Things Fans Want To See In Loki
Introduced to the MCU with 2011's Thor, Loki has consistently proven to be one of the narrative's most popular antagonists. He's "died" in the franchise enough times to be Marvel Studios' answer to South Park's Kenny, yet in 2021, the god of mischief will lead his own miniseries on Disney+.
What are fans looking for in a Loki series? It's an interesting question considering we really haven't seen anything quite like this so far in the MCU. While the story of Avengers: Infinity War is intentionally told from Thanos' perspective, it still includes almost every MCU superhero, and of course, the Mad Titan's name doesn't appear anywhere in the title. The vigilante of Netflix's The Punisher begins as an antagonist in season two of Daredevil, but before the end of the season, he's an uneasy ally of Matt Murdock. So Loki will be the first MCU story told — from beginning to end — with a supervillain as the lead.
In other words, we're pretty excited about what the show might offer. And by taking a look at some of the speculation that's been making the rounds online, as well as hints from the source material, here's what we think fans want to see in Loki.
Fans want to see the god of mischief on his worst behavior
Going into Loki, fans are going to expect to see the god of mischief. Well, yeah, duh, of course we all expect to see Loki, right? But that's not what we mean.
Loki is possible because of the events of 2019's Avengers: Endgame. While Loki dies after trying to kill Thanos in Infinity War, in the follow-up, the Avengers go back in time to the Battle of New York in 2012's Avengers,and they unintentionally let Loki get his hands on the Tesseract, which he uses to escape. So the version of the character we'll follow in Loki will be one who just tried to violently take over Earth.
In other words, in Loki, we'll be expecting to meet not a reformed villain but just a straight-up bad guy. You can definitely make the argument that by the time he dies in Infinity War, Loki has redeemed himself and become a hero. But that transformation takes both time and the experiences he goes through in 2013's Thor: The Dark World and 2017's Thor: Ragnarok. The Loki of 2012 hasn't watched his brother mourn for him on Svartalfheim, lost his adoptive parents, or helped to save the people of Asgard from Hela. The lead of Loki will be full of nothing but venom and spite. If he's to become anything like the hero who dies fighting Thanos, he'll have to go down a different path to get there.
It would be pretty cool if Thor showed up
There's no word of Chris Hemsworth showing up as the god of thunder in Loki. After all, we expect the miniseries will be Loki's time to shine apart from his adoptive brother. Still, it's tough to not keep our fingers crossed for at least a cameo.
It's also possible that Thor could show up but not Hemsworth. Since the series will focus on Loki, we might get a flashback or two that give us glimpses into the god of mischief's childhood. Instead of Hemsworth then, we might see a younger actor playing a younger version of Thor, just as Dakota Goyo plays the eager Odinson in Thor.
We could also — whether they're played by Hemsworth or not — be introduced to alternate versions of Thor. When Loki escapes with the Tesseract in Endgame, he creates an alternate timeline that can't be fixed by Captain America's journey back to the past. Remember, Loki's escape forces the Avengers to get the Tesseract from S.H.I.E.L.D. in 1970, so that's where Cap presumably took the Tesseract at the end of Endgame. So, if Thor does show up in Loki, it's possible — perhaps even likely — to be a Thor from a parallel universe. We could even meet one of the many alternate versions of Thor from the source material.
Can we get some hints about Love & Thunder?
Scheduled for release in November 2021, Thor: Love & Thunder is on its way. Considering it's a good bet that the god of mischief will be showing up in the sequel and that the film is scheduled to follow Loki, it seems likely that one way or another, the events of the series will be very important to those of Thor 4. And we're guessing fans are going to be pulling apart every episode of Loki to figure out if and how it reveals clues relevant to the film.
The most obvious possibility is that, because this version of Loki is one who hasn't learned to put aside his darker feelings for his family, the dynamic between Thor and his adoptive brother will once again be that of hero and villain in the upcoming sequel. Another possibility is that Loki may have something to do with one of biggest announcements about Love & Thunder. Natalie Portman will reprise her role as Jane Foster, and this time, it will be as the Mighty Thor. Foster replaced Odinson as Thor in the comics for four years, and while we don't know yet how this will be accomplished story-wise in the film — especially since the Mjolnir of the prime MCU is destroyed in Ragnarok — it could be that something in Loki will open the door for the transformation.
The series should play up Loki's gender-fluidity
Disney+'s Loki could be the perfect opportunity to introduce something about the character — from both the comics and the mythology — that's been missing so far and that some fans have been clamoring for: Loki's gender fluidity.
In the Norse mythology from which Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created Marvel's version of Thor, it's clear Loki is gender-fluid. For example, while he fathered several monstrous mythological children — e.g. Hel, upon whom Hela was based, and the great wolf Fenrir, who was changed to Fenris for the comics and films — he's also the mother of Sleipnir, the eight-legged horse who's Odin's steed.
Loki's complex relationship to gender became a canonical part of the comic book version of the character in 2008's Thor #5. Asgard and its gods are destroyed as part of 2004's Avengers Disassembled event, and in 2007, a new Thor title launched with the titular hero and the other Asgardian gods reborn in different forms. Loki was reborn as a woman, and ever since, the character has changed genders a number of times. Considering Marvel's stated commitment to more LGBTQ+ representation in their films, Loki could be the perfect moment for them to show this different side of the character.
Loki could introduce the MCU's first transgender character
In February 2020, a report got heavy traffic across the web that Loki would introduce the MCU's first trans character as a "major supporting character" in the miniseries.
The character in question is Sera, an angel saved from enslavement by the character of Angela. Sera is initially an Anchorite — a group of wingless, male angels imprisoned by the other angels and forced to use magic to create an afterlife for their winged, female counterparts. After Sera helps Angela kill a beast, the latter agrees to free Sera from her enslavement. Soon after, Sera transforms into her true female form, and she and Angela become lovers.
It isn't clear exactly how Sera would be introduced in Loki. However, she could be the perfect fit. She's a magic user just like Loki and gets lots of practice hopping between worlds in the 2015 comic Angela: Asgard's Assassin. She also has ties to the Guardians of the Galaxy, and in the 2018-19 Asgardians of the Galaxy series, she was revealed to have joined Yondu's Ravagers.
Fans would love to see some MCU cameos
One of the things we all love about the MCU is its cameos. Sadly, Stan Lee is no longer with us and wouldn't be able to make an appearance himself in Loki except through archival footage. But we've already learned that the very nature of Loki's abilities invites a very specific kind of cameo.
While it's not one of the more well-loved of the MCU's entries, Thor: The Dark World boasts one of the most fun cameos in the narrative's history. Shortly after Thor frees Loki from Asgard's dungeons, the god of mischief uses his magic to transform himself and Thor multiple times for fun, including making himself look like Captain America. Chris Evan has the singular experience of doing an impression of Hiddleston doing an impression of Evans, and it got big laughs in the theater.
Now, with Loki in his own series, fans are going to want more. Obviously, it probably won't be feasible for Loki to turn into a different Avenger every episode, but fans will likely be waiting for at least one change similar to what we saw in The Dark World. It would even be awesome if the cameos played important parts in the narrative, as opposed to just being one-off jokes. Either way, we can't wait to see who Loki will change into.
Loki should take a trip into the Multiverse
In Doctor Strange, the Ancient One confirms the MCU exists in a multiverse, but it wasn't until Infinity War and Endgame that stories told in different parts of the multiverse seemed like not only a real possibility but utterly inevitable. Fans were teased by the deceptions of Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home, who initially claims to come from an alternate Earth but proves to be a liar in almost every way. So, for those of us eager to see different parts of the MCU's multiverse, Loki could be one of our first chances.
Since this Loki lives in an alternate timeline, we may get the chance to see how things would've turned out if Loki hadn't been brought to Asgard after The Avengers. Among other things, it means he wouldn't have been there to help Thor defeat Malekith and the Dark Elves in The Dark World. Nor would he be there to help Thor escape Sakaar and defeat Hela in Ragnarok. Not to mention that considering the time travel nature of Loki's "resurrection," it's always possible we could see Loki and any allies traveling to timelines beyond their own.
It looks like the TVA might appear in the series
The 2020 Super Bowl aired a Disney+ TV spot focusing on its upcoming Marvel miniseries. While most of it focused on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and WandaVision, we got a brief shot of Loki that set up a very specific expectation for fans.
In the spot, we see Loki sitting in a dark room, saying, "I'm gonna burn this place to the ground." But what he says isn't as revealing as what he's wearing. The acronym "TVA" is on his shirt, which probably references the obscure Marvel organization known as the Time Variance Authority. The Time Variance Authority's mission is to minimize any damage to the natural flow of time, specifically from anyone seeking to travel through time. They're eventually revealed to be a vast, comically bureaucratic organization. In 1991's Fantastic Four Annual #24, we learn most of the TVA's employees are clones bred to serve the TVA for life.
It seems pretty likely the "TVA" detail was added to the spot with the knowledge that fans would notice it and speculate. While it isn't 100 percent clear in the ad, considering both what he says and the clothes he's wearing, Loki looks like he's the TVA's prisoner. If that's the case, then the fact that Loki's escape from the Avengers in Endgame is the direct result of time travel could explain why he's under lock and key.
Fans want a lot more magic in Loki
Considering the number of films in which he's appeared and the fact that he's a sorcerer, we haven't seen a lot of variety in Loki's spell-casting abilities. In most cases, the power he wields is through a weapon or artifact, like the staff bearing the Mind Stone in The Avengers or the one he uses to kill Laufey in Thor.
Besides that, we've mostly seen him either shapeshift or creative illusionary doubles of himself. With the magic he learned from Freya and the dark secrets he no doubt unearthed all on his own over the years, we're sure there are a lot of mystical abilities that we haven't seen the god of mischief wield yet. Whatever challenges he'll face in Loki, he'll probably need to put all his cards on the table. There's got to be some reason he thought he had a chance against the Hulk. Maybe we'll learn Loki is even more "godlike" than we ever imagined.
Will we meet the Squadron Supreme?
Some fans are speculating that Marvel will use Loki to introduce their Justice League clones — the Squadron Supreme. The Squadron has shown up in different forms in Marvel for years. They've been Squadron Supreme, and they've been Squadron Sinister. In some cases, they've been from alternate realities. In the Avengers comic launched in 2018, they're reinvented as heroes tasked by the U.S. government to replace the Avengers. Each member of Squadron Supreme is a clone of a DC hero. Instead of Batman, there's Nighthawk. Superman is replaced by Hyperion. Power Princess stands in for Wonder Woman.
The potential of Loki to explore Marvel's multiverse seems to be part of the reason why fans think Squadron Supreme will show up. If Loki travels to other realities, that would do away with the need of establishing their existence in earlier movies and/or TV series.
Though, we have to wonder if another hit superhero series could prevent the Squadron's appearance. Amazon Prime's The Boys already features a team of heroes, the Seven, who are obvious clones of the Justice League. For another superhero television series to create yet another team based on the Justice League could seem doubly derivative to audiences. Not to mention that considering Marvel Studios' success compared to recent DC adaptations, poking fun at the Justice League could come off as petty.
The Grandmaster definitely needs to show up in Loki
One character from Thor: Ragnarok that a lot of fans are hoping will return in Loki is Jeff Golblum's Grandmaster, the host of the Contest of Champions who enslaves Thor and forces him to go toe-to-toe with the Hulk in Sakaar's arena.
One great reason to see the return of Grandmaster? He's hilarious. In a film with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, Grandmaster is one of the funniest characters, whether he's melting his cousin or jamming with the band at his palace. And if you haven't seen the "Team Darryl" special feature on the home release of Thor: Ragnarok that shows Thor's old roommate now sharing rent with Grandmaster, then you need to go watch it immediately.
Plus, there's a completely different reason some fans want to see Grandmaster in Loki. The god of mischief and the ruler of Sakaar have been widely shipped as "Frostmaster," which is something Goldblum himself endorsed during a speech at the 2018 GQ Awards. If you think about it, it actually makes sense. We're never told exactly how Loki became a part of Grandmaster's entourage rather than a slave like his adoptive brother, just that he somehow managed to get in his good graces. Could it be that Loki won the Grandmaster's favor through seduction? Considering how manipulative Loki is, it's certainly possible.