Now that April is drawing to a close, I thought it would be sacrilege not to discuss the ultimate trickster.
This might earn me some side eye from Thor fans but I’m sorry the more I refreshed myself on Loki, the more I found myself rooting for this guy.
I won’t take away that the God of Thunder has power in spades, his the freaking GOD OF THUNDER, at the same time he was born into privilege while Loki was abandoned.
Worse still, he isn’t told about this adoption at any point and stumbles across this when his an adult. On top of that his adoptive father tells him that it was part of a political strategy to secure an alliance between the Frost Giants and Asguardians.
Bruh! Are you serious?!
Okay, orchestrating the destruction of millions in the battle of New York wasn’t the best move and yet it becomes an understandable almost sympathetic one.
That said, here are 5 ways in which Loki is better than Thor:
1. His Highly Adaptable
After tumbling into an abyss and arriving at a place called the Sanctuary, he ends up making a deal with Thanos and the Other to conquer Earth. It’s because of this that he gets an army.
Oh and that’s not the last time we see him owning a terrible situation. When his flung through space during a fight with Hela, he befriends the guy who runs the place, the Grandmaster.
2. His Incredibly Smart
I’m thinking that’s an understatement. This guy’s a tactician of note, and as we’ve seen before his a master manipulator. While his got access to an impressive arsenal of skills and powers, it’s Loki’s exceptional intelligence that elevates him above most opponents.
3. His Way More Diverse
Is Loki part of the LGBQT community? You might be wondering. It wasn’t until Avengers:Endgame that we got a whiff of something queer.
This came in the form of a scene where one of the Russouw brothers portrayed an openly gay character.
Way back when in 2014 Marvel writer Al Ewing confirmed that Loki is both bisexual and gender fluid. This computes, he can shape shift, which means he at time chooses depict himself as either gender.
How does this make Loki better than Thor? It doesn’t, but Thor being a cisgender male means that Loki’s sexuality make him substantially more diverse.
And diversity is always a plus in my book.
4. His complex/the Anti-Hero
Let’s focus again on the Loki who get’s killed by Thanos, a quick summary of his journey.
After being imprisoned for his plot to take over the Earth, he helps the Malekith’s magically juiced up henchman which leads to the death of his foster mother.
She taught him everything she knew and so of course this devastated Loki.
Later he faced the dark elf with his brother Thor, after which he faked his own death to rule Asgard. He was caught out, taken by his brother to find their father. Once they found Odin, Odin died Hela was freed to wreak havoc with her phallic fetish.
He came to terms with being the son of Odin by calling himself Loki Odinson and was wasted by Thanos. I have to say that I get his death being necessary for Thor’s character development but really directors/writers?! The master manipulator gets offed in the most lame and transparent attempt at assassination, you’re better than that!
Loki’s escape during the time heist means than everything following his imprisonment is erased, essentially eliminating altruistic Loki but I’m still eager to see how this iteration’s arc will go.
Alright so there’s not a consensus around Loki being an anti-hero but I’m thinking he is. The standard definition is your non-traditional hero. At least for the pre-time heist version, isn’t that what we have here?
5. His incredibly powerful
The MCU was more low-key about this in the movies (yes, I was itching to use that phrase), but Loki actually has a broad range of skills and powers at his disposal. Aside from his Frost giant nature that gives him super strength, speed and durability, I touched on this earlier but his actually a pretty amazing sorcerer on Asgard.
We see his illusion magic at play in multiple movies but what’s not on display so much is his astral projection, hypnosis, molecular rearrangement and energy blasts. He can also levitate, there’s conjuration, cryokinesis, telekinesis and teleportation.
His also telepathic, and can open dimensional rifts, the latter I’m assuming he used to visit Thor when S.H.I.E.L.D captured him in his 2011 solo outing.
I’m excited to see what the Disney Plus series has in store this coming June but if Wandavision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, I’m intrigued.
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