Loki Appreciation 2019

[Raye]

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...ion-2019/page4

This is a link to the Angela thread, but it has the preview for Asgsrdians of the Galaxy. Looks like there is a plan to save Annabelle, but maybe this could be where we see Loki?

I have doubts about that. I think the reason Annabelle is still alive, and it's Clea that came, is because her body died during Bunn's run on Defenders, and it was Clea that attached her soul to Brunnhilde's body. (it was Brunnhilde that caused her death, inadvertently, so she insisted in order to make up for it) So Brunnhilde dying doesn't necessarily mean Annabelle died, but, as she says, there is probably a narrow window of time to work with before she needs to be attached to a new body. Basically, i think this is more of a continuation of Cullen Bunn's Defenders run than it is tied to events in Asgardians of the Galaxy specifically, I think Bunn just wants to ensure that a character he created doesn't die because Brunnhilde did. Annabelle's soul needs to be attached to another body, Loki's body is in no shape for that at the moment, it needs to be a living body, which his isn't right now, so it's unlikely he's going to be involved here. It will likely either be one of her teammates right now, Angela, maybe, or it will be attached to the Destroyer armor, kinda like Alphonse in Fullmetal Alchemist. both have drawbacks and upsides. If one of her other teammates, it means she is back to sharing a body, with only one of them being in control at any one time, and as with Valkyrie, she can die as a result of them dying while having no input on the situation. The Destroyer means she can be in control at all times, and it is a very powerful body, but she would lose her humanity in a physical sense which would be hard. Also, it only has one arm, and it's unlikely to get the missing arm back now that Thor's claimed it for himself. I mean yeah, if Clea can attach souls to other bodies, it's technically possible that she could do the same for Loki, but I just don't see that happening. I don't think Loki is on Clea's radar, and i don't think she's going to go around attaching all the souls stuck on Midgard to other people's bodies.

ps. anyone else like super anxious to get the August solicits? I wanna see what we can learn from the solicits for issue 2. (and from that month's Thor solicit)

[Prof. Aegis]

I have doubts about that. I think the reason Annabelle is still alive, and it's Clea that came, is because her body died during Bunn's run on Defenders, and it was Clea that attached her soul to Brunnhilde's body. (it was Brunnhilde that caused her death, inadvertently, so she insisted in order to make up for it) So Brunnhilde dying doesn't necessarily mean Annabelle died, but, as she says, there is probably a narrow window of time to work with before she needs to be attached to a new body. Basically, i think this is more of a continuation of Cullen Bunn's Defenders run than it is tied to events in Asgardians of the Galaxy specifically, I think Bunn just wants to ensure that a character he created doesn't die because Brunnhilde did. Annabelle's soul needs to be attached to another body, Loki's body is in no shape for that at the moment, it needs to be a living body, which his isn't right now, so it's unlikely he's going to be involved here. It will likely either be one of her teammates right now, Angela, maybe, or it will be attached to the Destroyer armor, kinda like Alphonse in Fullmetal Alchemist. both have drawbacks and upsides. If one of her other teammates, it means she is back to sharing a body, with only one of them being in control at any one time, and as with Valkyrie, she can die as a result of them dying while having no input on the situation. The Destroyer means she can be in control at all times, and it is a very powerful body, but she would lose her humanity in a physical sense which would be hard. Also, it only has one arm, and it's unlikely to get the missing arm back now that Thor's claimed it for himself. I mean yeah, if Clea can attach souls to other bodies, it's technically possible that she could do the same for Loki, but I just don't see that happening. I don't think Loki is on Clea's radar, and i don't think she's going to go around attaching all the souls stuck on Midgard to other people's bodies.

ps. anyone else like super anxious to get the August solicits? I wanna see what we can learn from the solicits for issue 2. (and from that month's Thor solicit)

Yeah, I can see Bunn wrapping up this series with a way for Annabelle to be separated from Brunnhilde so he can use her in other series later. And this series will probably just funnel into the War of the Realms final issues. But it should be some good last few issues.

I'm very much looking forward to next week and the August solicits for Loki and Thor and see where things go with both series.

Plus did you see how the upcoming Acts of Evil annuals is supposedly being headed up by Loki setting villains against different heroes than they've come up against before? Curious to know how much play he really has.

[Raye]

Wait, so it's Acts of Vengeance again? just, straight up? i mean i knew it was inspired by it, the villain swapping, logo, and the 'acts of' bit made that pretty clear. But his plan didn't work the first time... Magneto and Red Skull turned on each other. (which should have been obvious from the outset, really ) And he's not the bad guy... or are people just assuming he's behind it because he was behind Acts of Vengeance? Because i just looked up the new announcements and am not seeing any mention of Loki in them, except for mentioning he was behind Acts of Vengeance. I do kinda expect him to be involved in some way though, just because it was his plot n the first place. Maybe it's that he's pitting villains against heroes he's pretty sure they will lose against? though a lot of them seem to be out of the heroes weight class (Kamala vs Super Skrull, Moon Knight vs Kang, Punisher vs the Brood Queen, and Deadpool vs Nightmare in particular)

[Rosebunse]

Actually, those matchups aren't too out of left field. Well, Frank vs the Brood is, but as for those other ones: Kamala has similar powers to a Skrull, Moon Knight is the avatar of an Egyptian god and Kang has been pharoah a few times, and Deadpool has a lot of nightmares and is something of a trickster like Nightmare. Sort of.

And even with Frank and the Brood, Frank sort of sees criminals as inhuman vermin, so this isn't too far from what he is used to.

There is some logic here.

Loki being involved would be interesting, especially with him being "good" and maybe using this as a way to take care of some problems his own way. Again, if he is getting Thor's job, that means getting Thor's problems.

[Prof. Aegis]

Wait, so it's Acts of Vengeance again? just, straight up? i mean i knew it was inspired by it, the villain swapping, logo, and the 'acts of' bit made that pretty clear. But his plan didn't work the first time... Magneto and Red Skull turned on each other. (which should have been obvious from the outset, really ) And he's not the bad guy... or are people just assuming he's behind it because he was behind Acts of Vengeance? Because i just looked up the new announcements and am not seeing any mention of Loki in them, except for mentioning he was behind Acts of Vengeance. I do kinda expect him to be involved in some way though, just because it was his plot n the first place. Maybe it's that he's pitting villains against heroes he's pretty sure they will lose against? though a lot of them seem to be out of the heroes weight class (Kamala vs Super Skrull, Moon Knight vs Kang, Punisher vs the Brood Queen, and Deadpool vs Nightmare in particular)

Holy crap! I went looking for the original info either on Bleeding Cool or Newsarama and it was changed. If I remember correctly, I saw it mentioned on Bleeding Cool about Loki being the one, but when I went back to find it, it was change and not there. So either there was a mistake or more of that will be released later. Sorry about that, I know I did see Loki's name attached. Ugh.

[Rosebunse]

Holy crap! I went looking for the original info either on Bleeding Cool or Newsarama and it was changed. If I remember correctly, I saw it mentioned on Bleeding Cool about Loki being the one, but when I went back to find it, it was change and not there. So either there was a mistake or more of that will be released later. Sorry about that, I know I did see Loki's name attached. Ugh.

It could be that they edited the content to avoid spoilers and trouble with Marvel.

[Riimi]

I think it's more likely it was an editing mistake or something. The evidence for Loki finishing up his face turn is pretty strong, so I'm not going to worry too much about it being edited for spoilers. While he could be a part of this in some way (like Raye was speculating), I doubt he's orchestrating it, especially because I can't see a) Marvel muddying the waters as to which side he's on after WOTR, since that seems to be where he'll definitely choose a side or b) Having a sort of "reveal" at the start, assuming he has Mjolnir, which I'm almost certain he'll get (because that means he can't be evil, so the villains wouldn't work with him and it wouldn't serve any narrative purpose).

[Raye]

oh, ok, so sounds to me like BC probably just assumed Loki was behind it because of Acts of Vengeance, and then retracted it. that's a relief.

It would be more interesting imo if Loki was either the target, (though doesn't seem like this is the case, considering he's not been mentioned even once. though we just have the matchups for the later issues so far) because then it would be one of his old plots turned against him, and he'd have to stop it, OR if he was orchestrating it, but kinda reversed, where he thinks the heroes would stand a better chance against someone they don't normally fight. But that doesn't seem like the case either. But it does kind of feel like he should be involved, somehow. He orchestrated the first one, and this is hitting like literally the month after he finally finishes turning all the way face.

But it does feel like he should be involved, or at least i hope there's more to it than putting a couple characters together via some random circumstance and going 'fight!' But I dunno, it feels quite random overall, it's not like you can go 'ah yes, I see now that Ms Marvel is fighting Moon Knight's arch nemesis' whereas Acts of Vengeance had more of a thematic plot hook. so I just hope there's a bit more to it than that. I just can't figure out what that might be. It's not as if the Brood Queen is much of one for brokering deals, and none of the villains strike me as the nemesis of any of the heroes involved, so I can't quite figure out what the connection between them is.

[Rosebunse]

It just sounds like someone at Marvel had an idea for a neat little event. I'm not sure it will be super important, but it'll be fun.

Bleeding Cool is sort of weird. Sometimes they get real spoilers, then others it feels like they're making it up. They may have even heard it from somewhere that had Loki attached in a pic or something from the old series.

Also, on the Thor and War of the Realms threads, when they aren't complaining about everything, they're wondering if Thor won't become the protector of the realm or something. Not sure how this jives with our theory of Loki getting his hammer. Also not sure how this would work with the sacrifice thing.

[Raye]

Well, with Odin and Freyja gone, someone has to take the place as ruler of Asgard, seems to me Thor would be considered the next in line for that, and it lines up with the future Aaron has already set up with King Thor. so as I said a couple pages back, it seems they are all swapping things up with roles. Thor gets Odin/Freyja's, Loki gets Thor's, Jane gets Valkyrie's, Malekith gets Loki's, there may be more besides that, those are just the ones we can really guess at, but like Balder may get a new role too... (i mean honestly normally I'd consider him the one most likely to take Thor's role, but apparently not)

[Rich Johnston]

It could be that they edited the content to avoid spoilers and trouble with Marvel.

No change, we relish trouble.

[Raye]

Ok, so maybe it was another one she saw. either way.

anyway, apparently a few days ago the Russos dropped some hints about the Disney+ series. Apparently, it does indeed tie into his scene in Endgame, as i suspected it might, and Captain America may appear on his quest to put the infinity Stones back where they should be.

https://ew.com/tv/2019/05/15/russo-b...ptain-america/

[Decoy]

If Loki isn’t behind Acts of Evil, who is? Who has that kind of clout (Osborn is not exactly mentally capable, Red Skull might be Dead, Apocalypse isn’t in this reality at the moment, not his style anyway, Doom maybe, or Kang, or Count Nefaria or even Ultron)......and who would fight Loki? Zemo? Crossbones? Mandarin? Kraven? Mephisto?

[Raye]

Mephisto has the potential motivation, I mean, it's right up his alley to cause chaos like this, just as a general rule. But if we assume Loki is the target or otherwise involved, (which, to be fair, we don't know. it would just make sense given his involvement with the first one) there is the added motivation that Loki snatched ultimate power from his grasp at the end of JiM by destroying the Fear Crown. When Loki and Mephisto encountered one another in Agent of Asgard, Mephisto mentioned this, but oddly didn't seem too upset about the Fear Crown... BUT he also seemed to think that by destroying the Crown, the old Loki was back in the drivers seat, (true) and that he would be a force for evil once again. (not true, for the most part) So I think he was kind of amused that by destroying the crown, something evil still happened, and that Loki would be back at things being all villainous again, so i guess he saw it as a win for Team Evil overall. But if he finally figures out that Loki's changed his ways and is trying to be a good guy, like, say, he sees him lift Mjolnir, he may decide that he can't let that stand. So my money would be on Mephisto, personally, which may also explain Nightmare's involvement (he also was involved with the Fear Crown mess, in fact he created it, before Mephisto stole it). But I mean, this is little more than blind guessing on my part, there's just not enough to say for sure.

*edit - the meeting with Mephisto in question, he explains it:

[Decoy]

Ah Loki. Who’s popularity got big thanks to Tom Hiddleston.......which to be fair, Loki being full Villain was harder to justify......