Loki Won’t Be In ‘The Avengers 2,’ Says Joss Whedon [Audio]

Thor’s archnemesis and adoptive brother Loki won’t be appearing in The Avengers sequel, according to director Joss Whedon.

Whedon told Empire Friday that the supervillain, who first appeared in 2011’s Thor, won’t be reprising his role for The Avengers 2. 

“Everyone is going to be looking for the Loki-Hulk smash moment and you’ll be looking for [a quim moment]. First of all, imitating what I did before is the surest way to do it not as well,” Whedon said, referring to a scene in The Avengers in which Loki (Tom Hiddleston) calls Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) a “mewling quim.”

Whedon added, “Second of all, Loki’s not there to say those terrible things. Although I do think we should bring the word back, not as an insult, it’s just a nice word.”

Hiddleston seemed to foresee his character being cut from the sequel.

“I haven’t spoken to Joss. He’s definitely doing it. So I suspect not, only because I think that probably the audiences are tired of Loki being the bad guy,” he said last December. “Maybe the Avengers need somebody else to fight.”

While Loki won’t be in The Avengers 2, which is slated to be released May 1, 2015, he will still be appearing in Thor: The Dark World, which is currently in post-production and set to be released November 8.

Joss Whedon also recently clarified that there would not be a crossover between The Avengers 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy.

“We’re following Guardians at Shepperton [with Avengers 2], but we won’t be swapping cast members,” Whedon told Bleeding Cool. “Every movie is its own thing and has to be. Unless I take a lot of peyote and write a very different draft, and I’m not ruling that out.”

You can listen to Whedon’s entire Empire interview below.

Are you disappointed that Loki won’t be returning for The Avengers 2?