Loki Appreciation 2018

[Raye]

I liked the issue, too. Thori's moment in the middle where he momentarily contemplates giving up murder struck me as both odd and fun. Is there something happening there that I missed to invoke that as a response?

I realize that they're both (sort of) valkyries, but I was momentarily confused about the painting because Brunhilde and Frigga are identical on that page. Also, I guess Skurge came back to the land of the living with them, since he's in Asgardians of the Galaxy, but he sure didn't seem to be on the boat.

And yeah, a little disappointed that there isn't any clear intent to keep Thor and Loki together for further adventures, since I think there's a lot of potential there, but since we have a few months of the far future and King Thor, maybe Loki is needed in some other book for now.

For Thori, there was one moment when Jane took Mjolnir even though she knew it would kill her, and Thor i saw this and seemed really confused why she would sacrifice herself like that, so maybe the scene in this book is a continuation of that.

One thing occurred to me in regards to him taking the portrait, and why he took that in particular. (though I think him sending Thor to Hel was still the primary reason he did all this) When Thor finally realizes what Loki took, and that he didn't take any of the weapons, he will presumably tell Freyja. He'll also probably tell her about what Loki did, how he helped him, (granted, in an unusual way) right? So what if he took that picture as a way to kind get her to make contact with him? Loki still thinks Freyja hates his guts, judging by his dialogue in issue one, I don't think that he realizes that though she's mad at him, she's also worried about him.

Also, having another look at the cover for Thor #2, I think that may be a bit of a sign that the 3 brothers may ride again. The cover, in hindsight, has little to do with the actual story. Sure, yes, they met up with Balder in Hel and he had a monster truck. Beyond that? things get iffy. They are riding over a frost giant, which never appeared in the story, it omits Tyr, Karnilla and Skurge, and not like Tyr or Karnilla would have been much of a surprise considering Tyr has been shown in Hel quite often over the past several years, and we saw Karnilla arrive in Hel not long before this. (as an aside, isn't it weird how few of the characters who have died over the years in the Thor books have gone to Valhalla? even if they died heroic deaths in glorious battle? I guess they remedied that with Tyr this issue.... sort of...) I dunno, it just kinda of feels like it was less to do with the issue as it was a 'this is what the run is' statement. So though the monster truck may go, presumably having been left behind in Hel, and we may have to add Valkyrie to the mix, since including her really would have spoiled the story a bit, (though would prefer Angela for a true sibling reunion, minus Tyr because he was an ******* recently.) i am getting the feeling we will see Thor, Loki and Balder.

As an aside, looks like i have some marrying to do in Sims. just not to who i thought, Balder's gonna be pissed...

[Rosebunse]

I liked Hela and Karnilla's marriage. Didn't see it happening, but why not? They're both strong women with fine tastes in headdresses and jewelry. If the Norns could be retaken, they'd be a powerful group. Gonna make family reunions sort of weird.

Did anyone else find the art sort of weird and hard to follow? Like, I like it, but I was having trouble telling what panel was doing what.

OMG I felt so bad for Hela. Thanos played her. He was always going to go back to Death that son of a bitch. And isn't Death basically Hela's boss? WTF. Death is never going to love him. He's just afraid of dying as an old man.

OK, so, Infinity Wars #2 didn't really have a ton going on for us, but I feel like I understand where Loki is coming from a bit. The last few issues had Loki being presented with a problem and he formed a plan to deal with it. And now we see Loki with a planned formed and getting to work. I really hope they don't kill Flowa. I love bad ass librarians.

[Raye]

Uh, I don't think we are going to see a lot of Hela and Karnilla working together, they clearly loathe each other. LOATHE. This is just a political arrangement that unifies Hel so it doesn't fall in the war, any cooperation between then will be begrudging at best. More likely, Hela will try to find a way to dispose of Karnilla, that's why Karnilla filled Balder's role in the first place, she didn't want Hela to hurt him.

I have a really hard time feeling bad for Hela right now. She has acted honorably at times in the past, sure, but in this story, she's acting at her worst. She literally just tried to usurp the throne at the worst possible time to do so, and in the process ordered the death of Thor and Balder (or at least as close as you can get with someone already dead) and others several times over. That her orders to murder them were never carried out is a bit irrelevant, the intent was there. She threatened to kill Loki, and clearly undertook his marriage plan in bad faith, intending to betray everyone. Nope, she doesn't deserve sympathy here, she got what she deserved. Also, in Donny Cates' Thanos run, the whole point was that he realized he had to give up chasing Death, I think this is more that he is looking for a way to change his fate, dying accomplishes that. maybe.

And... I really don't see what you're seeing in Infinity Wars. We saw absolutely nothing about how or why he's there. He decided he needed to find the stones to find out who is 'tricking him' (ugh) sure, but he then literally appeared out of the blue with no explanation whatsoever as to how he learned of the location of the stones at that moment or how he got there so damn quickly from across the galaxy. Just... ugh. Though it does appear my initial guess was probably right in that he is likely behind the warp. It seems like Gamora thinks she needs to... kill people...? the **** is Devondra? her sword? but Loki may point her in another direction, saving lives... sort of.

[Raye]

Loki's gettin the closest we've come yet to a modern comics Loki Funko Pop.... sort of....



Clearly based on the Venomized cover:


Though, they clearly re-used the Ragnarok figure's horns sculpt, so more than likely it wraps all the way around his head, like that one does, which is unfortunate. And a bit strange because the box art shows a more comics-accurate crown. And he's missing his shin-guards, presumably because they were only working from the cover, which doesn't show his legs. But hey, they now have a body with his coat, (though, they left off the fur collar and gold trim detailings. so it needs a bit of work.) so... maybe a for real one is on the way, fingers crossed!

I live in Canada so not going to be able to get this one (Target lasted all of like 2 years up here before folding)

[Fanto.mx]

I can't feel bad for Hela, either, despite her recent circumstances. I suppose she showed a little bit of reason in agreeing to the wedding which is very definitely just a political arrangement in order to keep Helheim united, but in every other way, she was basically full villain and at her worst. And even with that moment of reasonableness, she's solving a problem she just caused like five minutes ago.Being jilted in a previous deal doesn't really overcome trying to kill everyone and continuing to threaten to kill them after.

We got an interesting contrast in "things happening out of the blue" with Thor 4 and Infinity Wars 2 and Thanos's and Loki's cameos, respectively. Sure, they both show up apropos of nothing with no explanation in a place that they shouldn't have easily gotten to or known to get to. But Wars had a long setup that makes it ridiculous and feel like just another check on the Plot Points Checklist. We know where Loki was and what Loki knew and know that he has no reason to be there, according to the story. With Thanos, there's an enormous amount of wiggle room and gray area on how he got there and how he knew where to find Hela. We just don't know how or why, but we also don't know how not or why not. Plus Thanos has motivation and a clear goal in breaking up with Hela, no matter what she was doing or where she was. Loki in Wars, on the other hand, just shows up with a suggestion without knowing a damn thing about the situation. He has no reason to be there in that moment except that it was convenient to the plot (not even to the story -- to the plot).

[Raye]

Okay a few things.

The Russo Brothers broke down the heroes of Infinity War... and they included Loki!


(skip to about 9:30 for Loki)

Now, some people in the comments are upset they didn't say more about him, but personally, I'm glad they included him at all, considering he only appeared for a few minutes (granted, it included his death, but the same can be said for many characters) and specifically referred to him as a 'hero' and said that he revealed his true colours in his scene. (though one with a dark past) I think that sort of acknowledgement of his character arc bodes well for a possible JIM style resurrection.

Preview for Avengers 6: https://www.cbr.com/preview-avengers-6/
Unlike the video, it still seems to be playing him up as a bad guy, no matter how little sense that makes next to the stories being told in Thor and Infinity Wars (which, while i have been critical of it in terms of how it's put together, i do think he is going to be on the right side of things in the end. For a start, it looks like he's going to prevent a lot more deaths at Gamora's hands). but... i had an idea...

So with the discussion about Knull, and then the Venomized Loki Pop, i remembered something. When Loki was telling Cap about the first Celestial that came and died under what is now the arctic, when it was shown dying, it wasn't bugs that poured out of it.... it was black ooze. The bugs did emerge from the ooze, so that makes this a bit iffy... but still. What if this Celestial was the host of the first Symbiote, or more accurately proto-symbiote? We saw in Knull's origin that the first gods he fought were the Celestials, after all. It would still make all the Dark Celestials the host of a parasite of sorts, just... one we've seen before, or at least an early version of it. Especially when you consider that it seems Knull is making his big comeback on JUST as the Dark Celestials arrive. Like they even mention the Celestials falling from the sky. It seemed like that was just to explain why the Avengers weren't helping fight the big symbiote dragon, but it may be something more. Given the connection of Knull to the Thor side of things, with both Thor's lightning leading to the Symbiotes gaining individual sentience, and then the Necrosword being used by Gorr, it wouldn't be that far fetched for all this to be connected. And it could explain Loki's behaviour if he has a proto-symbiote bonded to him. Just saying, I won't be too surprised if on Wednesday this turns out to be the case.

ps. I made Hela, Tyr and Fenris in the sims, and got them all set up with the right family relations and got her hitched to Karnilla. I had to use a cheat to do that and still keep her romantic relationship to Balder intact, and to not have to make Hela and Karnilla actually like each other. and getting all those characters in one place was like herding cats, so no real good screenshots, but I will share what I have once i am done making Valkyrie and maybe Angela for the Asgard house. ps. I made Hela a serial killer... or well, more accurately it's me, deleting doors and the like, so they could live on a lot full of ghosts, so that's kind of fun.

[Del torro]

Okay a few things.

The Russo Brothers broke down the heroes of Infinity War... and they included Loki!


(skip to about 9:30 for Loki)

Now, some people in the comments are upset they didn't say more about him, but personally, I'm glad they included him at all, considering he only appeared for a few minutes (granted, it included his death, but the same can be said for many characters) and specifically referred to him as a 'hero' and said that he revealed his true colours in his scene. (though one with a dark past) I think that sort of acknowledgement of his character arc bodes well for a possible JIM style resurrection.

Preview for Avengers 6: https://www.cbr.com/preview-avengers-6/
Unlike the video, it still seems to be playing him up as a bad guy, no matter how little sense that makes next to the stories being told in Thor and Infinity Wars (which, while i have been critical of it in terms of how it's put together, i do think he is going to be on the right side of things in the end. For a start, it looks like he's going to prevent a lot more deaths at Gamora's hands). but... i had an idea...

So with the discussion about Knull, and then the Venomized Loki Pop, i remembered something. When Loki was telling Cap about the first Celestial that came and died under what is now the arctic, when it was shown dying, it wasn't bugs that poured out of it.... it was black ooze. The bugs did emerge from the ooze, so that makes this a bit iffy... but still. What if this Celestial was the host of the first Symbiote, or more accurately proto-symbiote? We saw in Knull's origin that the first gods he fought were the Celestials, after all. It would still make all the Dark Celestials the host of a parasite of sorts, just... one we've seen before, or at least an early version of it. Especially when you consider that it seems Knull is making his big comeback on JUST as the Dark Celestials arrive. Like they even mention the Celestials falling from the sky. It seemed like that was just to explain why the Avengers weren't helping fight the big symbiote dragon, but it may be something more. Given the connection of Knull to the Thor side of things, with both Thor's lightning leading to the Symbiotes gaining individual sentience, and then the Necrosword being used by Gorr, it wouldn't be that far fetched for all this to be connected. And it could explain Loki's behaviour if he has a proto-symbiote bonded to him. Just saying, I won't be too surprised if on Wednesday this turns out to be the case.

ps. I made Hela, Tyr and Fenris in the sims, and got them all set up with the right family relations and got her hitched to Karnilla. I had to use a cheat to do that and still keep her romantic relationship to Balder intact, and to not have to make Hela and Karnilla actually like each other. and getting all those characters in one place was like herding cats, so no real good screenshots, but I will share what I have once i am done making Valkyrie and maybe Angela for the Asgard house. ps. I made Hela a serial killer... or well, more accurately it's me, deleting doors and the like, so they could live on a lot full of ghosts, so that's kind of fun.

I love the Sims stuff that you do, it's really cool

[Digifiend]

INFINITY WARS #5

GERRY DUGGAN (W), MIKE DEODATO JR. (A/C) CONNECTING VARIANT BY JAVIER GARRON VARIANT COVER BY RON LIM UNCANNY X-MEN VARIANT COVER BY DAVID MARQUEZ

Introducing... Loki's Cosmic Avengers!

40 pages, $4.99.

[Raye]

So, potentially good and bad on that team. Kang is iffy, but he seems to be trying to save the universe/future in this story so I'll count him as good in this situation. Emma? who knows. Hulk is iffy as well. Bruce would be good, but Hulk right now seems to be on the mean side. But Ant-Man and Kamala are good. Kamala especially, she is so uncompromising in her ideals, if she is involved, it must be a good team. She has worked with Loki before, sort of, but didn't seem to like him much. (though Bruno liked him) and of course Loki and Emma were on the Cabal together. Ant-Man and Hulk have likely spent some time together on Avengers stuff. Other than that i don't think they've had a lot of interaction with one another, unless you count fighting one another.

Looks like we are moving from the future to the past in thor. Kinda just want to get back to the present tho...



THOR #7

JASON AARON (W) • TONY MOORE (A)
Cover by MIKE DEL MUNDO
UNCANNY X-MEN VARIANT COVER BY GREG LAND
A TALE OF YOUNG THOR FROM THE VIKING AGE!
Every time Thor comes to Midgard, he gets all the mead, battle and romance a young god could possibly want. But he still can’t figure out how to prove himself worthy of Mjolnir. And now Odin is determined to keep his son away from Midgard for good. And young Loki knows just the way to do it.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

I love the Sims stuff that you do, it's really cool

heh, thanks! it's fun, (even if it is just me dusting it off every month or so at this point) but wasn't sure if anyone else cared. I'll get Valkyrie made later today and get the pics up. Downloaded a mod for a pegasus and everything.

[Raye]

So, the Final Host arc finished today. I was wrong about symbiotes, oh well. (at least, that we are aware so far. Though it does look like Marvel is building towards a big Venom/symbiote event next summer, so... maybe still a possibility, though more remote now) The issue was was.... chaotic... i think they tried to cram too much into the final couple issues, it was kind of a jumbled mess, felt overstuffed. Which is a bit odd after our complaints that Thor was taking too long to get anywhere. McGuinness also seems to have a bit of a trouble with maintaining a visual narrative that makes sense. (Like, i know the same can be said about Del Mundo on Thor, but I had a harder time with Avengers than Thor in terms of clarity of visual storytelling, personally) But anyway, the final page has Loki in chains having been defeated by the Avengers, and it says that he "beams with pride" as he says "heh. Welcome back, Avengers." Which does seem to confirm our suspicions that he was kind of intending to lose, and was doing this to re-form the team. So it's good that it, apparently, doesn't signal him going back on his face-turn.... sort of. But on the other hand, it doesn't really explain some of his dialogue, and this seems like rather extreme measures to go to just for that, it caused a lot of damage, probably some deaths when the Celestials fell from the sky. I mean sure they may have officially disbanded the team, and maybe he foresaw that thee team was needed, but it hadn't exactly been very long, they'd been disbanded for all of like 5 minutes, give it a couple months, geez. Like, the West Coast Avengers came out this week as well, (and was super fun) Kate even said she 'called evereryone she knew' (except Noh Varr) which we damn well know includes Loki. So an Avengers team could have just fallen into his lap, (granted, a bit of a sketchy one but still) but he apparently refused. So yeah, not like they really needed a global threat to get things going, I'm sure the main team would have gotten back together on their own before long. Even if he decided the final host had to be dealt with (which it probably did) it didn't necessarily need to be dealt with right this second. (since it was strongly suggested that the Host only arrived because the Celestial he had dug up had summoned them) But there may be more to it than that, i guess. I am hoping that the next issue doesn't take place 100% in the future, because we have to see what they intend to do with Loki, and maybe get more into what his intent was here. He's captured here, he didn't get away to do whatever. So they have to deal with him, somehow.

But that brings me to something i realized about the most recent Avengers solicit. It says (in part) "And that’s not to mention the shocking surprise the U.S. government has in store for our heroes."... and it dawned on me... We never did get an answer to what the newly elected president in the MU promised Loki when he took office at the end of Vote Loki. But it did end with Loki making a call and saying he split the vote allowing him to win, so he was owed a favor. So something is still in play there, assuming it hasn't just been forgotten about. (which is a strong possibility admittedly) (And if Marvel had balls they'd have that found out and have the president impeached) Also that issue "the startling new Avenger is revealed" So like, just saying, the two could be related. I think Loki is still a possibility for the new member. I thought for a while they may be going with Namor, but the solicit seems to imply that is not the case since they seem to still be fighting him. And while there are a lot of characters they could pull into the team that would be unexpected, hundreds of them, I think they'd go with someone that had some sort of buildup in the story so far, and if they are still busy fighting Namor, then Loki is the only one that fits that bill so far, unless Odin joins. They gotta do *something* with Loki, they can't just keep him chained up forever.

Also there was some more discussion about the Cosmic Avengers team over in the Ms Marvel thread, and apparently Duggan kinda sorta teased on Twitter that Emma would be getting the Power Gem, and, yeah, come to think of it, that team has 6 members, and I would not put it past Loki to steal the gems from Gamora. So if we go by the logic that the gem should be wielded by the character that best embodies the element that empowers that gem, as explained on all the intro pages, then, in order from Emma who is the only one sort of confirmed, it would be:

- Emma embodies mind, (telepath and all) so gets Power
- Hulk embodies Power, (he's the friggin Hulk) so gets Space
- Ant-Man kiiiiiinda embodies Space, so gets Time (this one is the iffy one for me, he was kind of the leftover when I was figuring this out. but he fits for Space if you squint, i guess, with size changing and ability ot enter the Microverse, though I could think of much better fits for a 'space' themed character, such as Silver Surfer off the top of my head)
- Kang embodies Time (he's friggin Kang) so gets Reality
- Loki embodies Reality (shapeshifter, illusionist, literal god of lies) so he gets Soul
- Kamala embodies Soul (by far the most moral and 'good' of the group) so gets Mind.

Initially when they showed that circuit thing, i thought it was that the wielder had to achieve proficiency by using the previous gem in the chain, but yeah this works. and the reason the first Infinity Watch failed could have been because they could not use the gems properly because they were poorly matched to the ones they had.

ps. I never did get around to making Valkyrie yesterday, so that will have to wait.

[GodThor]

I'm kinda getting annoyed by Loki getting smashed by Hulk's.

[Riimi]

So, there's a new interview with Duggan about the Infinity stuff out, and it does talk about Loki: https://www.cbr.com/infinity-wars-ge...gamora-thanos/. The stuff about Loki is on the fourth page. The few takeaways I had: Duggan mentions through the article that he is collaborating with both Aaron and Cates. The interviewer also mentioned that he seemed to be following Loki's quest not to be a villain, and Duggan seemed to implicitly agree.

Didn't comment on Thor but I didn't have too much to add. I was rather surprised Thanos had so little impact on the plot, the solicits made him seem like a big deal. I hope Thor and Loki team up again in the near future.

Avengers...honestly, I mostly skimmed it to see what was up, then was both relieved and disappointed. Relieved because I think it did at least attempt to show that Loki was doing everything to get the Avengers back together, disappointed for the reasons Raye mentioned and also because I'm not sure how clear it was to people who aren't dissecting Loki's every move. Or, maybe people just didn't care enough about it to put it on the Avenger's thread, but I don't think I saw it mentioned, whereas I saw at least one post complaining that Aaron had made him a one dimensional villain. I did see one article on a comic site that mentioned it; to be fair, it seems like everyone was caught up discussing the whole Celestials thing. Now, I do expect Loki to be part of a larger Avenger's arc. I was wondering about it earlier but I think his capture at the end guarantees it. Even if he escapes in a future comic, imo that sets up a different narrative expectation than him getting away right now. It puts him back in the spotlight and is a change in status quo--you expect a villain who escaped from confinement to show up soon, whereas one who escaped without getting captured may show up eventually. Generally, having him jailed would be the safe route to go if he didn't have further presence in the arc. But Odin requested that BP kill Loki, which will come up. Loki dying is highly unlikely, even if this all occurs after Infinity Wars (I have no idea what the timeline is). Now, maybe we have a quick part of the comic where BP chooses not to kill Loki sometime within the next few issues, and that's the end of that, but I don't think the authors want him to let him rot in jail, he's been getting too much exposure for that, too. Also, note that Loki was the first person to bring up the B.C. Avengers, which he did years ago in Thor--he's been involved in this from the get-go. The only thing that makes me second guess this is that nothing's been mentioned about Loki in the solicits. And I know we look for sneakiness in the solicits, but he might not be mentioned because he's not playing a role.

I wondered if he'd become the next Avenger in issue 700 -- but unless he does have some significant impact on the next few issues of Avengers, I don't think he will. On the topic of Avengers, I never would have guessed about the cosmic Avenger's having infinity stones (I'm going to accept this as true until proven otherwise, since why create a team of six people that fit them so while during the infinity wars if they're not going to wield them?). That means that if Loki does steal them from Gamora (I'm not sure how else they'd get them), he decides to split them up instead of keeping them to himself. Matching everyone with a stone that actually fits their powerset/character is also something he would think of (and, in retrospect, something I'm disappointed the heroes who originally had the stones didn't). It could be a happy coincidence, but I wonder if there's any significance to him ending up with Soul. I think whatever's in that stone will be the arc's true villain. It could also explain why he was willing to do shady **** in an attempt to get the stone, while he merely tried to Cajole wolverine into giving him the space stone. If this theory is true, then he'd also be the one choosing the people for each stone, and reserving soul for himself. That said, I also can't think of many people who have equivalent power over reality. Maybe Wanda or Doom, with Strange "gone". The only other strengths I see for Loki would be mind, with a slim chance for space. I think him having soul is likely a combination of meta and in-universe design (after all, he decided to get involved with the stones in the first place).

[Raye]

yeah, I noticed like, no one mentioned Loki much at all in the issue discussion thread last i looked at it, let alone that he was revealed to be not really the bad guy, exactly. I mean, i guess i could have, but i had said my piece here already, so whatever. And yes, it gets a bit frustrating when people keep referring to Loki as the villain of the story, even when he's not. In Avengers, yeah, ok they were playing to the 'does bad thing for a good purpose' angle, so fine. But even with the most recent arc of Thor, where the only thing he did that could be considered halfway bad was being all sneaky and deceptive when teleporting Thor to Hel. From that moment onward he did nothing but help, (granted, he did stab Thor, but only because Thor asked him to, and he didn't actually kill him or anything) and even after the story was over, and it was revealed that he never even took anything of real value in exchange for his part of the deal, revealing that he wasn't even doing it out of his usual selfish motivations, and people still referred to him as the villain. Like, wtf. It is like they are reading a different story.

anyway, back to Avengers. I still think he's likely as the new member, now that it looks like Namor is most likely out. Not like 90% certain, more like 50% but still. I just don't think they are done with Loki there yet, as you said yourself. We still haven't gotten payoff of what Odin asked of Black Panther, like, not even a tiny bit, and how they left him at the end presented a lot of unanswered questions. Most notably, why did he do this? and what will they do with him?

I don't think the Celestials themselves were the reason, or at least not entirely, it was wrapped up too quickly, (which seems really weird with all the buildup it got in Legacy and all, I really think this should have been given a few more issues, allow the events of the story a bit more room to breathe and to help it not all feel like an ass-pull at the end. but whatever, it's done) so I think there has to be more to it, even though he hasn't been mentioned in future solicits.

As you mentioned, they can't just leave him locked up, he's too involved with things all over the MU for that to happen, and having him simply escape would be kind of meh as a resolution. Keeping him around as a team member, though presumably more in a 'so we can keep an eye on you' sort of way rather than welcoming him with open arms, presents an option to address all of this. Also, with Strange leaving the team, if they want to fill the 'Agamotto' spot, they kind of need a magic user. (Speaking of Strange, he's the key to the timeline of the books, i think. I presume Avengers takes place prior to him going off to space, and him losing his powers (... again...) could be the reason for him leaving the team, because it was stated in his book that he had spent months out there, so it would make sense that it took place after. Which means Avengers takes place prior to Infinity Wars as well, because he found the Time Gem while in space.)

Also, and yes, i know this is totally silly, if my Sims game continues to be bizarrely prophetic, there needs to be a reason that Loki and Tony Stark became total BFFs with zero input from me. they just get along way too well, and there doesn't seem to be anything i can do about it, even tho they live in different houses. Tony keeps coming over to visit, and vice versa, and they keep calling one another. It's kinda weird. (I still have not made Valkyrie, i got distracted. soon tho. Before Asgardians of the Galaxy starts for sure) though, downside if that happens would be that it may mean Slott could get his hands on Loki again.

For Infinity Wars, I just want to make clear that my problem with it has been the execution, not the ideas, (well.... mostly.) so I think the idea of a new Infinity Watch but this time they are actually matched up correctly to their stones and thus can be effective is cool. And it could be good for Loki in the long run. Though, I am wondering if he and Ant-Man might be swapped from my initial guess, I dunno. As an Asgardian with access to the 10 realms he could qualify for space, and I guess i may be thinking more of the movie version of the Reality Gem which is more about reality warping, but this version is more about alternate universes, which i guess could fit the Microverse...... but then again, could also fit the 10 realms.... And yeah, Loki could fit Mind as a strength, but with Emma there, i think she would cancel him out. Telepathy beats smarts there, as far as i can see. But I do think him having the Soul Gem would be the most thematically appropriate for the story so far.

[Fanto.mx]

DEFINITELY do not uncover the spoilers if you don't want a MEGAHUGE spoiler for Asgardians of the Galaxy. It spoils the twist ending of a book that doesn't come out for two more days.

spoilers:

https://www.newsarama.com/41660-reda...-spoilers.html So Kid Loki is back. I have mixed feelings. In the first few seconds after seeing that page, I was really happy to see his face again and to think about the possibilities of him being written by Cullen Bunn on that particular team. But then again, apparently the way that the Destroyer work is being ignored/changed. And Kid being back doesn't make much sense at the moment. My impression from JIM and the follow-ups was that he wasn't just dead, he was overwritten. And there's that whole thing where Gillen specifically and publicly asked that he stay dead. I know this is comics and maybe there's a really good story to tell here, but all of this makes me really wary of what this might mean.

end of spoilers

[Raye]

So looks like i was correct about who was piloting the Destroyer... just not in quite the way I expected....

Just a note, the above (and below) is a spoiler for Asgardians of the Galaxy, and it is a DOOZY. If you don't want to be spoiled do not read the hidden text or click the link. Seriously, it is a MASSIVE spoiler of a twist ending, which I kinda regret having read, (not Silver's fault, I read it before i saw it posted here) I think i would have preferred to have been surprised.

spoilers:

So yeah, though Kid Loki was awesome, this does worry me. For one, as you mentioned, Kieron Gillen specifically wanted him to stay dead, and after he explained his reasoning, I agree with him. I think it's best he went out as a fully heroic character, even if it was terribly tragic. I really worry the temptation to turn one or the other of them evil again at some point is going to be huge, which will kinda destroy the message of JIM. But my biggest fear is for the Loki we have running around right now. With them bringing Kid Loki back, it may mean that they feel like they have a free pass to make the current Loki your standard issue villain again, because they figure Kid Loki will be the in-universe 'good' Loki, and we'll like him because of that. But that's not how it works for me. I've said it before, but I don't like Loki right now just because he's good(ish), it's because I have enjoyed following his journey to get where he is. I like him right now because it is hard for him because he is fighting against all his history and instincts, and sometimes falling short. You can't just swap in Kid Loki, he's not the same thing, because though he's cute and all, he is lacking that journey and that internal conflict, even if their methods and general morals are kinda more similar these days. And basically, just I don't want everything Loki has been through to end in failure, to paint him as just bad by default, to give the message that people can't change their ways after having screwed up in the past. I suspect it is Loki himself who is responsible for bringing him back, though. Possibly something in Infinity Wars using either the Reality Gem to pull him in from another dimension, or maybe Soul Gem shenanigans. If that is the case, it could end up being a good thing for original Loki, because it could be him undoing one of his big mistakes in the recent past. I guess that's the best case scenario.

end of spoilers

so yeah. I will definitely check out Asgardians of the Galaxy and it could be cool. I just have.... worries...


Also, I was thinking some more about Avengers. And kinda thinking about the 'why' question, which is something that really needs to be addressed. I said before that I don't think the Celestials themselves were the reason, not 100% anyway. And I got to thinking, what if this is more War of the Realms stuff? Like, at some point Malekith has to invade Midgard, right? and Loki has to know the timeline of his invasion plans, we already saw that, with the Hel story. We saw Loki tagging along to meet Sindr, then the next thing you know (ok, there was a fairly sizable delay, but still) we see him sending Thor to Hel to stop her. Except Loki got pulled along as well. So what if the whole Celestial thing is more of the same? He knows Malekith is going to attack Midgard, and when, so just like with sending Thor to Hel so there was a defense to stop Sindr, he is arranging for the Avengers to form so there is a defense to stop Malekith's invasion of Midgard. When Malekith does invade Midgard, it won't make sense for JUST Thor to stop him, after all, it makes sense for all the Earth's heroes to pitch in. And the way Loki arranged for the team to re-form it could have been him going to Malekith 'i'll get the invasion of Midgard started with the Celestials' intending to lose the entire time, but to Malekith, it looks like he just screwed up. Of course, in that scenario we still have the problem that Sindr had to have seen Loki fighting against her in Hel, and she presumably told Melekith, so I dunno there.