Loki Appreciation 2019

[Raye]

But then like Gambit or someone could take it... King of thieves and all... Loki is of course hot as hell, but still.

So read Squirrel Girl, and I was right! Loki WASN'T the one to teleport her to New York, he just pulled her out of danger when she suddenly appeared in the street. Someone else teleported her, persons unknown. Loki made a very sincere and self aware speech to Doreen which seemed to convince her he was doing good here, so I think she is coming around on him. But I am betting that is all we will, see of him for at least a few issues here, since he went of to get eaten right as he was teleporting her to Canada. But at least now we know he will be back, so that will hopefully be brought back up then, hopefully he is back by the end of the arc for a nice reunion.

Asgardians of the Galaxy definitely has the Naglfar Beacon still in play, Heimdall took it and the Bifrost shard powering their ship, and sent them to Earth, but Angela took the Beacon with her. So Angela's got it, for now. But they now no longer have a ship, so this arc may be the end for the team. Also, Annabelle's enchanted Nova helmet stopped working as Loki died, so it appears "Kid Loki" was tapping into Loki Prime's magic, not that it matters any more, I guess.

[DragonsRazor]

Ok because I was fifty-fifty on that one but that explains his reaction to seeing her and pulling her out of dangers way. That’s sweet though about the speech hopefully she does come around on him he could use more people trusting him. Your probably right on that we won’t see him for a few issues especially if he heads out to get eaten right after. Knowing he comes back somehow through some sort of shenanigans will make the wait easier. Something must happen since he looks to be the same and not a different Loki which I’m relieved to see plus he becomes a hero at the end of the war, and possibly a hero in training in his solo, but yeah a heartfelt reunion would be nice to see at the end.

Well at least the Beacon is in good hands for now, it makes sense that the helmet would stop working if its source of power vanished. Maybe part of the reason Loki dismissed the spell for kid Loki is because he was draining too much energy and magic that he needed.
You know on top of the kid loki fulfilling his purpose by gathering the Asgardians and retrieving the Beacon.

Glad I could help! and maybe you will come to a different conclusion after reading JIM, but that was my take on it. I'm sure you'll love JIM, it's great. And now you get to see where everyone's favorite murderous talking dog, Thori, came from, too!

And yes, Loki did sacrifice himself to save everyone in Siege, though it was from a plan of his own making that had gone further than he intended. and as mentioned, maybe not actually as selfless as it seemed at the time. Kind of a common scenario with him... He plans everything out and is thinking like 12 steps ahead, but sometimes there's just something he can't possibly account for, and it goes bad on him.

I hope I do it looks like a really good story arc but I probably will of course and maybe come up with a different conclusion to it all. I might even use it as an excuse to reread Agent of Asgard again not that I need one I love that story. And no way I look forward to seeing how our murderous good boy Thori comes from that’s going to be fun to see!

Wow he tries he really does but sometimes luck is just not on his side and plans go into uncontrollable chaos.

[Raye]

He was really open, saying how he knew he wasn't the easiest person to like, and that he didn't have many friends, so he was going to protect the ones he had, (he was saying why he wanted Nancy to stay in the Negative Zone, said it was the only safe place for her) and that he was trying to be better. It was nice. right up till he went off to die. They never showed the death, but did show him summoning the big ass sword to go confront Laufey. (while it is a book that can totally be enjoyed by adults, Squirrel Girl's audience has a LOT of children in it, judging by the letters pages, so i think they intentionally tone down violent content. In the letters page it even had a warning for parents about the violence in War of the Realms, if they wanted to check it out. so not surprising they never showed that bit. also changed his 'Hel nay' to 'Hek nay') Squirrel Girl doesn't know what happened to him, I wonder if she will find out before the arc ends, and what her reaction will be.

But as I talk about this, I realize how casually I am talking about his death, and it's now just a 'he'll be back so it's fine' thing. While I was glad to have the announcement of the new Loki series, totally excited to read it, I am again surprised at how they released news of it so soon after he 'died' before we got to see how that resolved. I think a lot of people did figure he would be back, including me, because comics, not to mention his specific situation with the resurrection deal. But that little bit of uncertainty lingering in the back of the mind, or even just the question of what he would be like if he came back, would they take the death as an opportunity to reboot him back to 'classic' (with the reincarnation deal that would be very easy to do, and with how they handled Doom, Sabretooth, etc. it's not too unlikely a thought) is gone, and it does rob the story of some of it's emotional impact. Just saying, I am a little surprised they didn't like, delay it a month or so.

But on that note, it just occurred to me i should dust off the old Sims game and ghost Loki. he's in the admirable position of having maxed cooking, and I have death fishes and life fruit on hand, so he can revive himself with ease as long as his ghost is added to the family so i can control him. He's the one who resurrected Roz when she died accidentally. But should definitely ghost him. maybe after a trip abroad with Wolverine. Have him eaten by a Cow Plant, yeah? it's rare, but it happened to Roz, so... as long as i don't feed it, it should eat him sooner or later. maybe take Squirrel Girl on a trip too, haven' played her and Nancy in ages. Also need to add Blade to the Avengers.

[DragonsRazor]

Wow that’s good coming from him, he’s really growing I'm proud of him. Course they wouldn’t show the death because like you said a lot of children read Squirrel Girl so they will want to keep it family friendly by avoiding it. She probably will be at the end once she takes care of her mission and if Loki is still dead, she’d be really upset about it hearing what happened and maybe wish she could've stopped him.

I’m surprised too you would think they’d want to keep it a secret a little longer to keep the element of surprise at least till next month. Let the anticipation of what going to happen next last a while. Because it does rob some of that emotional investment that could've been, because you now know that he’s gonna be back for real even though you already know he has too because he’s Loki plus of course them being comics where anything is possible. That scene is still shocking but that emotional impact it had has lessened. I’m excited for the new series and strongly look forward to it, but I do kind of wish that they had waited a little longer to keep the mystery and speculation alive. I kept thinking that they may use the opportunity to reset him and get the classic evil Loki back. But I guess there’s still the question of how. Couldn’t Thor just bring Loki back after hearing what happened to him and what he did?

Maybe you should dust it off it’d give you something to do and ghost him see how long it takes for a Cow Plant to eat him. That would put a bit of a damper on the trip to get eaten by a plant once you get back from a nice vacation.

[Riimi]

Squirrel girl was sweet and kind of sad (not having many friends). I hope that he and Doreen end up becoming friends, because c'mon, Doreen befriends everyone. Also, I'm sure he'll show up again at some point, Ryan North seems to be a fan, given how often Loki's guest-starred.

As for the part about him trying to do better, we know he's been trying to. In general, I'm not sure if he fell too far back into old patterns trying to stop Malekith (joining him in an attempt to stop him), or if what he did was necessary (although more of a light grey), such as pretending to be Sorcerer Supreme so he could rebalance the magic. I think it was a bit of both, but do we only count something as a good deed if it succeeds (for instance, with him trying to trick Malekith--it failed)? That's part of the reason I like Loki - his approach can be more morally complex. That's an instance where I'm a bit wary of Mjolnir, because that seems to imply (to me) a more traditional kind of heroism. And hitting everything to defeat it just isn't Loki. OTOH, that could be explored --sometimes, it's better to hit someone, sometimes it's better to be crafty.

On a related note, I was wondering how powerful Loki would be with Mjolnir. He's already cosmic-level and historically goes toe-to-toe with Thor. He was depowered in AoA, but he's seemed pretty powerful in Aaron's run (he lost to Jane, but gave her a bit of trouble, something which few characters/beings succeeded in doing), beating the Frost Giant gauntlet Laufey made him go through early on, as well as turning all the assassins into frogs (lol!). In Avengers, Ghost Rider did beat him, as well as Strange, but they're both pretty powerful (and it's obfuscated by the fact that Loki wanted to them to beat him). Basically, I'd put him right now a little bit lower than where Thor normally is with Mjolnir, so still upper cosmic. It'll be interesting to see how his existing powers synergize with the hammer.

Oh, and now that we know it's going to be a thing, I think Raye's probably right, and it's most likely hammer which arrives in the last issue. Having someone become worthy isn't something you do in the middle of the event, imo. Especially not since things are looking bleak, according to the solicit.

So, I guess that leaves us with a couple questions: How is Loki going to come back, and how is he going to earn Mjolnir? I already thought that his death was a plot of his. That's like...a thing for him now, I'm pretty sure. Question is how he's going to undo it, because I think he is actually dead. The new series makes it look like there might be some type of time reset, so maybe that could do it(though I'm skeptical of time resets). I kind of wonder if he has the time stone, because that mini isn't finished yet and it would make some sense if he ended up with it (future knowledge stuff, especially). If he does, I hope it's more difficult than just a time reversal (though you might have to go all the way back to Malekith's childhood and mess with that to prevent the war--at the least, if there is time resetting, I hope it's one of those cases where Loki's tried resets and every last one of them up till now has failed).

Not sure about Mjolnir yet, I'm hoping for a heroic last stand, on the verge of death kind of thing.

[Rosebunse]

But then like Gambit or someone could take it... King of thieves and all... Loki is of course hot as hell, but still.

So read Squirrel Girl, and I was right! Loki WASN'T the one to teleport her to New York, he just pulled her out of danger when she suddenly appeared in the street. Someone else teleported her, persons unknown. Loki made a very sincere and self aware speech to Doreen which seemed to convince her he was doing good here, so I think she is coming around on him. But I am betting that is all we will, see of him for at least a few issues here, since he went of to get eaten right as he was teleporting her to Canada. But at least now we know he will be back, so that will hopefully be brought back up then, hopefully he is back by the end of the arc for a nice reunion.

Asgardians of the Galaxy definitely has the Naglfar Beacon still in play, Heimdall took it and the Bifrost shard powering their ship, and sent them to Earth, but Angela took the Beacon with her. So Angela's got it, for now. But they now no longer have a ship, so this arc may be the end for the team. Also, Annabelle's enchanted Nova helmet stopped working as Loki died, so it appears "Kid Loki" was tapping into Loki Prime's magic, not that it matters any more, I guess.

Actually I think kidLoki's death offers us a clue. It was cruel of Loki Prime to basically kill him off, but if Loki's magic stopped working when he died, and if he did plan for the death, then he probably thought it was better for him to kill him off then than in the middle of the battle. It also tells me that Loki is most likely dead and it was probably part of his plan.

[Raye]

Yeah at least this way Angela got to say goodbye to him, better than him just vanishing in the middle of battle. and yeah, it does look like he did actually die. Which makes the comeback all the harder to figure out. Illusions are an easy out, he does them all the time. actual death is harder.

Wow that’s good coming from him, he’s really growing I'm proud of him. Course they wouldn’t show the death because like you said a lot of children read Squirrel Girl so they will want to keep it family friendly by avoiding it. She probably will be at the end once she takes care of her mission and if Loki is still dead, she’d be really upset about it hearing what happened and maybe wish she could've stopped him.

I’m surprised too you would think they’d want to keep it a secret a little longer to keep the element of surprise at least till next month. Let the anticipation of what going to happen next last a while. Because it does rob some of that emotional investment that could've been, because you now know that he’s gonna be back for real even though you already know he has too because he’s Loki plus of course them being comics where anything is possible. That scene is still shocking but that emotional impact it had has lessened. I’m excited for the new series and strongly look forward to it, but I do kind of wish that they had waited a little longer to keep the mystery and speculation alive. I kept thinking that they may use the opportunity to reset him and get the classic evil Loki back. But I guess there’s still the question of how. Couldn’t Thor just bring Loki back after hearing what happened to him and what he did?

right? I mean not complaining about a solo, like i said. I'm just confused about them spoiling the ending in such a major way. Not just about Loki being back, even, they didn't even omit Mjolnir, so it spoils that not only does Mjolnir come back, it goes to Loki rather than Thor. Which is still wild to think about. We don't know why or how, but still. Especially odd when looking back at those earlier previews they released, and you see how they changed the dialogue on some to prevent spoiling Loki's death.

Squirrel girl was sweet and kind of sad (not having many friends). I hope that he and Doreen end up becoming friends, because c'mon, Doreen befriends everyone. Also, I'm sure he'll show up again at some point, Ryan North seems to be a fan, given how often Loki's guest-starred.

Some people are more comfortable with a couple close friends, rather than maintaining a large network, I always just figured Loki fell into that category. (excluding family here, i know he wants a relationship with them, Thor in particular) though that wouldn't prevent him from being extra protective of the ones he does have. But I do want him to befriend Doreen, she works wonders with ex villains. (observe: Oak Tree Ultron in this issue) Right now they're still more acquaintances. Friend of a friend territory, because it was Nancy that went to Asgard with Loki and Thor when they first met. If he does, he may guest more often, which would be cool since Squirrel Girl is a great book.

And yeah, hope he comes back in Squirrel Girl, the solicit for June's issue says that there is 'friendship' and since Doreen is alone on her adventure this time, aside from Ratatoskr, who i am assuming is up to no good, I presume that means she is reunited with her friends, and if Loki is back from the dead by then, maybe him too. It was him that said he would teleport them back from the Negative Zone, after all. (though if they got there, i presume they are capable of getting back on their own without him.)

As for the part about him trying to do better, we know he's been trying to. In general, I'm not sure if he fell too far back into old patterns trying to stop Malekith (joining him in an attempt to stop him), or if what he did was necessary (although more of a light grey), such as pretending to be Sorcerer Supreme so he could rebalance the magic. I think it was a bit of both, but do we only count something as a good deed if it succeeds (for instance, with him trying to trick Malekith--it failed)? That's part of the reason I like Loki - his approach can be more morally complex. That's an instance where I'm a bit wary of Mjolnir, because that seems to imply (to me) a more traditional kind of heroism. And hitting everything to defeat it just isn't Loki. OTOH, that could be explored --sometimes, it's better to hit someone, sometimes it's better to be crafty.

that's the problem with an ends justify the means approach. If your attempt fails, you add nothing good, possibly you just make things way worse, so it's a huge gamble. At the same time, it's something that fits Loki, i think he shold be at least somewhat murky in his methods, even if his intent is good. I don't want him to end up some kind of Captain America boy scout type. And i can see how Mjolnir in his hands could be a bit worrying in that regard, since we want Loki to be the best Loki he can be, but still be Loki. Also, hitting things with a hammer isn't really his style. But I do like what Mjolnir symbolizes for him with the 'worthy' aspect. I think that as long as it doesn't last too long, and he only actually uses Mjolnir in certain situations, and still uses his smarts, illusions and other magic for the bulk of what eh accomplishes, it should be ok. I do want Thor to get it back at some point, I don't anticipate this lasting all that long. It just needs to last long enough to act as a sign to others that he really is trying.

On a related note, I was wondering how powerful Loki would be with Mjolnir. He's already cosmic-level and historically goes toe-to-toe with Thor. He was depowered in AoA, but he's seemed pretty powerful in Aaron's run (he lost to Jane, but gave her a bit of trouble, something which few characters/beings succeeded in doing), beating the Frost Giant gauntlet Laufey made him go through early on, as well as turning all the assassins into frogs (lol!). In Avengers, Ghost Rider did beat him, as well as Strange, but they're both pretty powerful (and it's obfuscated by the fact that Loki wanted to them to beat him). Basically, I'd put him right now a little bit lower than where Thor normally is with Mjolnir, so still upper cosmic. It'll be interesting to see how his existing powers synergize with the hammer.

I mean, yeah he's going to be stupid powerful, he's going to have to go up against Dormammu or something to make it a challenge. I'd even put him a bit above Thor, with the hammer AND his magic, plus the usual Asgardian durability/strength. He's not as physically strong as Thor, but he's still a brick by human standards.

Oh, and now that we know it's going to be a thing, I think Raye's probably right, and it's most likely hammer which arrives in the last issue. Having someone become worthy isn't something you do in the middle of the event, imo. Especially not since things are looking bleak, according to the solicit.

So, I guess that leaves us with a couple questions: How is Loki going to come back, and how is he going to earn Mjolnir? I already thought that his death was a plot of his. That's like...a thing for him now, I'm pretty sure. Question is how he's going to undo it, because I think he is actually dead. The new series makes it look like there might be some type of time reset, so maybe that could do it(though I'm skeptical of time resets). I kind of wonder if he has the time stone, because that mini isn't finished yet and it would make some sense if he ended up with it (future knowledge stuff, especially). If he does, I hope it's more difficult than just a time reversal (though you might have to go all the way back to Malekith's childhood and mess with that to prevent the war--at the least, if there is time resetting, I hope it's one of those cases where Loki's tried resets and every last one of them up till now has failed).

Not sure about Mjolnir yet, I'm hoping for a heroic last stand, on the verge of death kind of thing.

Yeah, it's hard to think of the scenario that would lead to Loki rather than Thor getting the hammer. It's just so out there. Best I can figure is that they fail in getting Thor back from Jotunheim, and Loki has returned... somehow... best I can figure is something to do with Naglfar. And in Thor's absence, Loki has to fill his shoes to enact whatever plan he's got in mind. He said he needed Thor, that was the only thing he said was needed to win, but should they fail, i mean does he just give up and let Malekith win? or does he try and step into his brother's shoes to make the plan work? I figure Thor could still contribute to defeating Malekith, just not in the way that Loki originally had in mind.

[DragonsRazor]

Yeah why go through the effort to avoid such a big moment in the event with Loki dying if you’re just going to do a 180 barely half a month into the event and be like “see he’s fine, alive and well don’t worry about it!” It’s yeah just a strange way to market especially when this has been building up for years, you’d think the plan would be to keep tight lipped as long as possible or at least try to.

I was lucky to get a hold of it because they were all sold out but he was so genuinely sincere in here and it was sad because you knew what was going to being coming up once he made his promise and goodbye. This is another reason why they should’ve waited a little longer before that solo announcement but it’s exciting either way to find out how he’s gonna come out of this. Because unless he cooked up a fast idea, he’s looking more like a frost giant in boiling water by the second, I still think he’s got some trick figured out even if he really is dead for now. Despite the sadness Squirrel Girl did have some cute funny moments in it.

That’s going to be shocking for the both of them when Mjolnir goes for Loki instead of Thor. It’ll be interesting to see everyone’s reactions. I don’t think Thor would be to upset about it
But I’m with you guys there I hope they do become friends he could use a nice friend like her once they get past being just acquaintances. Even if he’s the type of person that doesn’t need a big circle of friends, she’d be a good supportive friend to have around.

I’ve been thinking since Thor eventually does get the hammer back maybe Mjolnir will act like a heroic training wheel kind of thing to help him out on his path of getting better? As well as showing to others that he is trying of course even though it may take longer for others to believe. How Jotunheim is involved I’m not too sure yet but I’m thinking Loki might’ve helped rebuild the Bifrost since he was able to make Malekiths and it looks whole while transitioning into the bridge on the cover art.

[Raye]

sounds like you need to add it to a pull list. That's why I like digital these days though, no risk of things running out. And if you sub on comixology, you get the books at 1 am every Wednesday! (mountain time. the storefront takes longer to update) I'm a night owl, so... works for me. I only sub to a few faves, which does happen to include Thor, Squirrel Girl, Asgardians of the Galaxy, and WotR while it lasts, the rest come later when the price drops, cus i only have so much money to spend on comics.

It's possible it could be hero training wheels for sure. We know Mjolnir talked to Jane in a vague fashion (except that one time, where it actually manifested and spoke directly) and that it was conscious, consciousness means it has the ability, in theory, to change it's mind about who is worthy to wield it and why. It may just decide Loki needs it's help more.

But yeah, I imagine it will be a shock for everyone involved. I really don't think Loki is actually planning on getting Mjolnir, I think it will probably be a surprise even for him.

and definitely possible Loki helps rebuild the Bifrost. He clearly has the capability due to the Dark Bifrost, and the fact that the bridge i behind him on the cover could point to his involvement there in fixing it.

[Rosebunse]

https://www.cbr.com/marvel-acts-of-evil-teaser/

Well, this is interesting. Wonder if this has anything to do with Loki?

[DragonsRazor]

I think I will start adding it to a pull list, I definitely underestimated how fast it would sell out that way I don’t have to worry. Thankfully the manager looked when I told him its alright if they didn’t have it and I’d just check back later because it wasn’t a big deal and he found one hidden away. That’s one nice thing with digitals and they don’t take up space either so you can have a neat library to take wherever. No way! I should try that because I usually can’t get a hold of them till Thursday because of my job so that would work great plus then there’s no worry about them being sold out. Yeah comic collecting can get expensive that’s why I only get the physical copies of just a couple favorites like Thor, Asgardians of the Galaxy, WoR and that Infinity Watch with Wolverine since they’re only a couple bucks. I don’t go crazy with the cover variants either I just can’t spend a lot of money like that on a single comic even if the art is amazing. The only extra ones I’m trying out right now are Squirrel girl and the WoR Journey into Mystery which also confirms that Odin is just injured at least according to Sinder and about Loki dying.

That is interesting its possible Loki fights against villains depending on the circumstances, it would be opposite of his role in that “Acts of Vengeance” event.

[Raye]

Gotta say, glad we got the early Loki solo announcement after seeing that. If we hadn't gotten the solo announcement, i would have been worried this was Acts of Vengeance part 2, with Loki turned heel again post reincarnation gathering up a new group of baddies to make his big villain entrance, or something. Instead, we know Loki's still doing the good(ish) guy thing, so while it may still be Acts of Vengeance part 2, we know he won't be orchestrating it. probably. Mjolnir would fall to the ground in a second if he did. Buuuuutt... he may still be involved. How fun would it be if this is some kind of thing where he has to fight someone copying one of his old schemes? But I presume it is at the very least an Avengers corner event, rather than a Loki story, since the villains need multiple heroes to fight, cus they gotta mix up the pairings. If that is the case, I want to see him snark about them copying him.

in other news, Thor preview!
http://www.adventuresinpoortaste.com...eview-thor-12/

So, a couple things there: current Loki is fairly disgusted with his past self's actions and motivations, and remarks that he's grown a lot, or hopes he has, so that's nice. He seems unsure of how he's there, so that's strange. He doesn't remember dying, though, so it is seeming like this may be a 'this was your life' sort of afterlife deal, though he seems to think it's time travel for now, that may just be because he doesn't remember dying. But yes, as we speculated, Loki caused the war that led to Malekith's origin, basically as of some kind of petty temper tantrum. So.... whoops. We also learn how he learned magic, interesting that it very closely mirrors the What If? we got a while back. A little weird how he remembers the wizard in the dungeons that taught him magic and pranks pulled on Thor as a child fairly well, but this battle he caused is very hazy in his mind, but I guess it's useful for exposition purposes, and I suppose the wizard was important to him, and this was just, like, tuesday. Also, it had to be around a thousand years ago, understandable if he's a bit fuzzy on the details, i guess.

there was also a preview for WotR 2, https://www.cbr.com/war-of-the-realm...-america-thor/ and while Loki is not in it, nor is he mentioned, there is a small part where it appears Jane hears Mjolnir calling to her. So Mjolnir is definitely an aspect of the event, now. We know it won't go to her in the end, but maybe for a little while.

[Rosebunse]

How much do you want to bet that the old wizard will be retconned into being an old version of Loki?

[Raye]

Wouldn't really be a retcon since this is all new information. I guess it's possible but there wouldn't be a lot of wiggle room there, since we know Loki is alive in King Thor's time as the universe is fizzling out, (and Loki killed this wizard. and took his castle. this is already canon. Aaron didn't create this character, although he does only have one appearance 30 years ago before this, and next to nothing is known about him) if he's going back in time it will have to be from the very very end of time. If it's really going to mirror the What If, it would probably have to be his birth father. (that would be a retcon)

Been thinking about this since i posted last night, about how things might go down, there are a lot of gaps in this, but I think we're getting enough pieces to begin to see how it fits together.

First, I think I may have been wrong last night, and Loki may be right, about this being time travel. I remembered that Thor 14 is set in the past as well, with Thor fighting Venom, so *something* about the past is important, and it looks as though future issues of Thor will be dealing with that. I'm wondering if Loki may actually be in Thor 14 as well, since it appears they are both in the same timeframe now, and that's how things link up. How did Loki end up in the past upon death, I dunno, may be a spell he cast himself, but he can't remember it just now, or it may have been someone intervening on his behalf. Also no idea how he will find his way back to the present. This whole time travel thing is weird, which is why I thought it was more of an afterlife type deal, and that may still be the case, i'm kind of 50/50 on this.

Second, and this will take a while to get to the point with Loki, I think most likely Valkyrie in the new book is going to be Jane, hence no cover reveal, Aaron's involvement in the series, even if he's co-writing with Ewing (who is doing a LOT of co-writing lately, odd) and starting immediately following WotR. But how does she become a Valkyrie if that's the case? well, she probably dies and goes to Valhalla, like we were kind of thinking she would before, it lines up with her thought in the preview, and it would be more of a sacrifice on her part to give up her life now that she is healthy again. I'm betting OG Thor is still missing, or somehow distracted elsewhere, but she hears Mjolnir calling, so calls it to herself, she gets Mjolnir, makes a heroic stand against Malekith and his forces, and dies. At some point, Loki gets back from being dead, (somehow) and with Thor still gone, they are out of options and *someone* has to pick up the hammer (I also note that Cap is missing from covers set on Earth towards the end of the event, I don't think he dies, but he is canonically worthy, so like Thor is being kept away from the hammer via plot contrivances, so he can't pick it up) so he does. I am not sure how he gets it in his head that it would work, maybe Mjolnir calls to him like it did to Jane, but... we know he has to get it. I mean, we'll know more in a few days, with Thor 12 and WotR 2, but that's my best guess for now. I am sure Thor will be instrumental in winning this, just not in a way that involves Mjolnir, which will help drive home the point that he's more than his hammer.

oh and PS. apparently in one of the Acts of Evil tweets, Nightmare was capitalized, which may point to Nightmare being the big bad. I dunno if that really feels right for him, but still, I guess the closest thing Loki has to a rogues gallery right now, since he's new to the hero thing, is Mephisto (currently locked up in Vegas) and Nightmare. (and Malekith and Laufey, but I'm pretty sure they're done for, at least a while, after WotR) so if he's involved, it could line up with the whole 'switch opponents' thing, and he's in just because Loki just doesn't have many to choose from yet.

[Rosebunse]

Yeah, you can retcon that guy as being Loki or Loki's father...

I guess my thing about the father thing is that whatever happens, Laufey has to be left thinking that he's the father. He wouldn't have left Loki alive if he wasn't. Of course, it could also mean his adoptive father, Odin, who might be his real father...

Look, I know we have gone over this before, but I think between Aaron's own words and what we've seen, I think finding out he isn't related to Laufey would mean a lot to Loki no matter who it is. And it would ultimately explain why he is so different. I don't know, I just think about this a lot at work. My work is boring...Well, mostly I was thinking about Game of Thrones today, but you know how that is.

I'm feeling you on the time travel. It's been such a huge concept for this story and you know Loki could just wish himself there. That being said, we haven't actually seen how Loki's unique form of resurrection works, so the "new" Loki relearning from the old one's mistakes does make some bit of sense. But time travel isn't out of line. If it isn't Loki, who else could have cast the spell? Odin? Old Loki?

Dammit, Raye, I think you just spoiled the ending here with that theory.

Loki not being a villain has certainly created something of a vacuum among Marvel's villains. Doesn't help that other villains like Magneto, Norman Osborn, and to a lesser extent, Thanos, are out of commission or not villains either. It's created this situation where they have to use ones like Malekith, Dracula and now Nightmare to get anywhere.