CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Tom Hiddleston, who plays Loki in Marvel's "The Avengers" movie that opens Friday, said his most striking memory of Cleveland is standing on Public Square in front of the entrance to Tower City as 400 people knelt at his feet.

"It gives me a strange and perverse thrill to remember 400 Clevelanders kneeling to me," he said with a laugh. "It was the scene where Loki makes his presence known on Earth, and it's a very big scene. It was 3 in the morning, and we had been at it all night and these people were freezing and yet were just so gracious.

"When Director Joss Whedon said 'Cut,' everyone burst into applause. It was amazing."

Hiddleston, 31, who recently appeared in "War Horse," "Midnight in Paris" and "The Deep Blue Sea," is a native of London and a classically trained actor.

Many of his Cleveland scenes were shot at night. He was on the set from sundown to sunup.

In a telephone interview last week from Miami, Hiddleston said he had a great time while filming in Cleveland last summer.

"We worked long hours, but I had Sundays off," he said. "I went for a run around the football stadium. The Browns, right? And that was a lot of fun. I even got to go to a Browns game. They were fantastic, and they won."

Because Hiddleston was in town at just the right time, he was also able to catch an Indians game

"They let me throw out the first pitch," he said. "As a Brit, I was not aware of what a huge honor that is."

Hiddleston's character in "The Avengers" has an icy stare and cold demeanor that dominates the movie about Marvel Comics premiere superhero team. Loki and his alien allies prove a match for the combined might of Iron Man, The Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Captain America and even Loki's half-brother, Thor.

Hiddleston devours his role as a prince of deception. His performance captures the villainy that comic readers have come to expect from Loki, a constant threat in Marvel comics for almost 50 years.

Hiddleston didn't get to read the comics growing up in Great Britain, but was not a stranger to American comic book characters.

"I knew Spider-Man from the cartoons as a child," he said. "I loved the cartoons and the movies. Saw them all. I also played a trading card game that featured Marvel superheroes with my friends."

When he auditioned for the role of Loki in the "Thor" movie, a role he would repeat in "The Avengers," he went to a London comic shop and bought every Thor comic they had.

"I had six months before the beginning of shooting so I just went home and read every Thor comic I had, and I had tons of them," he said. "What a great job, to sit at home and read comics all day. It gave me a great insight into my character and the others."

When he was cast in the "The Avengers," he did the same thing.

"I paid special attention to the earliest issues of 'The Avengers' because that's what Joss drew on for the movie," he said. "I love an early scene where Loki says something like 'Bah, I will destroy you all.' What a great scene. Joss combined the first adventure [from 1963] with a new series called 'The Ultimates' by Mark Millar (an alternate universe version of The Avengers) to create the movie."

"It's a big, big film," he said. "They made something exceptional. It's all your favorite superheroes played by some of the biggest stars in the world, and it piles action on action. Then Joss Whedon did what he does well, he adds humor to it."

Hiddleston co-stars with a cast that includes Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Chris Evans (Captain America), Scarlet Johansson (Black Widow), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) and Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk).

Hiddleston also got to see something most people in Ohio never do while filming scenes at the NASA Plum Brook facility near Sandusky. The facility is closed to the public.

"That was astonishing," he said. "We shot scenes in a chamber that they use to test satellites before they are shot into space. They can raise the heat to 400 degrees and equally cold in there. It has never been used for a movie."

He said he wished he had more time to play tourist.

"It was a beautiful area. My eyes were always open," he said. "Usually when Brits come to America they stay along either coast. It was an eye-opener to see the interior of the country."

Hiddleston said Clevelanders treated him and other cast and crew members "impeccably."

"They were so kind to us, even though in most of the movie Cleveland is supposed to be New York," he said. "And [they were nice] even after we blew up one of your main streets."

Hiddleston said he does not know if he will be part of the planned Avengers sequel.

He said before Avengers II can be made, it will be set up by "Iron Man 3" (now being filmed in South Carolina), "Thor 2" and" Captain America 2."

"It will follow these movies which will lead into it," he said. "I really hope I am involved."