SPOILER ALERT: Warning, this article about Loki contains spoilers from Avengers: Infinity War. Proceed at your own risk.
Sometimes a villain, sometimes a hero, but always entertaining, Loki is one of the most compelling characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Since the God of Mischief didn’t make it out of Avengers: Infinity War alive — or even out of the first scene for that matter — let’s take a loving look back at his time in the MCU and discuss what made him such a fun bad guy.
As a master of trickery, we never quite knew what to expect from Loki. He’s ultimately self-serving, but he’s shown glimmers of compassion for others that had him flip-flopping from bad to good and back again.
The character kept us on our toes and captivated us with his comical quips while simultaneously sowing destruction as a full-blown sociopath. And that’s no easy feat.
A History of Loki
MCU fans first met Loki in Thor, which featured him sabotaging his brother’s coronation by letting Frost Giants enter Asgard. After Thor vowed to seek vengeance on the group, his father Odin banished him to Earth and Loki wound up on the throne for a short time. But the God of Thunder eventually returned and ended his brother’s reign.
Never one to pass up an opportunity to further himself at the expense of others, Loki soon made a deal with the Mad Titan Thanos, who gave him The Chitauri Scepter. He then wielded the power to command the Chitauri invasion of Earth. And he may have gotten away with it too if it hadn’t been for those pesky Avengers who saved the day during the Battle of New York. Big bro Thor sent him back to Asgard, where Odin imprisoned him for his crimes.
But you can’t keep a not-so-good man down. Thor eventually freed Loki from prison in order to get his help defeating the Dark Elves and their leader, Malekith. That’s because they killed the brothers’ mother, Frigga, during the Sacking of Asgar. This is one of the first times fans saw Loki caring for someone other than himself, as he genuinely mourned his mother and teamed up with his brother for revenge.
While confronting the Dark Elves in Svartalfheim, Loki appeared to betray his brother once again by cutting off Thor’s hand and turning Jane Foster over to Malekith. But, in fact, the God of Mischief deceived again; Loki’s betrayal of Thor was actually a holographic projection that lured Malekith into a false sense of security. But he didn’t stop there! Loki then faked his own death and secretly returned to Asgard to impersonate Odin and sit on the throne.
When Thor: Ragnarök hit theaters in 2017, the titular character returned to Asgard and uncovered his brother’s latest deception. This led the two to pair up once again to find their father. The siblings found Odin just in time to witness his death, which allowed their long-lost sister Hela to return from banishment and wage war against the Nine Realms.
While it was (as usual) hard to tell which side Loki was aligning himself with while the brothers were in Sakaar dealing with the Grandmaster, he ultimately sided with Thor and the Revengers in a final battle against Hela. The God of Mischief summoned Surtur, who defeated Hela by causing Ragnarök. After the fight, Loki stayed by Thor’s side and supported his ascension to the throne.
Since Ragnarök destroyed Asgard, Thor piled the surviving citizens of his realm into a ship and planned to take them to Earth. But they were intercepted by Thanos and his Black Order. That’s because Loki grabbed the Tesseract on his way out of Asgard, and the Mad Titan wanted the Space Stone that it contained.
Loki proved once again that he did have a love for his brother, offering the Tesseract to Thanos in order to stop him from killing Thor. But, always up to something, he then promised to serve Thanos before trying to stab him with a dagger. Alas, it turned out to be a big mistake. The Mad Titan snapped Loki’s neck, and we lost the God of Mischief for good.
And while it looks like the other characters we lost in Avengers: Infinity War could be revived in the next installment, we fear we have seen the last of Loki as he was killed before Thanos wiped out half the population of the universe. But we’ll always have the memories of the many, many times he kept Thor and the Avengers on their toes and we’ll fondly remember watching him become one of our favorite movie villains of all time.
And who knows, he IS the God of Mischief. Perhaps his death was yet another ruse and he’ll return. Only time will tell.
