Every superhero story has a villain who drives the plot, and that villain can be either loved or hated, in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) it’s no different. Many villains have emerged in these more than twenty Marvel movies, with epic battles they were defeated, some more easily, others with a development that forced our beloved heroes to be stronger. But, one villain in specific won over Marvel fans, becoming one of the favorite characters in the franchise. We are talking about Loki Laufeyson, adopted son of Odin and Thor’s brother, played by Tom Hiddleston.
Loki is sarcastic, pretentious, charismatic, tricky and one of the most popular characters. He’s an element of chaos, we never know what he’s up to, and whether it’s for the good or a bad thing for the people around him, and that’s exactly what makes the God of Mischief so fascinating. Tom Hiddleston’s character has a long development over the years that makes people be interested in his story and life, creating an empathy and making him loved by the fans.
Story Behind The Villainy
Every superhero story will have a villain who will help develop the plot, but often, villains end up not being worked on in this type of movie. A villain who is just a villain, that has no layers and his only characteristic is the thirst for power does not captivate the audience, as he has nothing to identify or make people feel any feelings for him. This is something that doesn’t happen with Loki, we are able to see his journey through the films and the deepening of his character.
The God of Mischief had his first appearance in Thor’s first movie in 2011, where we could understand his origin and the reasons for why he acts that way. He makes mistakes, and that is obvious in the movies, but we can see the motives behind his actions and create a bond with him. His story involves universal themes such as family, rejection, loneliness and sadness, which can make us feel some kind of empathy with the character. Loki’s antagonist side comes from the vulnerability and pain of his origin and relationship with his family, mainly his father, which he finds out that no one is actually his biological family. Even as a villain, people are moved by his fate, filled with bitterness and confusion due to this rejection by Odin.
Humanization Of The Character
In this same line of thought, the deepening of his story creates space for human feelings, which can make people identify with the character. When you humanize Loki, it’s possible to create this narrative that he’s not that bad, but that he’s so broken inside that his destiny leads him to do bad things along the way. Thus, his narrative arc is emotional, we can see that he loves his family and would do anything to save them — his death scene in Avengers: Infinity War, where he tries to save Thor, shows us that.
Besides that, in Thor: The Dark World it’s shown to us a very emotional side of Loki, and that he uses his power to create illusions to hide what he is really feeling. All his journey in this movie creates an arc of redemption that continues to be built in the other films in which he appears.
Redemption
The construction of Loki’s arc is marked by ups and downs, he’s unpredictable and we never know if he’s up to something positive or negative. But, with his death, it was clear that he had a path of redemption that was already being built in the movies. Thus, the movies where the change of behavior became clear to us were Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War, where we were able to perceive the loyalty between Loki and Thor, and the development of their friendship. More specifically, in this penultimate film of the Avengers it was possible to notice that Loki tried to redeem himself from his past mistakes, mainly because he was able to sacrifice himself to save his brother and the population of Asgard.
Personality
Loki is sadistic, manipulative, pretentious and, above all, a trickster, always deceiving people to get what he wants. But what makes his personality so special to be one of the most beloved characters?
The God of Mischief is charismatic and always makes people laugh with his scenes, the humor of the character combined with the deepening and great development of the narrative and personality generate a connection with the viewer. He’s not a character who falls into repetition and becomes uninteresting. Instead, he embodies his personality, he always tries to be the best in everything he does, even if his best is to be bad and do negative things.
Loki: The series
Loki, despite being the villain, is one of the most acclaimed characters in the MCU, and when we thought that, after his death in Avengers: Infinity War, his story was over, his series arrives to warm our hearts. The series was released on June 9, and tells the story of Loki after Avengers: Endgame, as, when the Avengers travel through time, the 2012 Loki escapes with the Tesseract, creating an anomaly in the timeline.
After running away with the Tesseract he ends up in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, where he is intercepted by the TVA (Time Variance Authority), the body that controls the timeline, and prevents the creation of the multiverse. The first episodes are more about the presentation and setting of the series, showing all the bureaucracy of TVA. Loki is considered a variant of the timeline, and technically when he arrived there he should’ve been erased. However, Agent Mobius, played by Owen Wilson, one of the people who work at TVA talks with his superiors to keep Loki alive, since one of the variations of his version (different types of Loki) is killing minute men (who fix temporal anomalies) and trying to mess up the sacred timeline.
These first episodes are super interesting and showed us that past threats in the Marvel Universe end up being insignificant compared to what is coming. In addition, the discussion about free will was important for the reflection on TVA, for us to think about whether they are right or not. And put forward an agenda about the actions of each character, if they are really the ones who choose how they will act in society or if it is all premeditated.
The series is being super well-built, with a story that involves us, having a good humor and a further development in the Marvel Universe. Also, from what we’re seeing, this series will have a big impact on the entire MCU, and could be significant for upcoming film events and the development of the multiverse.
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The article above was edited by Anna Bastos.
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