Loki Appreciation 2018

[Raye]

Although it could be interesting, I doubt it's Loki. I feel like he has another narrative role to play, even if the new Thor displays some of his (recently) characteristic guilt. An important part of his journey in AoA was recognizing that he could be different from the perfect icon Thor was without being evil. With that said...

But that's the thing. Assuming it is him, he's NOT trying to be like his brother or Jane in that role. He's still being his own thing, in a way. He flat out said he would be a different type of Thor because the 'icon' version wasn't really cutting it right now. (and really, it hasn't. his brother's been moping and locked up, while Jane's done good things and saved people, she is a good person, but being a good person has not done anything to actually end the war, which will be more important in the long run)

...these are some interesting ideas. I hadn't thought that Loki might have "fallen off the wagon" --and where's a villains anonymous group when you need one?--but you make a decent argument. If this is the case, however, I would see it as having occurred somewhere after the fifth issue, since he really did seem to be working against Agger with the Hulks. But, sometime after that, especially as his position was forcing him to act like a villain already. I guess it would be kind of synonymous to making a recovering alcoholic drink for (reasons), since his options were really limited.

Okay, this isn't EX-villains, but.... it just popped into my head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxeR95aYer0

But in the MU at this moment, you know, they could do this. Get Loki, Magneto, Doom, Sabretooth, Kraven, maybe a few old school ones like Sandman (even though I do consider Doom and Magneto to be more anti-villains, and I think Sabretooth will go bad again eventually since hi Axis flip has been slipping) And they could sit around and shake their heads sadly about Emma. I could see it happening in Squirrel Girl.

But more seriously, that actually does kinda get to what I was saying. right now, Loki s a Bad Guy, bot not a bad guy. He is a good(ish) person doing bad things. And I do think it happened very early on. The bit of dialogue that made it click for me was in issue 2, the one where he fought Thor. Little Frost Giant him basically spells it out, but it never clicked for me at the time. Apologies for all the junk around this, I haven't gotten my tablet back from the repair place yet, (but they were able to fix it! it just required a part that took them forever to get in, i get it back in a few days) so had to use Comixology's web browser and don't feel like cropping.



and then Loki attacks him cus he doesn't want to hear it. Basically, I think he went to Malekith with good intentions, but, like your example of an alcoholic being invited to a bar for a party or something, that environment was too tempting. He knows he really shouldn't be doing it. But it's just too easy and tempting. Hence him saying to Freyja 'you shouldn't have sent me there' or something like that. And it's not like EVERYTHING he does is now bad, or anything. He can't go all-in, he finds ways to either justify and/or lessen the damage he's doing, like with Freyja. or the whole election thing. And even if he is technically part of that group, he's still going to try and find ways to give himself an advantage over the others.

Seriously, go back and re-read with that in mind. I think I was so wrapped up in finding things that pointed to him having NOT gone bad again (and they are there, because as mentioned he's not gone all-in) that I missed the bigger picture. I think i still would have preferred if he was playing a game here, but at least this way he's not looking completely incompetent by continually failing at some plan we can't figure see, (because there isn't one) and we have been shown a way for him to climb back out, potentially in a rather spectacular fashion.

OTOH, my speculation has kind of continued down a totally different avenue (even if his self-deprecating comment about being petty last issue appears to support the above). Really, part of the issue is that we have a very limited data set to draw conclusions from. If this is all part of a plan, then he's clinging incredibly well to the whole "unspoken plan guarantee". In fact, there were two different possibilities I saw here: one, that he has knowingly gone back to "playing" the part of the villain because the underlying mythos still states that Thor beats Loki, and so he knows ultimately that any plans he masterminds will backfire; two, that Malekith still doesn't entirely trust him and is currently testing him.


...Actually, it could possibly be both things. His initial confrontation with Thor showed him trying to establish a different kind of interaction between them, only to be forcefully turned down. Thus, that narrative is still a thing. He could be purposefully exploiting it...or, he could have decided that it doesn't really matter what he does now, because she'll win regardless and has kind of fallen back into despair. I could see either. For the second one, well, Malekith is a whole lot more cunning than Laufey. If Cul was sharp enough to question Loki's motives after his poison failed to kill Freya, I find it difficult to believe that Malekith wouldn't. However, rejecting him would have placed Malekith in a politically awkward situation (within his council). Especially since it won Laufey's support so strongly, but it would look bad to everyone else, as well. Also, Malekith still wouldn't be sure if Freya's survival was a fluke or not. So, he let Loki in but has been keeping a close eye on him and testing him to prove his loyalty. We see this in the issue in Alfheim where he asks Loki to dispose of the Light Elven Queen, and then in this issue Loki addresses him directly because he knows he's watching. It would also explain why Loki hasn't tried to stab him--he probably has wards or something that would make it fail, and then Loki would be screwed in a big way. Actually, I think I've talked myself into this. Malekith is cunning enough that we've seen him more or less run circles around both Thors, the league of Realms, and whatever Freya's council is called (name slipped my mind). It's going to take more than a failed assassination attempt to fool him.

I agree, there is not much to go on yet. and I won't be too surprised if i am completely wrong about this. but I do think it is a possibility worth considering. But what you said about Thor beating Loki... i mean, what if he resigned himself to that initially, but now sees a way out? Where he and Thor can BOTH win, because they are one and the same?

And yes, Malekith is harder to fool than Laufey. We saw last issue that he can spy on Loki from across realms if he chooses, so i am sure that played into things a bit. But i also think Melekith is EXTREMELY arrogant, and probably thinks his plan is more foolproof than it necessarily is. And come on, are we really going to believe that he's better than Loki, the actual god of deception? (ok, former, but still)

I also totally agree that Thori was brought in because of the JIM connection. Aaron especially has shown that he's not going to pay deference to continuity if it doesn't serve his purpose and thus wouldn't be including it if he didn't have something in mind for it (in general, I find his writing to be good enough that his usage of this approach mostly just amuses me).



As I said above, I'd prefer for Loki not to be Thor. Also, Thor (Odinson) reclaimed his identity, if not the hammer, so at least there's that. At any rate, it's a step in the right direction

I was going to write more but I think this is good for now.

I agree that I would prefer him do end things as himself, but at least is IS a way out, and I do think it is going to be fairly short lived no matter who is in that getup.

As for Thor, I said before i think i kind of prefer it this way. I think we, and he, have to learn who Thor is besides 'worthy' whatever that is. I mean, it's not like he has no personality, but his motivations and such have never been terribly well defined beyond being worthy, and being probably too trusting and forgiving towards Loki until recently. I think he needs some more development without the hammer, and hopefully that can happen now that he's done moping.

[Raye]

awwww... he wuvs his mom http://imgur.com/a/7ubY9

but no costume for him this event, even though this part of it revolves around him. so that's odd.

[rpmaluki]

That's too cute. He (sort of) doesn't care about Odin but he draws the line with Freyja, lol.

[kaimaciel]

I love this event so far. AVAC Odin is the best, he loves all his kids so much. You can tell that he felt sad when he told Frigga that she's the only person Loki loves. I wanna grab this family and cover them with blankets

[Raye]

The adorable continues after you recruit Odin, and he wants to bond with Loki, much to Loki's charign: http://imgur.com/a/cvQ21

But the mechanics of the event are.... unpleasant.

[kaimaciel]

OMG!!!

tumblr_oo74pgssU01vfym8go1_1280.jpg

[rpmaluki]

Loki looks freaking AMAZING, as does Hela of course. I missed the horns and the green cape.

[Raye]

awesome! i see they've taken the face-plate thingy from the comics, very nice.

In motion:

[itspopularnowitsucks]

Some folks are saying the new helmet design is based on Loki: Agent of Asgard. Any truth to this assumption?

[kaimaciel]

Loki, your Ikol is showing

[Raye]

Some folks are saying the new helmet design is based on Loki: Agent of Asgard. Any truth to this assumption?

well, aside from the larger horns, (which you'd think would make it more difficult to keep on, but hey, whatever, magic) and the enameled green on the center bit, it is very similar, so I kinda assume it was inspired by the Agent of Asgard design, but without someone on the production saying so, no way to say that for certain. Loki also wore a similar faceplate/crown thingy as Lady Loki, which also had the larger horns, but I think this one is more similar to the Agent of Asgard/recent Mighty Thor version overall, though it may be a sort of blending of the two. either way, i think it is safe to say it was inspired by the comics. There is a lot in the design of the movie as a whole that draws heavily from various Thor artists, but mainly Kirby.

[itspopularnowitsucks]

well, aside from the larger horns, (which you'd think would make it more difficult to keep on, but hey, whatever, magic) and the enameled green on the center bit, it is very similar, so I kinda assume it was inspired by the Agent of Asgard design, but without someone on the production saying so, no way to say that for certain. Loki also wore a similar faceplate/crown thingy as Lady Loki, which also had the larger horns, but I think this one is more similar to the Agent of Asgard/recent Mighty Thor version overall, though it may be a sort of blending of the two. either way, i think it is safe to say it was inspired by the comics. There is a lot in the design of the movie as a whole that draws heavily from various Thor artists, but mainly Kirby.

You are right, it looks like a blending of Lady Loki (horns) and Agent of Asgard (plate). I just saw on Al Ewing's twitter that the designer from comics side agrees it is inspired by his redesign of Loki in Agent of Asgard.

[Raye]

If it is inspired by the Agent of Asgard design, that's nice, because 1) It's a good look for Loki. Full helmet, the horns are distinctive and kind of iconic for him, but it feels a bit like he's.... I dunno, confined? restricted? Also, hair is an important part of a character's look, which he loses with a full helmet. With no helmet he feels more free and unpredictable in a way, and has more personality, but loses his iconic horns. So the faceplate look is kind of the best of both worlds. 2) it shows that the movie makers are actually keeping up with his recent development in the comics, which increases my hope that we may see some of that make it's way to the screen, either big or small. I think that if Loki dies in this movie, which is a possibility for all the characters, being Ragnarok and facing Hela and all, and Hiddleston has said this is his last time playing the character, we may gt a JIM inspired TV series.

[itspopularnowitsucks]

If it is inspired by the Agent of Asgard design, that's nice, because 1) It's a good look for Loki. Full helmet, the horns are distinctive and kind of iconic for him, but it feels a bit like he's.... I dunno, confined? restricted? Also, hair is an important part of a character's look, which he loses with a full helmet. With no helmet he feels more free and unpredictable in a way, and has more personality, but loses his iconic horns. So the faceplate look is kind of the best of both worlds. 2) it shows that the movie makers are actually keeping up with his recent development in the comics, which increases my hope that we may see some of that make it's way to the screen, either big or small. I think that if Loki dies in this movie, which is a possibility for all the characters, being Ragnarok and facing Hela and all, and Hiddleston has said this is his last time playing the character, we may gt a JIM inspired TV series.

Please no TV series. Marvel has demonstrated they are really chicken in TV side. The premise of Inhumans Tv series currently sound like a sitcom. And they are literally doing a sitcom (with writer from Scrubs & Cougar Town) with "New Warriors". Put everything in movies please.

[Raye]

ok, they have had some misses on TV, Agents of SHIELD was a bit disappointing, as was Iron Fist but... you can't just point to the times they missed the mark while ignoring the times they got it right. We also have Agent Carter, and on the Netflix side, we have Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and there is also Legion which is co-produced with Marvel Television/Disney despite being X-Men related. None of them are in the slightest sitcom-ish. Legion and Jessica Jones in particular are actually very smart and deal with dark and heavy character arcs. and with New Warriors, i mean, that one is perfectly suited for a sitcom type take, so I don't see a problem there. do we really want a serious take on Squirrel Girl and Speed Ball? there is nothing about it being made for TV that means it definitely will be a comedy. It's based on the show runner, not the format. As long as it gets a show runner that gets it, it will be fine. JIM is a story that is better suited for TV, imo. It's more episodic, and the TV format would allow for a longer, more meaningful character arc.