Watch Tom Hiddleston, Loki himself, watch his thunderous audition tape for the role of Thor

Did you know that Tom Hiddleston tried out for the role of Thor before he landed the part of Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Now you do! While appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night, the actor watched a fragment of his incredible audition for the once-petulant prince of Asgard.

"At the time, they were looking for sort of less well-established actors so that the audience didn't have an association," he explained of the three-month audition process. "They just wanted people to see these new characters, these new actors. The remit was if you were over six foot and you've got blonde hair, you could come and have a pop at it. I never auditioned for Loki, I only ever auditioned for Thor, which is nuts."

Take a look below. The short audition snippet begins at 2:28:

Hiddleston's stab at playing Thor is briefly mentioned in a featurette on the home-video release of Thor: The Dark World, but for some reason this bit of MCU trivia still isn't too widely known. The topic was also discussed on The Graham Norton Show in 2015. Kenneth Branagh, director of the first Thor movie, explained:

"It was a very sort of brilliant kind of pitch for the part. He [came in] and wowed the room as Loki and as Thor ... Fair play to Tom, he just went for it."

In the end, the God of Thunder role went to Chris Hemsworth, but everything worked out for Hiddleston, who got to play one of the MCU's best villains. The character is even getting his own live-action TV show on Disney+, which, according to Hiddleston, goes into production next year. Like WandaVision, Loki will hit Disney+ in the spring of 2021.

"It's amazing. I never expected it," Hiddleston said on The Tonight Show. "I auditioned for the first Thor film 10 years ago, in 2009, and I just thought I was auditioning for a movie; an interesting part, an interesting movie. Back then, the Marvel Universe was only [just beginning]. They'd just made Iron Man and I just thought, 'I'll have a go.' I didn't expect to be cast at all. I can't believe I've got my own show. So exciting."

The show will follow the version of Loki we revisited during the "Time Heist" portion of Avengers: Endgame, and is poised to explain where Thor's adopted brother went with the 2012-era Space Stone.