What You Need to Know Before Watching the Premiere of Loki
Loki, Prince of Asgard, brother to Thor, God of Mischief, trickster, villain turned anti-hero — whatever you know him as, Tom Hiddleston's character is arguably one of the MCU's most beloved. He also happens to have one of the biggest character arcs of any villain in the series.
Below, we recap all the movies that Loki has been in since his introduction into the MCU — and where his new series might lead.
First introduced in Thor in a realm called Asgard, Loki was depicted as the jealous and damaged younger brother of the God of Lighting, lashing out against his family in the most violent way possible. Wanting the throne for himself, Loki schemed with the Frost Giants on the day of Thor’s coronation to launch an attack on Asgard. Later, he later found out he was one of them, and that he had been adopted as a baby by Odin, the King of Asgard.
In Avengers, Loki ups the ante on his supervillain status, leading a failed alien invasion of Earth. Later, Loki reappears in Thor: The Dark World as his brother's sidekick before he faked a Shakespearean death — one that ends with him usurping his father’s throne in Thor: Ragnarok. He ends his character arc accepting himself as a God more content with mischief than conquest.
Unfortunately, Thanos ended his story by strangling him in the opening moments of Infinity War. Things seemed bleak for Loki— that is until Endgame. The 2012 version of Loki happened upon a dropped Tesseract and was pulled out of his own character arc — due to some time travel shenanigans from the Avengers— and breaks the established timeline using the Tesseract to escape imprisonment.
He's likely branching off to a new, alternate reality we have not seen before — but something to note is that we'll be following a Loki that hasn't gone through all the character development that his slain counterpart in Infinity War has.
In the teasers we've seen so far, it's clear that Loki is now in the hands of an organisation called the Time Variance Authority — the organisation overseeing time travel, if you will. His antics have apparently "broke reality," as Owen Wilson's character Mobius tells him.
Additionally, a new teaser recently confirmed that the Asgardian tricker identifies as gender fluid — which might not be news to some, given the character's shapeshifting abilities.
In the Nordic myths, Loki is the catalyst of change. He’s the agent that propels the Norse myths forward by inciting dramatic chaos. The Nordic myths established Loki’s endless obsession to be recognised as a god, to be accepted and respected as an equal — and when he can’t achieve that, he is left with jealousy and hatred. That's the core loop of his identity. Loki starts with something that he’s not, only to transform into something new — round and round he goes tangled in a constant cycle of dramatic change and evolution.How will that all play out in the new series? We'll find out soon.
Loki premieres 9 June on Disney+ in Singapore.
