Why can't Marvel make up their mind on Loki?

[HUTHAIFA]

Like others have said his fluid morality has more to do with popularity than anything else. Its true for all the major villains other than Ultron, Red Skull, and Kingpin. With Loki hopefully we will have the happy compromise of Old Evil One and Young Grey one existing at the same time.

[Shura]

That´s the point of Loki, even in the Myths.
I think that the idea of keep Loki as a chaotic neutral character was decided since the end of Journey into Mystery or even before, but it´s difficult to really change the status quo of a character that has been a villain for so long, because of that his redemption journey has been so long, so it´s normal, specially with a character so ambiguous as Loki, to see ups and downs in his behavior, because even when he´s trying to be good he still has some questionable morals, honestly I hate when an evil character suddenly see the light and become good and most of his bad traits go away (the same thing in the opposite direction)
So at the end I hope we get a character that could be use as an ally as much as an antagonist depending on circumstances but without being put in a "hero" or "villain" box, that´s the point of the story.

[Frontier]

I could live with a scenario where we have a grey, unpredictable, young Loki running about in the MU and headlining his own book where he's still trying to understand himself (and that seems to be quite popular), while the older, evil, Loki serves his classic role as an antagonist and as Thor's Archenemy in Thor's own book .

[Post Monster]

I don't think that's really true. From what I remember, he starts out good, but gradually becomes more malicious in action until he is finally and unreservedly the enemy of the gods. At least that's how my copy of Roger Lancelyn Green's Myths of the Norsemen told the story. I do have translations of the Eddas around, but I've yet to read them all.

Keep in mind the Eddas are not the definitive version of Norse myth, just a single telling that happened to get written down in detail. As oral traditions go, the stories differ, sometimes pretty radically depending on the teller. There are a few other variations around with major differences in places.

[Omega Alpha]

Loki is the God of Mischief and the God of Lies. Not all mischief is bad, and not all lies are bad. Makes no sense to have him as a force of evil all the time.

[DrNewGod]

Same issue with Magneto. Once a character is cool enough, TPTB can't resist trying to make money off of them in a series. And of course, we can't have an out-and-out villain headlining a series. Whether or not that is appropriate for the character, is entirely beside the point.

Well, you can blame Claremont for Magneto getting some heroic traits. Though it's worth pointing out that his current series does have him as basically an old terrorist bastard. He's hunting people who hurt mutants, but he's still far from heroic.

Same with Mystique.

True enough. My point was, if fans are responding to a character, somebody's going to try to make the character the star of an on-going to milk every potential dime from said character, especially in this day when writers/artists aren't likely to just hand their best ideas over to Marvel or DC. You can't have an on-going's lead be unquestionably EEEEEVIL because you either a) have to let them conquer your earth, or b) go through an unending cycle of nearly conquering the earth, only to get beaten back and look like a wanker.

[t hedge coke]

Well, you can blame Claremont for Magneto getting some heroic traits. Though it's worth pointing out that his current series does have him as basically an old terrorist bastard. He's hunting people who hurt mutants, but he's still far from heroic.

Claremont, himself, took Magneto back around to mass-murdering jerk right before he left the X-Men the first time.

[Tiamatty]

Claremont, himself, took Magneto back around to mass-murdering jerk right before he left the X-Men the first time.

I wouldn't say that. He definitely brought Magneto back to evil, with his attempt to turn the X-Men to his side. But he wasn't trying to commit mass murder.

[FanboyStranger]

Maybe you should ask the Norse. They couldn't seem to decide whether Loki was a friend or enemy of the Gods, either.

It's nature of fire-- it keeps us warm and cooks our food, but it also burns us and our possessions.

(I don't think Marvel's really done much with Loki as the spirit of fire, although Gillen and Fraction alluded to it in "Everything Burns". Doesn't stand out that much when Surtur is involved.)

[t hedge coke]

I wouldn't say that. He definitely brought Magneto back to evil, with his attempt to turn the X-Men to his side. But he wasn't trying to commit mass murder.

That's true. For some reason, in my head, I combined that launch storyline with Fatal Attractions.

Still, kidnapping, torture, brainwashing, and humiliation at minimum.

[TakoM]

True enough. My point was, if fans are responding to a character, somebody's going to try to make the character the star of an on-going to milk every potential dime from said character, especially in this day when writers/artists aren't likely to just hand their best ideas over to Marvel or DC. You can't have an on-going's lead be unquestionably EEEEEVIL because you either a) have to let them conquer your earth, or b) go through an unending cycle of nearly conquering the earth, only to get beaten back and look like a wanker.

I knew the problem with the making him stronger and stronger and let them the same time don't take the earth at least forever but you are saying that the authors hold back their ideas for the titles ?

My view the whole time was I don't know it better as author and the editors want it so and not others.

[TakoM]

Claremont, himself, took Magneto back around to mass-murdering jerk right before he left the X-Men the first time.

I thought Clarment left because he had a disagreement with his editor maybe it was this....

[comewithme_golem]

IT is a case of havin g a decent charector and not knowing what to do with it.

[Raye]

I think they know exactly what they want to do with him. It's just that what they want to do is kinda hard to pin a label on, which is kinda the whole point. If you read JIM, Young Avengers and Agent of Asgard, there is a definite direction there, it differs a bit between Gillan and Ewing, but not drastically so. Marvel has kept the character pretty isolated while they redefined him. Occasional guest appearances, but rare and of little consequence. He hasn't even appeared in Thor since JIM ended. There has to be something to that, presumablly they wanted to get him to their end goal before they let him participate in the larger MU again in a significant way. It seems he has finally reached his destination, and it looks as though he's all set to participate in a major story in Thor's book, but it's a little early yet to say exactly what that will be like, we've only had like one issue with him in his final form before they let him join the rest of the toys in the Marvel toybox again.