How one man become a 'sex icon'
If you’ve ever dared touch the timeline button on Facebook or managed to save the Myspace and Bebo pictures before they were purged from the Earth, you know celebrities’ pain when those terrible, terrible pre-Instagram filter photos are dragged from the depths of Hell. In that time, you feel Tom Hiddleston‘s pain.
Since he hit our screens properly in Thor (2009), he’s developed quite the sexually aggressive fan base, called the Hiddlestoners. They do everything from make gifs, write fan-fiction that you wouldn’t show your gran, and defend their dear star to the death.
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But poor Tom wasn’t always the sexual icon who has flings with Taylor Swift (who just broke up with Calvin Harris, the sexiest of all the DJs) and didn’t always feature in gifs that make you very, very uncomfortable.
No, Tom Hiddleston had the unfortunate phase in the 00s where, for the first time in our lives, our mum didn’t dress us and we picked the worst possible outfits. That’s why you look so bad in those pictures. Remember.
Except in Tom’s case, as he was in his 20s.
MORE: WATCH Tom Hiddleston and Taylor Swift spotted dancing at a Selena Gomez concert
So let’s go on a journey through the years of Tom Hiddleston’s amazing transformation from geek to Nerd Chic.
@TomCapon
Tom Hiddleston
In his humble beginnings as a theatre enthusiast, did he know that his loyal fans would thrust their graphic, Hiddlestoner fantasies onto him?
Tom Hiddleston
Appearing in Suburban Shootout, Tom began his first flirt with the term ‘heartthrob’ at the humble age of 25. On Channel 5.
Credit: Channel 5
Tom Hiddleston
Back before the chic days, Tom looks like he’s borrowed his Dad’s suit
Credit: Dan Wooller/REX/Shutterstock
Tom Hiddleston and Mick Hucknall
At around the same time Mick Hucknall is an alternate reality, ginger and more annoying version of Tom
Credit: REX/Shutterstock
Justin Timberlake
You know how JT, still a sex icon and has been since the Chosen Day where he brought Sexy Back, had instant noodle hair in N’Sync?
Tom Hiddleston and Benedict Cumberbatch
Tom had a thought: ‘How about instead of ramen hair, I hang out with Benedict Cumberbatch. Then maybe people will…’
Credit: Richard Young/REX/Shutterstock
Tom Hiddleston
You’re looking at the dying days of a long Hiddleston tradition: no ramen, but still all the forehead possible
Credit: Paul Lovelace/REX/Shutterstock
Tom Hiddleston
And then it began – Tom transformed into Loki in Thor (2009) and that weird, dominating stare which has provoked the most… interesting fan fiction of any celebrity
Credit: REX/Shutterstock
Tom Hiddleston
Though he still looks like he stole this uniform from a real adult
Credit: REX/Shutterstock
Tom Hiddleston
His status as a sex symbol only just starting, he decided to experiment with his image to see where it could take him. Thus the facial hair and the stance that would inspire George Osborne two years later.
Credit: Picture Perfect/REX/Shutterstock
Tom Hiddleston
By this point Tom has so many fans that the Queen is here to visit him
Credit: Richard Young/REX/Shutterstock
Tom Hiddleston
And finally, he’s found the only suit that fits him
Credit: Ray Tang/REX/Shutterstock
