Loki Appreciation 2021

[Raye]

oh hey, yesterday wasn't a complete writeoff for Loki appearances! he was in MODOK: Head Games #2, running afoul of Armadillo in a clandestine casino. again.



Just the one page tho.

[Raye]

Looks like CBR kinda corrected itself from that shoddy article that did next to no research: https://www.cbr.com/loki-series-disney-god-stories/
tho, not sure i follow the logic that this means it will follow the same course in the show. Yeah, there are definitely some parallels and nods to recent comics in what we've seen (this seems to be a trend with more recent MCU stuff, where more recent stories seem to be getting used) but there are also some significant differences. I do think it likely it will follow the same sort of 'secret agent' and maybe even a 'King(Lady) Loki' aspect, but that doesn't necessarily men it will end up at 'God of Stories' since that worked in the comics mainly because of some previous buildup with the whole 'roles' thing, and a lot of groundwork laid in JIM, which we are missing for this show. Still, nice to see an article that has better research.

and, at the bottom there, you can see a link to another big story from the last few days, they signed the Loki showrunner on to do some Star Wars, and as part of that they revealed that Loki has a season greenlit 2 already! This was already rumored a month or so back, but good to see it semi-confirmed https://www.cbr.com/disney-loki-seas...tar-wars-deal/

[rpmaluki]

https://www.gamesradar.com/jane-fost...lkyries-title/

[Raye]

More pics on Marvel's site:

https://www.marvel.com/articles/comi...ghty-valkyries






One thing we already know that has changed is that the old story would have taken place prior to King in Black, while this one takes place after, and an old/new Valkyrie has been added to the mix. But let's go back and look at the old solicits and see if we can piece together more, or see if anything has changed:

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Valky...oster_Vol_1_11
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Valky...oster_Vol_1_12

So, what seems the same is that Loki is involved in the first issue, and we can see a wolf in the cover of the second, (I would presume Fenris, sent by Hela, but you'd think they would have just said so if that were the case) but the second issue has Kraven, which isn't mentioned here, so that may have changed, or just will come up in the second issue. Other than that, and the addition of the new Valkyrie, seems to be about the same. Though new things we've learned, it appears, judging by the cover for the new series, is that what Karnilla has in her bower is triplets. Is Balder the father, or someone else? And though the cover for the old issue made it appear Loki approached Jane on fairly friendly and social terms, here it appears he comes to her for help, and is injured. We've seen Loki magic himself back together from far worse in the past, but maybe some kind of magic or something prevents that here, and he needs a doctor.

A couple things nag at me though, some have been nagging at me since the announcement of the initial story months ago. First one is, I worry this may conflict with what Cates had planned. Last we saw of Hela prior to this was in Cates' Guardians of the Galaxy, where Beta Ray Bill knocked her through a black hole with Thanos' body. And I had assumed, especially with the Thanos tease in Thor not that long ago, that this would tie into his Thor story, given the characters involved, and how Cates likes to plant seeds that sprout in later stories. Does this screw up his plans? He's had problems with that recently with Sentry, where he brought back Sentry/the Void in Dr Strange, it appears now in preparation for King in Black, where he intended to have Knull kill Sentry and absorb the Void. But then after Dr Strange, people did all sorts of bizarre things with Sentry, which Cates was apparently not consulted on, and was unaware of when he wrote his scene in King in Black, the editors never told him, leading to things not really lining up. I'm wondering if a similar situation is unfolding here, though you'd think that it would be harder for such miscommunication to happen here, since the editorial team is the same for both Thor and Valkyrie. (but was different on GotG) Also, given how the final issue of Valkkyrie ended, with Loki striking a deal with Tyr, i do worry about Loki's portrayal here and, again, worry it may conflict with what Cates has planned. But the initial pages shown do make me feel a bit better on that front. Also, I wish they would iron out the whole costume deal with Loki, he's in his old tattered coat with the metal shoulders from War of the Realms here, and the long hair from that time as well, when he went back to the Agent of Asgard coat and cut his hair since then. It's just frustrating that they seem to be handing out different model sheets to the art teams, leading to inconsistency. (even if i personally prefer his hair longer)

Also, unrelated to the Valkyrie stuff, with all that's happened in the past week or so in the Capitol, I am glad that plans with Loki were already underway when all that **** went down, and it's a bit too late for them to change course with him now, because I fear that the demonstration recently of how dangerous some well placed lies to gullible people in terms of inciting them to violence can be, would have been too tempting for them to pass up otherwise. Though maybe this is something they can deal with with the New God of Lies they've teased.

*edited to add - oh yeah! and though I am pretty sure I mentioned this when the original solicits were released, I hope we do get an answer here about the Valhalla question from War of the Realms, about why he was unable to move on after he died. I still think Loki was likely destined to Valhalla after being killed by Laufey, but the death of the Valkyries threw a wrench in things, and he ended up magicking himself back to life after being unable to move on without their guidance. If anyone can answer that question for us and him, it's a Valkyrie, and this is co-written by Aaron, so he'd know what was up with that situation, obviously.

[Prof. Aegis]

I'm curious, though we may never know, if this story has any connection to the original story to come from Valkyrie #11 & 12? I do like that Loki is in it, at least the first issue, but I'm not expecting him to be in the series. It sounds more like he is helping to set up the story and the events to come. Also, I wonder instead of setting up a continuing series, if they'll work Valkyrie in terms of mini-series for a period. Seeing the character has a base and with Jane Foster's role in the coming Thor movie it could help to keep her in the spot light without the weight of a continuing series sales issues.

The art looks fantastic! As for Cates and his plans, hopefully he and Aaron along with Grøbekk worked out story or character beats to support each others plans.

[Raye]

I think the story beats are way too similar to the solicits from before for them to not be connected, they're clearly pretty much the same story. Starts with Loki, involves the Queens of Hel, involves some mystery baby(or babies, as it turns out), has a big wolf... same story. If i had to guess, I'd say it was that the pandemic led to the cancellation of Valkyrie, but the planned story was considered too important to not come out. Maybe because maybe it set up some necessary things for Thor, like if Tyr is the new God of Lies, maybe the answer to the Loki and Valhalla question, and the rebuilding of the Valkyries, so it wasn't just Jane any more, so they found a way to release it anyway, with the recent minis. But maybe had to reshuffle the order, like maybe the story about the new Valkyrie was originally meant to come after this one, but ended up coming first because of King in Black. Some of the art may have also already been completed, which may have contributed as well. (De Luis is the artist of both the cancelled issues and this, but a different artist had done the issues just prior, so De Luis had probably been working on them at the same time as the art for issue 10 was being done) though I would guess at least a few pages had to be tweaked or redone to make them fit with the post-King In Black/Prey timeframe in that case. But guessing the timeframe is going to be kinda fuzzy because of the rescheduling anyway.

And yeah, Loki may not be in it after the first issue, but if it does address the question of what happened with Tyr, or the Valhalla thing, it could still be important for him

[Raye]

Just had a thought, about the Valkyries thing. Not really related to Loki specifically, but... kinda ties into some of my previous speculation that would affect him.

Ok, so on the cover, Karnilla has 3 babies, right? They appear to be little girls. Balder, the new Norn King, is quite likely their father, Karnilla used to be the Norn Queen. There were 3 main Norns. Fate is broken..... you see where I'm going? If fate is broken, and/or starting a new cycle with the gods taking on new roles, new fates, as we have seen happening, then it seems to me that new Norns are likely needed for the new cycle. I know they have often been depicted in the comics as the mother, maiden, crone idea, but that's really more from Greek Mythology's Fates, or some Neopagan beliefs. In Norse myth, the Norns, though they share a very similar role to the Greek Fates and likely have the same origins, given their other similarities, usually don't have distinct differing ages, so them being triplets could work.

It would all tie in very neatly with all the role changing going on. Would also be a big enough deal for Marvel to want to find a way to get this story out as a mini despite Valkyrie being cancelled, if the fall of the Norn keep represented the end of the old cycle and the birth of these babies represents the new one beginning, after a period of transition which we have been seeing. Once these girls are settled as the new Norns, it may be that the paths of the gods will be set, so they'd better get themselves a good role before that happens. Or maybe it already happened, and some, like Loki, just are not quite aware of their new roles yet. We've already seen a new King of Asgard, New guardian of the Bifrost, new Norn King, new Valkyries, and a New God of Lies has been teased, and so on.

[Prof. Aegis]

I think the story beats are way too similar to the solicits from before for them to not be connected, they're clearly pretty much the same story. Starts with Loki, involves the Queens of Hel, involves some mystery baby(or babies, as it turns out), has a big wolf... same story. If i had to guess, I'd say it was that the pandemic led to the cancellation of Valkyrie, but the planned story was considered too important to not come out. Maybe because maybe it set up some necessary things for Thor, like if Tyr is the new God of Lies, maybe the answer to the Loki and Valhalla question, and the rebuilding of the Valkyries, so it wasn't just Jane any more, so they found a way to release it anyway, with the recent minis. But maybe had to reshuffle the order, like maybe the story about the new Valkyrie was originally meant to come after this one, but ended up coming first because of King in Black. Some of the art may have also already been completed, which may have contributed as well. (De Luis is the artist of both the cancelled issues and this, but a different artist had done the issues just prior, so De Luis had probably been working on them at the same time as the art for issue 10 was being done) though I would guess at least a few pages had to be tweaked or redone to make them fit with the post-King In Black/Prey timeframe in that case. But guessing the timeframe is going to be kinda fuzzy because of the rescheduling anyway.

And yeah, Loki may not be in it after the first issue, but if it does address the question of what happened with Tyr, or the Valhalla thing, it could still be important for him

I was wondering the same thing. Thinking they took the original story and reworked it for the updated status and to continue the story after King in Black series. It's good to know they didn't have to throw the story away and were able to use it and make some readjustments. I noticed the artist was the same as those last two regular series issues of Valkyrie. Yes, I can see this picking up threads from that story and taking it to the next steps with this next mini.

I can see this new Valkyrie mini helping to move the changes of Asgard and the Norns forward. And could tie into Cates' Thor story if he wold tap into this for his future stories. It could be a great way for Cates to use the story beats for his Thor and wouldn't have to create the set up for himself. It'll be interesting to see how the Mighty Valkyrie story unfolds and where it leaves things at the end.

I could see it as helping to reinforce the changes with Loki as well as the changes with the Norns and fate. Looking forward to this.

[Raye]

Yeah, my hope is that these things will be picked up later in Thor (or, fingers crossed, a new Loki book to coincide with the Disney series) and further developed after Valkyrie introduces them initially. Also, it just feels like Aaron is tying up some loose ends from his run here, and, you know, fair enough. But it just feels like something as big as, say, making Tyr the new God of Lies, as was heavily implied in the arc right before Valkyrie got the ax, or introducing new Norns, and adding a new Valkyrie, signaling it becoming an order again rather than just Jane, are way too big to be contained in Valkyrie. It would be disappointing if they go to all this trouble and then it's ignored in Thor, even if what Cates came up with was otherwise perfectly good and interesting.

Also, while new Valkyries and Norns are all well and good and important tot he mythos, I just really like the idea of Tyr as Loki's replacement in that role. It wasn't an idea that had initially occurred to me, but as soon as i saw it, and how his motivations could easily line up with old school Loki, and how he had a familial connection to make the betrayals hurt, it made sense. And in hindsight, you could see that Aaron had been laying the groundwork for that since the Hel arc of his run on Thor. So that one in particular, if Cates goes a different direction and the Tyr stuff is just kinda ignored, I will be disappointed. Though i fear that might be the case since the tease in Thor was that Thor would face the new God of Lies, but I mean, Thor already has faced Tyr in that particular role, Tyr mind controlled him, it wasn't a good time for Thor. So.... hopefully the Tyr stuff pans out. It's Loki who I want to see face off against with Tyr now, I think it would be interesting to see Loki realizing that Tyr has taken his old role, since Loki will know exactly what that will mean for him. It may be that Loki would be the first to realize it, because he sees his old self in Tyr's actions and motivations.

[Raye]

No new mention of Loki anywhere in the solicits, today, besides the Valkyries thing we were just discussing, but we do have two new covers for Double Trouble:



Very cute covers. Not a lot to unpack with the solicit, it is very short and to the point

MARIKO TAMAKI (W) • GURIHIRU (A/C)
Variant Cover by LUCIANO VECCHIO
Anarchy in Asgard!
Anarchy in Asgard! Loki has summoned a serpent set on city-smashing, and now Thor has to clean up his mess…again!
32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99


As always, it is disappointing to not see Loki mentioned in the Thor solicits in particular. I just want some confirmation that he will have a part to play in the story, like it feels like he should. I hope they are just keeping his involvement kind of a secret because it would be spoilery to talk about it. Though at least we know he will get out of the story intact, because the Valkyrie story takes place after King in Black, which takes place after/during Prey. King in Black took place to start shortly after Prey began, because Thor was missing, but last issue, Thor came back, so now King in Black has jumped ahead of Prey even more. So yeah, if Valkyries takes place after King in Black, and Loki is in it, then Loki (and Jane) make it out of Prey ok. I guess that's something, considering how badly i suspect some other characters will fare in Prey.

But, Loki is getting a Marvel-Verse TPB collecting a bunch of stories from the past:



Written by J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI, FIONA AVERY, ROB RODI, RALPH MACCHIO & STAN LEE
Penciled by JOHN ROMITA JR., PASQUAL FERRY, WALTER SIMONSON & JOHN BUSCEMA
Cover by OZGUR YILDIRIM
He's the most deceptive deity in the Marvel-Verse — whether he's playing the villain, the hero or just an agent of chaos! He's Loki — and these are some of his legendary stories! In an all-time classic, Loki pits his brother Thor against the Silver Surfer for a cosmic battle royale! Then, take a fresh view of the founding of the accursed Avengers through the eyes of the God of Lies responsible for assembling them! On the trail of a sinister sorcerer, Loki finds an unlikely ally in none other than Spider-Man — and ends up in the web-slinger's debt! And when the rejuvenated Trickster turns over a new leaf, Kid Loki will learn exactly what his fellow Asgardians think of him! Collecting AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1999) #503-504, JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY (2011) #626.1, and material from AVENGERS (1963) #300 and SILVER SURFER (1968) #4.
120 PGS./Ages 10 & Up …$9.99
ISBN: 978-1-302-93082-0
Trim size: 6 x 9

and an Omnibus with even more old stories:

Written by STAN LEE, LARRY LIEBER & ROBERT BERNSTEIN
Penciled by JACK KIRBY, JOE SINNOTT, STEVE DITKO, MARIE SEVERIN, JOHN BUSCEMA & NEAL ADAMS
Covers by MARK BROOKS & JACK KIRBY Celebrate the God of Mischief's classic villainy in a volume full of diabolical deceit! Featuring every Loki appearance from Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's legendary era of THOR — and more — it's a volume full of brotherly rivalry, deadly plots and wicked magic! Across the ages, Loki's tricks on Thor are a treat to read as he wreaks havoc on Asgard and Midgard — banishing Jane Foster to Limbo, trading spells with Doctor Strange and masterminding a Thor/Silver Surfer battle — and of course, causing the Avengers to first assemble! Bring on the wiliest bad guy of all! Collecting AVENGERS (1963) #1; JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY (1952) #111, #113 and #115-123; and THOR (1966) #153-157, #167, #173, #175-177, #179-181 and ANNUAL #2 — plus material from JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY (1952) #85, #88, #91-92, #94, #97, #100-104, #107-108, #110, #112, #114 and #124-125; THOR (1966) #126-129, #142 and #147-152; STRANGE TALES (1951) #123; TALES TO ASTONISH (1959) #101; and SILVER SURFER (1968) #4.
1008 PGS./All Ages …$125.00
ISBN: 978-1-302-93063-9
Trim size: 7-1/4 x 10-7/8

LOKI OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC KIRBY COVER (DM ONLY)
1008 PGS./All Ages …$125.00
ISBN: 978-1-302-93064-6
Trim size: 7-1/4 x 10-7/8

[Raye]

Thread is sadly dead... but this morning I had a thought, after seeing the solicit for that trade that's coming out again.

Okay, I know i like just said a couple posts ago that I hoped Cates went with the Tyr thing, for the 'new god of lies' but I thought of one scenario that I would be cool with instead, because it checks a lot of the same boxes. (and would still be cool with Tyr if this does not happen) This only works if Loki is the new 'Thor' tho, because he is the only person in Asgard with a connection to them.

I said in the past that I like the idea of Tyr in part because the family connection makes the betrayal hurt more than some if it was some new character, or just someone from outside the family, and his motivations as presented so far do make sense, so I had been hoping Cates would go forward with that. But there is someone else that could check those boxes, and, assuming it is Loki in the role, would make him not want to hurt them, in a way that is not there for Tyr (where I don't think Loki particularly likes him really, or feels a strong connection in the way he does with Thor). Tess Black. His daughter. That trade solicit, it contains the story from JMS's run on Spider-Man, where Loki went to Spider-Man for help to rescue his daughter, a half human, from being possessed by a sorceress, and Spidey did, and Loki was grateful and promised him a favor, which Slott then had him repay in the most disappointing way ever, but that's kind of beside the point. The point is, Loki has a daughter out there. While he hasn't been involved in her life, the fact that he did keep tabs on her and did rescue her when she was in danger shows she was still one of the few people he genuinely cared about even back then, when he was still in full on villain mode. What is less clear is how she feels about him. It was implied she had her mind wiped of memories of the Spider-Man story, she was put into a 'sleep of forgetfulness' but she did seem to realize during the story that he was her father, so... I think she still knows? How much she cares about that is another matter, it could go many directions there. Back then, before the face turn, I think Loki would have been totally fine if she had followed in his footsteps, maybe even proud. Now tho? Maybe not so much, he'd probably not want her to go down the same path he did. But while rescuing her, he did tell her to tap into her anger and use it. A very villain type of advice to win the day, but probably not the advice he would give today. And though it did work, it could have consequences down the line. Even tho her memories of that incident are presumably gone, some subconscious element may still be there that pushes her towards using her anger and other negative emotions to get by. And she may direct that towards him. She may feel he's turned against his purpose, or feel a sense of abandonment since he's stayed away for the most part, or maybe something else happens to her. It could be like, he's been absorbed with his own ****, just assumed she was doing fine, then out of the blue she comes back into things, somehow getting power (when not possessed, she apparently was just a normal human in terms of abilities, the one aspect where it may fall apart a bit. But she also only appeared for 2 issues, so that is easily retconned, or maybe the possession awakened some latent abilities or something) or even just lying to and manipulating him, trying to get something from him, (... like maybe power, i mean Loki's given powers to mortals before, but he never did so for his own daughter?) and he doesn't see it, because he doesn't want to. She'd be a blind spot, he can tell when Thor is lying to him about everything going on with his whole deal, but he wouldn't see it here. The one thing missing here is motivations, but since she is almost a blank slate, all we really know is that she lived a relatively normal mortal life, and became a stock broker, they can go many different directions there, in terms of her personality and motivations, and it would not contradict anything.

and I mean, Marvel has been pushing that spider-Man story. Besides that TPB, which has awfully good timing if this does turn out to be the case, remember there was that big curated Comixology sale a while back, where they selected some (but not anywhere close to all) Loki stories to put on sale at a big discount, and that was one of them. So, just saying, Marvel could be trying to get this story out there, because they intend to reference it.

[Fanto.mx]

Thread is sadly dead... but this morning I had a thought, after seeing the solicit for that trade that's coming out again.

Okay, I know i like just said a couple posts ago that I hoped Cates went with the Tyr thing, for the 'new god of lies' but I thought of one scenario that I would be cool with instead, because it checks a lot of the same boxes. (and would still be cool with Tyr if this does not happen) This only works if Loki is the new 'Thor' tho, because he is the only person in Asgard with a connection to them.

I said in the past that I like the idea of Tyr in part because the family connection makes the betrayal hurt more than some if it was some new character, or just someone from outside the family, and his motivations as presented so far do make sense, so I had been hoping Cates would go forward with that. But there is someone else that could check those boxes, and, assuming it is Loki in the role, would make him not want to hurt them, in a way that is not there for Tyr (where I don't think Loki particularly likes him really, or feels a strong connection in the way he does with Thor). Tess Black. His daughter. That trade solicit, it contains the story from JMS's run on Spider-Man, where Loki went to Spider-Man for help to rescue his daughter, a half human, from being possessed by a sorceress, and Spidey did, and Loki was grateful and promised him a favor, which Slott then had him repay in the most disappointing way ever, but that's kind of beside the point. The point is, Loki has a daughter out there. While he hasn't been involved in her life, the fact that he did keep tabs on her and did rescue her when she was in danger shows she was still one of the few people he genuinely cared about even back then, when he was still in full on villain mode. What is less clear is how she feels about him. It was implied she had her mind wiped of memories of the Spider-Man story, she was put into a 'sleep of forgetfulness' but she did seem to realize during the story that he was her father, so... I think she still knows? How much she cares about that is another matter, it could go many directions there. Back then, before the face turn, I think Loki would have been totally fine if she had followed in his footsteps, maybe even proud. Now tho? Maybe not so much, he'd probably not want her to go down the same path he did. But while rescuing her, he did tell her to tap into her anger and use it. A very villain type of advice to win the day, but probably not the advice he would give today. And though it did work, it could have consequences down the line. Even tho her memories of that incident are presumably gone, some subconscious element may still be there that pushes her towards using her anger and other negative emotions to get by. And she may direct that towards him. She may feel he's turned against his purpose, or feel a sense of abandonment since he's stayed away for the most part, or maybe something else happens to her. It could be like, he's been absorbed with his own ****, just assumed she was doing fine, then out of the blue she comes back into things, somehow getting power (when not possessed, she apparently was just a normal human in terms of abilities, the one aspect where it may fall apart a bit. But she also only appeared for 2 issues, so that is easily retconned, or maybe the possession awakened some latent abilities or something) or even just lying to and manipulating him, trying to get something from him, (... like maybe power, i mean Loki's given powers to mortals before, but he never did so for his own daughter?) and he doesn't see it, because he doesn't want to. She'd be a blind spot, he can tell when Thor is lying to him about everything going on with his whole deal, but he wouldn't see it here. The one thing missing here is motivations, but since she is almost a blank slate, all we really know is that she lived a relatively normal mortal life, and became a stock broker, they can go many different directions there, in terms of her personality and motivations, and it would not contradict anything.

and I mean, Marvel has been pushing that spider-Man story. Besides that TPB, which has awfully good timing if this does turn out to be the case, remember there was that big curated Comixology sale a while back, where they selected some (but not anywhere close to all) Loki stories to put on sale at a big discount, and that was one of them. So, just saying, Marvel could be trying to get this story out there, because they intend to reference it.

Tess makes good sense, especially in light of the generational thing going on with Thor. If Loki takes on the protector ("Thor") role, having the new mischief maker ("Loki") be someone that has a familial (everything Asgardian seems to end up being familial) relationship with him specifically. This would also give reason for Thor to let Loki handle the problems she creates. There wasn't so much of that with the old Odin-Loki setup, but in a modern setup, you might need that little bit of explanation. Tess coming into godhood would also fit nicely with the bigger themes going on with both Thor and Loki, since a whole lot of this has already been exploring the consequences and unusual corners of apotheosis.

However, all the previous bad future stuff was explicitly "brother," right?

[Raye]

Yeah, that she would only really have a a relationship with Loki could be a good thing, as far as moving things forward goes. Thor is still very reluctant to give up his old role, and I do think that's a problem, he's got to do one or the other, if he is to do either one well, and it looks like Odin is in no shape to resume his old role, so it's actually not a choice any more. unless he chooses someone else to rule Asgard to resume his old role which would... feel kinda off to me. And I do think you can do interesting stories with All-Father Thor where he is not really doing the same kinds of things as he used to do, particularly on Midgard. But that Tess is Loki's daughter, that makes her his responsibility to deal with if she does something bad. Sure, he's not been an active father to her, but it's still more of a connection than anyone else in Asgard has. Now that I think about it, she may not even need to target him specifically to start with. Nor does she need powers. (though i think in the long run, if this continues, she would likely need a powerup if she is to go toe to toe with Loki, the way Loki did with Thor) Like i said above, the Capitol riot, the whole Qanon thing, all that, it's all a bunch of weaponized lies, which radicalized a bunch of people into a cultish following that was capable of doing a lot of damage, and no one involved needed superpowers to unleash a dangerous mob, hell, a lot of the ringleaders were utter morons, it's just a good thing they weren't actually competent and smart. So, like what if she's the MU's equivalent of Q? And Loki gets wind of it, (not like Thor etc. would likely even be aware of anything rooted in the internet, anyway. But Loki would be.) and one thing leads to another, maybe some kind of powerup, residual power from Morwen,she tricks Loki into giving it to her, (if this happens, he needs to get tricked and/or betrayed at least once) or something, and... next god of lies. I mean it's not beyond reason to think a mortal, particularly one who is half-god, (even tho Loki is a frost giant, not Aesir) could not ascend to that position, we already have Jane doing that right now. being a god, at least in the Asgardian pantheon, is more about the roles filled in the 'story' of Asgard than it is about what type of blood runs through your veins and if you are immortal or not. Though it does seem like filling one of those roles does grant that in most cases, if it is one of the primary 'god' roles and not one of the supporting ones (like Jane's old role, for instance). But yeah, her being Loki's responsibility would keep Loki, and not Thor, focused on her, and establish the one on one dynamic.

and the bad future from the Loki series was 'brother' but I don't think that particular future is playing into things anymore so... unless i am forgetting about some other future brother reference. I mean there are a bunch of conflicting futures in the Asgard books alone, i don't think contradicting one of them should be a dealbreaker, those futures change all the time.

But yeah, like some other stuff, this is not actually based on anything in the books, it just struck me that it could fit.

[Fanto.mx]

Halftime at the Super Bowl, no Loki yet. I would expect a Loki Disney+ series trailer at some point, though. Falcon and Winter Soldier had one really early on.

EDIT: No Loki commercial/trailer during the game. (All "Super Bowl Trailers" on YouTube are fan-made.)

Yeah, that she would only really have a a relationship with Loki could be a good thing, as far as moving things forward goes. Thor is still very reluctant to give up his old role, and I do think that's a problem, he's got to do one or the other, if he is to do either one well, and it looks like Odin is in no shape to resume his old role, so it's actually not a choice any more. unless he chooses someone else to rule Asgard to resume his old role which would... feel kinda off to me. And I do think you can do interesting stories with All-Father Thor where he is not really doing the same kinds of things as he used to do, particularly on Midgard. But that Tess is Loki's daughter, that makes her his responsibility to deal with if she does something bad. Sure, he's not been an active father to her, but it's still more of a connection than anyone else in Asgard has. Now that I think about it, she may not even need to target him specifically to start with. Nor does she need powers. (though i think in the long run, if this continues, she would likely need a powerup if she is to go toe to toe with Loki, the way Loki did with Thor) Like i said above, the Capitol riot, the whole Qanon thing, all that, it's all a bunch of weaponized lies, which radicalized a bunch of people into a cultish following that was capable of doing a lot of damage, and no one involved needed superpowers to unleash a dangerous mob, hell, a lot of the ringleaders were utter morons, it's just a good thing they weren't actually competent and smart. So, like what if she's the MU's equivalent of Q? And Loki gets wind of it, (not like Thor etc. would likely even be aware of anything rooted in the internet, anyway. But Loki would be.) and one thing leads to another, maybe some kind of powerup, residual power from Morwen,she tricks Loki into giving it to her, (if this happens, he needs to get tricked and/or betrayed at least once) or something, and... next god of lies. I mean it's not beyond reason to think a mortal, particularly one who is half-god, (even tho Loki is a frost giant, not Aesir) could not ascend to that position, we already have Jane doing that right now. being a god, at least in the Asgardian pantheon, is more about the roles filled in the 'story' of Asgard than it is about what type of blood runs through your veins and if you are immortal or not. Though it does seem like filling one of those roles does grant that in most cases, if it is one of the primary 'god' roles and not one of the supporting ones (like Jane's old role, for instance). But yeah, her being Loki's responsibility would keep Loki, and not Thor, focused on her, and establish the one on one dynamic.

and the bad future from the Loki series was 'brother' but I don't think that particular future is playing into things anymore so... unless i am forgetting about some other future brother reference. I mean there are a bunch of conflicting futures in the Asgard books alone, i don't think contradicting one of them should be a dealbreaker, those futures change all the time.

But yeah, like some other stuff, this is not actually based on anything in the books, it just struck me that it could fit.

Oh. OH. She has the additional weirdcool story benefit of bridging Loki's three worlds by her nature. And if she got really ambitious, she could even put together a group of spurned half-gods, as I'm sure there are a bunch running around the MU. That would be SUCH a fun thing to both play out the "roles" story we're talking about and maybe an interesting Young Avengers reunion. She could play the Loki in accidentally bringing new Avengers together.

[Raye]

That's disappointing about no Superbowl ad, I was kinda hoping some new footage would be shown. Though Daniel Kibblesmith makes a good point, Loki's not really a sports kinda guy: https://twitter.com/kibblesmith/stat...49872031903744

He'd be like me, relying on you to tell me what the good ads were, and not even sure what teams were participating until looking it up on the day. (despite the fact that I helped make one of their mascots! I used to work at a mascot company designing and creating their costumes! Did, among others, the Denver Broncos, Philadelphia Eagles, and, yes, the Buccaneers, though iirc, that one i mostly just did the colours on the design... but that was years ago, and and looking it up looks like they replaced the one i helped on with a new costume that is pure undiluted nightmare fuel. eeeuuughh...)

That is a good point that if the new God of Lies (regardless of whether it is Tess or not) is Earth based, that would help create the pull between worlds thing that is important to the Thor dynamic. Thor sadly just had his Earth connection kind of severed with the whole Phoenix revelation (And though this could maybe play into the whole role change thing, since this revelation comes as he is moving into a new role where his focus is more Asgard focused, really not digging that development, i was hoping they wouldn't go there, but they did. I liked a lot of what Aaron did with Thor, but not this. How much I like the development aside though, there is also the matter that he's off the book now, and I think he should leave that sort of thing to Cates now. Valkyrie, fine, do whatever, but Thor himself, that's the kind of revelation I think should be in his own book.) while Loki has always lacked a biological connection to Earth in terms of his own heritage, so he kind of needs an external connection if it is going in that direction. It could be a lover, like Thor's numerous mortal lovers, though clearly Loki has had mortal lovers in the past if he has a daughter with one of them, so something more could be in order. And the more I think about it, I think the New God of Lies, regardless of their identity, really should probably be updated to be more modern, use the internet and stuff. The gods of mythology, including the Norse gods, reflected a world familiar to people of that era back at them, kind of like how the superhero stories today work. If you take them out of that setting, they lose that reflecting quality, they feel out of place in the world. And while that can be interesting and fun to read about, they kind of lose their purpose as gods. If the roles are changing, I think they should be updated with the times, to bring that reflection quality back, otherwise there is not really much point in the change. It's part of why I think Loki would be a good fit, because the qualities we value in a 'hero' character have changed, also, at least recently, Loki has made an effort to update himself to be more in line with modern society. Even if he is way old, his ideals, skills, interests, etc. fit in with the modern world way better than Thor, who has always struggled to keep up with changing times. And with Thor in particular, he kind of embodied the idea that 'heroic' traits overlapped with traditionally 'masculine' traits, which.... a bit outdated. Jane helped break that down some, but though she was a woman, she still embodied many of the same personality traits, it was more just saying that a woman could possess those traits too. But I think the traits themselves that the 'Thor' character embodies need to be updated some. Mostly to be less reliant on physical strength and beating your opponents into submission, and more about communication. Loki, if we look at the person he is trying to be rather than his bad past, is closer to today's ideal. And likewise, we need a God of Lies that fits that dynamic. When Loki took on the God of Lies role way back when, him primarily being a sorcerer and relying on magic for a lot of his deceptions made sense in that setting, but now in the modern world, I think a God of Lies that reflects the times we live in, using computers, memes, and the like would be fitting. Though I think there could still be a place for Tyr, but as a representation of old ways that we are trying to move past as a society. cus... Tyr really isn't an internet kinda guy. And another aspect of that role was acting as a foil, an opposite, to the 'hero' character, so... Tyr does fit in that way. Maybe it is a situation where it can sort of be divided between two characters.