"Superhero films offer a shared, faithless, modern mythology, through which these truths can be explored," Hiddleston writes. "In our increasingly secular society, with so many disparate gods and different faiths, superhero films present a unique canvas upon which our shared hopes, dreams and apocalyptic nightmares can be projected and played out.

"Ancient societies had anthropomorphic gods: a huge pantheon expanding into centuries of dynastic drama; fathers and sons, martyred heroes, star-crossed lovers, the deaths of kings – stories that taught us of the danger of hubris and the primacy of humility. It's the everyday stuff of every man's life, and we love it," the star continued.

PHOTOS: Avengers Red Carpet Premiere

Hiddleston is well acquainted with highbrow drama. He has starred with Rachel Weisz in the big screen adaptation of the hit play The Deep Blue Sea, and is due to star in a series of BBC TV adaptations of Shakespeare's Henry IV and V.

Then there are the massive visual accomplishments of the genre's pictures, which Hiddleston also uses in his case.

"Superhero movies also represent the pinnacle of cinema as 'motion picture.' I'd like to think that the Lumière brothers would thrill at the cat-and-mouse chase through the netherworld streets of Gotham in The Dark Knight, with helicopters tripping on high-tensile wires and falling from the sky, and a huge Joker-driven triple-length truck upending 180 degrees like a Russian acrobat," he writes.

"I hope that they would cheer and delight at the rollercoaster ride through the skies of Manhattan at the end of Avengers Assemble [the film's British title]. These scenes are the result of a creative engine set in motion when the Lumières shot Train en Gare de la Ciotat in 1895," Hiddleston continued, showing an appreciation for film history. "The trains just move a lot faster these days. And not just trains; trucks, bikes, bat-mobiles and men in flying, shining iron suits. The spectacle is part of the fun – part of the art, part of our shared joy."