…my biggest fear about Avengers 4 isn’t that Loki won’t come back: it’s the MCU, it’s Loki, he won’t stay dead for long. No, my biggest fear is that he’ll come back and that Thor, after all that happened in Infinity War – things that should finally have taught him humility and empathy and changed him for the better – STILL will treat his own brother like his inferior (because apparently the writers think saying Thor loves Loki is enough). And that this will be portrayed as a “happy ending” and something Loki should be content with, even thankful for, because who wants a brother who respects them anyway.
How the heck am I gonna be satisfied with that for either of them?!
I really hope – no, I beg – that anyone messaging Marvel about bringing Loki back would do him (and me) a favor and also drop them a line about Thor’s treatment of him, just to let them know we expect better. ‘Cause honestly, if it continues like so far, he’s probably no worse off dead.
My fear is Loki being resurrected by Thor’s noble and fearless actions, this making all about Thor… again. Loki’s death was about Thor, now Loki’s life could be about Thor as well, this confiding Loki’s status as a a useless twink / fridge wife
That’s exactly my fear too. That’s why I hope those theories about Thor going to Hel / Vallhalla to resurrect Loki don’t pan out, because then it will only be about Thor’s noble act and not about Loki himself. What I’d like to see is Loki to come back by his own incredible will and wits, somehow, like he’s always done. He died for Thor (again) now can’t his life be about himself?
“…now can’t his life be about himself?”
This!!
To your concerns, @shine-of-asgard: I haven’t read the Kid Loki or Agent of Asgard comics (yet…), but I get the sense that even though Thor was responsible for bringing Loki back, Loki has nonetheless been able to lead his own life – intertwined with Thor’s, of course, but not beholden to him. They might want to do something like that… but if Tom Hiddleston comes back in cameos as “Old Loki,” it wouldn’t have the same significance it does in the comics (I gather), because the MCU “Old Loki” was never actually evil. Even at his worst, in Thor and The Avengers, there were extenuating circumstances; he wasn’t in his right mind, and his intentions weren’t entirely malicious. I’m afraid that the way they’ll try to make it work is to frame Old Loki the way Ragnarok did, as not *evil* precisely – because even that would be giving him more credit for competence and motivational complexity/coherence than Ragnarok wanted to – but as *bad*, this cartoon trickster who betrays people for shits and giggles, or because it’s “in his nature” and he “just can’t help himself.”
Alternatively, though, Old Loki could just represent his envy and resentment against Thor and the pain and grievances he can’t move past, while Kid or Teen Loki is trying to live a new life free of all that baggage. That might be compelling, and would be worthy of Tom Hiddleston.
If they are going to reincarnate Loki with a new young actor… I wish Old Loki’s sacrifice had been more significant. I wish he had either had a real reconciliation of Thor, with an acknowledgment of fault on both sides and a resolve from both to do better, or that he had remained Thor’s enemy; the false reconciliation and “redemption” as submission to Thor’s will, and then the pointless shock-value death that didn’t even give much of a payoff to his connection with Thanos (what the hell happened, Marvel?!), are just such a disappointing end to his character arc. This is how your best, most complex and interesting character goes out, not with a bang but a whimper.
We’re making progress with getting used to the harness and the outdoors. This time I took her to the lawn behind my building, which worked better than taking her out the front door because there was no construction noise and no people bustling around.
Thank you for this! It seems to be, at this point, a little nugget released with the intent of whipping Loki fans into a frenzy (which they have accomplished, positive or negative frenzy aside). I will give Marvel this, they know how to market. At this point, we are way beyond IW speculation and gossip, way beyond the IW DVD release follow-up gossip, yet still months away from A4. They need to keep people talking about the Avengers and about Loki, and so here we are.
What I find interesting, though, is that a lot of mainstream media hopped on it, and even Josh Horowitz (who is pretty good friends with Tom Hiddleston, or so I assume based on their interactions) tweeted a reaction. So it’s like, well, it’s probably just speculation at this point, but valid sources are like, “Idk seems legit?” and that does very little to dampen people’s hopes.
Either way, ultimately I want a Loki TV show very much, but I only want it if it’s going to be done right – by which, I mean no Taika Waititi-esque nonsense. I like a humorous Loki, but an appropriately humorous Loki, layered with his complexity and tragic history. (It’s worth mentioning I doubt very much TW himself would actually be involved – he’s CH’s buddy and made no secret of his dislike for Loki – but that doesn’t mean other directors won’t want to take a page from his book.)
Honestly, the best case scenario would be Joss and/or Jed Whedon being involved, the former who gave us a ton of Loki depth (even if Loki was banana balls for most of A1), and the latter who does excellent work on Agents of SHIELD, not to mention all of their experience with TV writing. They capture humor and depth very, very well. But Joss just had another show picked up for HBO, I think, and even so, apparently he seems to be Persona Non Grata at Marvel, for whatever reason. Oh, but wouldn’t it be SO AWESOME if the TV show took place in that year between Thor 1 and Avengers, with Joss Whedon at the helm, to show us exactly what Loki went through? This could be done without involvement from Hemsworth, Hopkins, etc, would tie nicely into the MCU, and would just …. well. ShutUpAndTakeMyMoney.gif.
Hey, I can dream.
Thank you for the ask! Sorry for rambling at you in reply. ❤️❤️❤️
I think the reason Joss is persona non grata at Marvel – and he’s none too fond of them either – is that he resented all their meddling in AOU. For me, that makes it seem deeply ironic that they just let Taika do whatever the fuck he wanted with Thor: Ragnarok. Like… dudes. Joss is an expert sci-fi/fantasy storyteller. He knows how to tie deep philosophical themes and compelling character development into an exciting narrative. He cares about these characters, the Asgardian ones as well as the human ones. None of those things are true of Taika. Joss is the one they should have left to do his thing; they should have pulled in the reins on the reckless bowdlerization of three of their central characters (Bruce as well as Thor and Loki).
You and I have the same wish list, it sounds like. (Though on some level I don’t want them to tell us exactly what happened during Loki’s lost year because I don’t want my fic to be rendered obsolete…)
Loki is the Philosopher King 