There Are Actually 12 Heroes That Loki Hasn't Met In The MCU
Loki, Marvel's take on the Norse god of mischief, certainly gets up to all sorts of chaotic escapades in the MCU. He's the main villain in "Thor," an anti-hero in "Thor: The Dark World," and an actual savior in "Thor: Ragnarok." Of course, he wreaks havoc on the world in "The Avengers," but his scheming also brings the titular team together for the first time. Without Loki's evil-doing, we don't have the good guys.
Loki meets his end at the hands of Thanos in "Avengers: Infinity War," once again messing things up by accidentally handing over an Infinity Stone to the titanic bad guy. Loki has cheated death before, but Thanos makes a point of strangling the life out of him, even sneering, "No resurrections this time." Of course, this happens before the events of "Loki" and its panoply of variants. But we're talking about the mainstream Loki, who definitely meets his end before Thor's horrified eyes.
Despite his many escapades, there are plenty of MCU characters Loki never gets a chance to meet before his death. Will an alternate Loki get to introduce himself to these fantastic figures someday? Maybe. But for now, let's take a look at the 12 MCU heroes Loki never meets.
The Guardians of the Galaxy
Loki is essential in evacuating the inhabitants of Asgard into a massive spaceship. Sadly, they soon run into Thanos, who's looking for the Tesseract and its concealed Space Stone, which Loki swiped from a crumbling Asgard. Though he tries to double-cross Thanos, the Mad Titan kills him and many other Asgardians. Thus begins "Avengers: Infinity War."
Thor survives, but just barely. He winds up smacking into the Guardians of the Galaxy's ship. They help revive the thunder god, and quickly become fast friends — well, with the exception of Peter Quill, who enjoys a friendly rivalry with Thor. If Loki had survived encountering Thanos, or the Guardians had picked up the Asgardians' distress call earlier, Loki might have met the rest of the team. Sadly, neither option comes to pass.
It's easy to imagine Loki trading sarcastic barbs with Rocket and managing to understand Groot, just as Thor does. If Thor makes Star-Lord insecure because of his physique, just imagine how stupid Loki would have made him feel. No-nonsense Gamora and Nebula would likely have put Loki in his place. Mantis probably would have sensed his secret pain and loneliness. Finally, just about everything Loki might have said would have gone far over Drax's head.
Bucky Barnes
When Loki secretly replaces Odin as ruler of Asgard at the end of "Thor: The Dark World," he becomes out of the loop regarding the affairs of mortals on Earth. That includes the revelation that Bucky Barnes, who apparently died in World War II, is actually the Winter Soldier. Bucky was captured by HYDRA operative Arnim Zola and given a variant of the Super-Soldier Serum. After he was thrown from the side of a mountain in a botched attempt to capture Zola, HYDRA recovered him, while the world assumed he was dead. Bucky was viciously brainwashed into becoming the perfect killing machine, and spent the next handful of decades in deep sleep, being revived only for assassination missions.
Baron Zemo revives Bucky to act as a tool in his sophisticated plan to tear apart the Avengers. It works, to a large extent — the team does, in fact, split apart in "Captain America: Civil War." It's ironic that Loki, who uses the Mind Stone to make Hawkeye and Erik Selvig his slaves in "The Avengers," never gets a chance to control someone who could have really gotten to Captain America. What's worse, when Loki schemes to bring the Avengers together, then split them apart through dissent, he inspires them into becoming a team. Zemo's ripping him off and getting to reap the rewards!
Captain Marvel
Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, precedes Loki's arrival on Earth by a number of years. A hotshot Air Force pilot, Danvers works with a scientist named Wendy Lawson, who is secretly a Kree agent named Mar-Vell. She's trying to use the Tesseract to develop technology that might help the Skrull race. Yon-Rogg of the Kree empire is dispatched to find the Tesseract and kill Mar-Vell, but a crash accidentally activates the Tesseract, giving Danvers incredible cosmic powers.
These abilities come at a cost, however: Carol is injured, and loses her memories. Yon-Rogg gives her a blood transfusion and takes her back to Hala, where she becomes a powerful part of the elite Kree Starforce. It isn't until she returns to Earth, following a Skrull ambush, that Carol regains her memories and chases off an invading Kree armada. She gives the Tesseract to her new friend Nick Fury (then a lower-level SHIELD operative) for safe-keeping.
The Tesseract is, of course, eventually stolen by Loki in "The Avengers." The ultimate straight-shooter, Carol would likely have taken one look at Loki and blasted him off his feet. She wouldn't appreciate him swiping the object she's worked so hard to protect, nor would she enjoy his sass. Honestly, we can even picture Carol bonding with other Avengers over disliking Loki — can't you see her and Gamora rolling their eyes at his antics?
The Vision
Loki has an interesting link with the Vision, despite the fact that they never meet. In "Avengers: Age of Ultron," Tony Stark inadvertently creates Ultron using the Scepter, which Thanos loaned to Loki to conquer Earth. The synthezoid who will come to be known as Vision is originally designed by Ultron, to serve as a biological body for his artificial brain. Using technological genius Helen Cho's regeneration cradle, Ultron prints living tissue, combined with powerful vibranium, to create this ideal form.
Ultron breaks open the Scepter to reveal the source of its power: The Mind Stone, which gives the wielder control over others. Combining his own intelligence, an invincible body, and the power of the Mind Stone, Ultron plans to destroy all of humanity. However, the Avengers steal his would-be body and ruin his plans. Tony Stark uploads his J.A.R.V.I.S artificial intelligence into it, and Thor imbues it with his magical Asgardian lightning. A new being is born, who is greater than the sum of his many parts: the Vision.
Vision likely knows all about Loki, given his connection to the Mind Stone. Had they ever met, Loki might have tried to exploit their unique bond, though Vision probably wouldn't have fallen for Loki's foolishness. Tragically, the Vision, like Loki, is killed by Thanos.
Scarlet Witch
Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, is another character with indirect ties to Loki. Though they never meet, their destinies are both affected by the Mind Stone. Loki uses this powerful artifact, which resides in the Scepter Thanos loans him, to make Hawkeye and Erik Selvig his loyal servants. After the Avengers defeat Loki in New York, the Scepter falls into the hands of HYDRA.
The Avengers hunt down HYDRA cells and attack the organization's head, Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, in "Avengers: Age Of Ultron." Unbeknownst to the Avengers, Strucker has recruited Wanda and her brother Pietro, who have become activists in the wake of their parents' deaths. Strucker convinces them to volunteer for an experiment with the Scepter. Every other test subject has died in the Stone's presence, but it awakens latent powers in both Maximoff siblings.
In Wanda's case, she receives psychic abilities that allow her to cast illusions, disrupt probability, and hurl energy blasts. The stone also unlocks her true power: Chaos magic. As a rare and powerful being known as the Scarlet Witch, Wanda is capable of godlike feats. Loki, an actual god, boasts similar sorcery, which his stepmother Frigga helped him hone. Seeing these two tap into their magic would have made for a spectacular encounter.
Spider-Man
Spider-Man emerges as Tony Stark's secret weapon in "Captain America: Civil War." Stark goes on to become a kind of father figure to young Peter Parker, which Peter responds to with a great deal of loyalty. This closeness drags Peter into the battle against Thanos in "Avengers: Infinity War," which leads to him fading away in Stark's arms after Thanos snaps half of sentient life into nothingness.
It's unclear when, exactly, Peter gained his powers, but it certainly seems to have been after the Battle of New York. If this is the case, he was probably as mystified and afraid as anyone else when Loki rampaged through the city, demanding humanity bend their collective knee to him. While Peter had to get used to a lot of weird things in a hurry after his fateful spider bite, dealing with Asgardian trickster gods might have been too tall an order. Loki might have been amused by Peter, and kept him around to mess with. However, Peter's unceasingly cheerful attitude could have started to annoy the Asgardian prince. We can't picture Loki wanting to be badgered into building a Lego Death Star.
Anyone from Wakanda
While Loki runs loose in New York in "The Avengers," the isolated nation of Wakanda remains untouched by this particular invasion, just as they have avoided most contact with the outside world. The Wakandans put up a rural front in order to hide their incredibly technologically advanced society. Their possession of the rarest, most versatile metal on Earth, vibranium, enables their astonishing creations.
Even Loki is unaware of Wakanda and its society. As such, he never meets King T'Chaka, nor his son, T'Challa, who succeeds him on the throne and as the Black Panther. He also fails to meet Princess Shuri, the genius (and little sister) who designed T'Challa's highly sophisticated suit, or Okoye, the leader of the Dora Milaje.
T'Challa doesn't make himself known to the outside world until his father is murdered in "Captain America: Civil War." He initially thinks Bucky Barnes is guilty of this crime, until he learns that Helmut Zemo is responsible. T'Challa ends the cycle of vengeance after seeing what it has done to both Zemo and Tony Stark, who are grieving losses of their own. Loki likely would have been annoyed by T'Challa's nobility, and possibly also threatened by his intelligence. In many ways, T'Challa combines the best of the two Asgardian princes: He has Thor's grandeur and Loki's brainpower. This would probably not endear him to the god of mischief. Shuri, however, would have loved to mess with him.
Wong
Many of the heroes Loki never meets have ties to the Infinity Stones, just as he is linked to the Mind and Space Stones. Take Wong, who guards the Time Stone as part of an order of magicians dedicated to protecting humanity. While Dr. Stephen Strange inherits the Ancient One's role as Sorcerer Supreme and Master of the Mystic Arts, Wong proves to be a powerful sorcerer in his own right and a capable ally to Strange as they defend the Sanctum Sanctorum.
Wong is well aware of who Loki is. When Thor discovers that Loki is alive in "Thor: Ragnarok," he demands to know what his brother has done with Odin. They travel to Earth, where the nursing home Loki checked Odin into is now gone. Wong alerts Doctor Strange to Loki's presence on Earth, knowing he's always up to no good. Strange promptly casts a spell that forces Loki to perpetually fall through a bottomless void, and questions Thor as to Loki's sudden arrival. He eventually agrees to help Thor find Odin, and pulls Loki out of the spell. An angry Loki moves to attack Strange, but is swiftly teleported away to Norway. Wong never does meet Loki in person during this hilarious scene, preferring to leave the trickster in Strange's capable hands. Smart man, that Wong.
Quicksilver
Pietro Maximoff is yet another character with ties to Loki through the Scepter. As a result of HYDRA's experimentation, he and Wanda develop superpowers from exposure to the Scepter's Mind Stone. While Wanda's powers can be traced to her inborn abilities as the Scarlet Witch, it's unclear where, exactly, Pietro's super-speed comes from. Had dormant abilities always lain within him, waiting to be catalyzed by a mysterious artifact? Were he and Wanda simply born cosmically important? Was it all a matter of genetic randomness? We might never know.
What is clear, however, is the astonishing speed Pietro becomes capable of. He is tricked into allying with Ultron, but both Pietro and Wanda eventually turn against the genocidal robot when they realize he wants to destroy all life, not just the Avengers. Pietro ultimately dies fighting against Ultron. This is another example of the chaos caused by the Stone Loki brings to Earth. Would he feel remorse, meeting Pietro? Maybe. But maybe they'd just trade barbs, both being given to cutting remarks.
War Machine
Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes is someone who could have met Loki fairly easily. Unlike many of the heroes on the list, who became active after Loki leaves the Earth, Rhodey is in the loop on the superhero front from the beginning. A loyal friend of Tony Stark who also answers to the government, he takes the Iron Man Mark II armor when Stark's behavior becomes increasingly erratic in "Iron Man 2." He puts on the suit for the first time at a party where a drunken Stark nearly hurts his guests, and flies away with it after finally subduing his friend.
Sleazy industrialist Justin Hammer takes the suit and adds some flashy weapons, redubbing it "War Machine." A new hero is truly born when Rhodey and Stark team up against Hammer's partner, Ivan Vanko. While the Avengers battle Loki and the Chitauri army, Rhodey is away in Asia, hunting down members of the Ten Rings terrorist organization that kidnapped Tony Stark in "Iron Man." By the time he realizes what's happening, the battle is over, and he finds the newly dubbed Avengers eating shawarma. Loki is still in detention on Earth at this time. Of all the heroes on this list, Rhodey comes the closest to meeting Loki. Perhaps it's better that it doesn't happen: There is absolutely no way these two would have gotten along.
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Loki never meets any versions of Ant-Man and the Wasp — that includes Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne, who were active in the '80s. While working for S.H.I.E.L.D., Pym discovers Pym Particles, which shrink the distance between atoms in molecules, allowing someone to become miniature and maintain their mass. An entomologist as well as a physicist, Pym also develops a communication system with ants, who assist him on his missions.
Janet is lost to the microscopic Quantum Realm on one of their missions, leading Pym to quit S.H.I.E.L.D. and superheroics in general. When he realizes that one of his old proteges is close to replicating his work on Pym Particles, he manipulates a burglar named Scott Lang into going on a heist to get them. Eventually, Scott becomes the new Ant-Man and Pym's daughter, Hope, becomes the new Wasp.
Pym quits being a superhero long before Loki makes his way to Earth. Loki is busy on Asgard when Lang steals the suit, and has no role in the whole "Civil War" mess. Had they ever met, Loki would have likely regarded Lang as beneath his attention — though he undoubtedly would have been curious about the extradimensional travel Pym's experiments with the Quantum Realm have enabled.
Falcon
The Falcon is an unusual MCU hero, in that he's never had any ties to the Infinity Stones, nor any prior connections to other MCU characters. Sam Wilson meets Steve Rogers by happenstance in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," which sees the two veterans bond over their experiences. What Captain America doesn't initially know is that Sam isn't just an Air Force pararescue airman — he wears a specialized form of light body armor that turns him into a highly mobile aerial threat. The Falcon suit is made for maneuverability, but there's plenty of weaponry in there as well, along with an armed drone "bird" named Redwing that provides recon.
The man who eventually takes Steve Rogers' place as Captain America is a big part of the fight against Thanos. Sam joins Steve when he has to go underground after defying registration orders mandated by the Sokovia Accords. Sam winds up in prison for this, but Cap eventually springs him. Sadly, Sam is part of the half of humanity that disintegrates when Thanos snaps his fingers. When the snapped-away heroes return in "Avengers: Endgame," however, Sam is one of the first to arrive.
Everything that makes Sam an ideal successor to Steve is anathema to Loki: Loyalty, friendship, compassion, and empathy define Sam Wilson. Sam always does what's right, no matter the cost. Loki ... well, let's just say that Loki does not do these things.