘Shut it off’… I shared that story with Tom and he thought it was very, very funny. He was both right and wrong about that.”

Give Charlie Cox a Big Cheer!

Charlie Cox as Daredevil
Charlie Cox

The first time Charlie Cox discussed it, some fans might have found it disheartening. Many felt that the character merited every single round of applause.

Tom Hiddleston’s genuine enthusiasm for Cox ended up falling flat on its face, though. They got a good laugh out of it, at the very least. A silent theater reaction to the Loki actor’s appearances as the God of Mischief is probably something he hasn’t seen before, so he probably didn’t expect it.

All thanks to how Tom Hiddleston ruined NWH, Cox bears the brunt of the blame. He didn’t appear to attend an opening weekend screening. After that, many fans may realize that their chances of having an exhilarating cinematic experience diminish dramatically. Nothing could possibly compare to what he saw on the opening night of the film, even if it was days after its official release date.