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Loki Laufeyson (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of Loki Laufeyson from the Marvel Cinematic Universe film series. The mainstream version can be found here:Loki Laufeyson (Marvel). For the Loki from the alternate 2012 timeline, seeLoki Laufeyson.

Villain Overview

Synopsis

Gallery

Full Name

Loki Laufeyson(birth name, renounced)

Alias

Loki Odinson(after he is adopted)
God of Mischief
Prince of Lies
Loki of Asgard
Master of Magic
Your Majesty
Son of Odin
Son of Laufey
The Worthy Son
Rightful King of Asgard
Asgardian
Reindeer Games
The Would-Be King
Ant
Real Power
Rock of Ages
Brother of Thor
Puny God
The War Criminal
Loki of Jotunheim
The Asgardian Mussolini
Odin
Little Blue Baby Icicle
Ghost
Lackey
Peace Offering
Savior
Liesmith
Rightful King of Jotunheim
D.B. Cooper

Origin

Thor(2011)

Occupation

God of Mischief

Prince of Asgard
War criminal
King of Asgard(briefly, twice)
Protector of the Nine Realms(while impersonating Odin)
Member of theRevengers
Agent ofThanos(formerly)

Powers / Skills

Genius-level intelligence
Weaponry expertise
Expert combatant
Strategy
Unpredictability
Mastery of manipulation
Tactics
Eloquence
Leadership
Trickery
Charisma
Frost Giant Physiology:

Superhuman strength
Superhuman durability
Superhuman speed
Superhuman agility
Superhuman stamina
Superhuman reflexes
Regenerative healing factor
Longevity
Cryokinesis
Cold immunity

Asgardian Magic:

Illusion manipulation
Decoy manipulation
Presence manipulation
Mental manipulation
Shapeshifting
Conjuration
Telekinesis
Teleportation
Energy blast
Enchantment

The Scepter:

Mind control
Mind stone blast
Telepathy
Portals
Cosmic awareness

Goals

Kill his brother Thor and become the ruler of Asgard.
Kill the Avengers Team and rule the entire Earth(both failed and later abandoned).
Avenge Frigga's death.
Help Thor to Defeat thedark elves.
Take over Asgard and overthrow Odin.
Help Thor defeatHela(all succeeded).
Be acknowledged by Odin, become Thor's equal and be accepted as a proud Asgardian(what Loki truly wanted; succeeded).
Kill Thanos and save his brother Thor(partially failed, but Thor survived).

Crimes

Patricide
Mass murder
Attempted genocide
Attempted fratricide
Attempted world domination
War crimes
Usurpation
Sabotage
Abuse of power
Brainwashing
High treason
Conspiracy
Terrorism
Theft
Forgery
Fraud
Impersonation
Incrimination
Slavery
Smuggling
Extortion
Mass destruction of property
Espionage
Assault and battery
Invasion
Arson
Hijacking
Jailbreak

Type of Villain

Manipulative Trickster

“	I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose.	„
	~ Loki introducing himself to Nick Fury - his most famous quote.

“	Kneel before me. I said...KNEEL! Is this not simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power. For identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.	„
	~ Loki's famous speech.

“	You... will never be... a god.	„
	~ Loki's last words beforeThanos fatally breaks his neck.

Loki Laufeyson also known as theGod of Mischief, is the secondary antagonist of theInfinity Saga in theMarvel Cinematic Universe. He is the adoptive son ofOdin andFrigga and the adoptive brother ofThor andHela.

AFrost Giant, Loki was adopted by the Asgardian Royal Family when his fatherLaufey left him behind as a baby. Loki grew up having a close relationship with Thor, although he was envious because he felt like he was living in his shadow.

After finding out the truth of his origins, he engineers a plot to get rid of Thor and rule Asgard, but is foiled by Thor. He is later recruited byThanos and attacks the Earth with the intention to conquer it, but Thor joins the Avengers and they defeat him, being the reason for the team's formation in the first place.

After his mother's death, he joins forces with his brother to have revenge, but then goes back to enact his original plans to conquer Asgard, becoming king while disguised as Odin. When Asgard is threatened by both Ragnarok and his evil adoptive sister Hela, Loki helps to save the Asgardians, redeeming himself and becoming a hero.

He was portrayed byTom Hiddleston, who also voicedCaptain James Hook inThe Pirate Fairy andLord Nooth inEarly Man.

Personality[]

Loki is the God of Mischief, and an expert liar. Though Loki tries taking over Asgard and Earth, all he really wants is the approval of his father and brother. He is a smart and intelligent man, and he will stop at nothing to fulfill his quest. He is usually considered a lying and manipulative trickster, but this is only because he wanted to be an equal to Thor. Therefore, Loki does have emotion, and he does communicate with some people, despite his power and arrogance. He also had no problem letting Thor have all the glory until he got sick of their father dismissing him.

His personality develops with each film he appears in: InThor, he is initially good and altruistic; even trying to ensure that Thor's entitled and reckless behavior doesn't endanger Asgard. However, as soon as he discovers that Odin lied to him about being his son and that he was actually a Frost Giant, which everyone on Asgard told him were vicious and heartless monsters, Loki broke down as he started to feel like Odin saw him as a monster as well, which caused him to believe it was the reason why he would never give him the throne and ignored him over Thor his whole life.

Because of this, Loki snapped and attempted to commit genocide on his own people to prove his loyalty. He showed a darker personality after those events and a lot of arrogance and vanity, as well as having no problem with manipulating people to get what he wants. Despite all of this, Loki was still shown to deeply love his adoptive mother Frigga, and shows a sense of remorse for his actions in the end of the movie, telling Odin that he could have done better. But, after Odin denies him, Loki attempts suicide, believing there was no hope of redemption.

InThe Avengers, Loki's sanity had slipped away due to being threatened and tortured by Thanos. He is sweating, twitching, manipulative and appearing to be suffering from heat exhaustion which would, of course, be the perfect way to torture a frost giant. He may be trying to play both sides against the middle, appearing to attempt a takeover but doing it in the most inept way possible. He also disregards most of his feelings towards his family, even stabbing Thor when it appeared that he was willing to join him to stop the invasion he started. He also loses some of his more affable traits as he is often showing acting dismissive towards his opponents while also openly showing the more entitled side of his personality.

InThor: The Dark World, Loki was shown to throw sarcastic comments at Odin, who judged him for his actions. However, his sarcasm dropped as soon as he was told that he wasn't allowed to see his mother Frigga anymore, seeming as if he was trying his hardest to hold in tears. This got worse after he finds out that she was killed, causing him to feel extremely depressed and possibly shameful that the last interaction he had with her was an argument. However, he later joins Thor to avenge Frigga, and later sacrificed himself to save Thor. Although everyone believed Loki had died, it was soon revealed that he faked his death to get the throne. Therefore, as least at the time, Loki remained as selfish as ever despite mellowing out.

Between the events ofThor: The Dark World andThor: Ragnarok, Loki stays disguised as Odin for 4 years. However, the Nine Realms become unprotected due to Loki spending most of the time using his position to satisfy his own vanity (watching plays and making statues honoring himself) instead of watching over the worlds as Odin had once done, showing to be careless despite thinking himself as a good ruler.

InThor: Ragnarok, Loki helps Thor on his adventures and had shown to care about his brother and his well being several times. He is also saddened by the death of their father, Odin. However, he still had some trouble remaining on his side. Because of this, Thor couldn't trust him and left him behind. Despite Thor's actions, Loki still shows up to rescue Thor later, showing that he truly wanted to atone for his mistakes. In the end, Loki also retained the brotherly bond with Thor and seemed to finally accept Thor being king.

InAvengers: Infinity War, during Thanos's attack on the Asgardian ship, all the survivors, save for Thor and Hulk, are killed, including Heimdall and lastly Loki himself. Thanos then uses the Power Stone in the Infinity Gauntlet to torture Thor to death, in order to force Loki to give him the Tesseract. Despite initially claiming not to care about his brother, Loki eventually relents and gives Thanos the Space Stone. Loki then claims that he wishes to defect to Thanos' side. Although Thanos recalled Loki's previous attempt to unsuccessfully conquer Earth via invasion, he apparently reconsiders when Loki - kneeling before Thanos - swears his "undying loyalty" to the Mad Titan. In that moment, Loki lunges for Thanos with a summoned dagger. Thanos, easily stopping the attack, coldly rebukes Loki for his poor choice of words earlier, before strangling the trickster god. With his final breath, Loki defiantly tells Thanos that he will never be a god. Loki's fake defection would fully show, in spite of taking the Tesseract, he had achieved redemption and truly accepted his parentage as a Frost Giant while still considering himself an Asgardian and son of Odin.

InLoki, an alternate version of the character from after the events ofThe Avengers admitted that his actions during that movie weren't tactical or for any other reason than the fact that Loki had"just lost it" out of rage towards his family, as well as a way to hide his own cowardice and weakness.

Powers and Abilities[]

Powers[]

Loki's main weapon may be his intelligence, but he is still an extremely powerful being:

Superhuman Physical Attributes: Loki was strong enough to knock Thor and Captain America to the ground in combat, throw Stark across a room and through a window, and send other humans flying with a single strike. He is shown as being only phased after taking strikes from Captain America's shield, fists and kicks, was also unharmed by machine gun bullets, an explosion from one of Hawkeye's arrows and rather long falls. Loki is capable of moving at speeds and evading attacks beyond human capabilities which he used in his battle with Captain America. His Jotun metabolism also has a regenerative healing factor. He recovered from being struck by Iron Man's repulsors and Thor's strikes and survived a beating from the Hulk that would have killed most others. That said, because Thor matched the Hulk, one could assume that the only reason Loki fared well against him was because he was holding back.
Cryokinesis: Not long after learning of his Jotun blood, Loki discovered and mastered an ability to create and manipulate ice, which he used to freeze the Bifrost in place when trying to destroy Jotunheim.
Quantum Magic: Using his inborn skills and his teachings by Frigga, Loki is capable of using impressive magical abilities for a wide variety of situations. He can create realistic physical illusions. He can use this to give himself a vast advantage over his enemies, taking trickery and deception to an advanced level. He can conjure up weapons such as his blades. He can even conjure up Relics of Great Power, such as the Casket of Ancient Winters or the Tesseract.
Telekinesis: He has shown to be able to use telekinesis, usually using it throw his daggers more accurately. He can also use this to a greater extent, catching a giant pillar, as show in the Loki series.

Abilities[]

Genius-Level Intellect: Centuries of learning and training have enhanced his mental faculties as well as his intellect. Despite being new to Earth, he quickly adapted to their lifestyle and the use of Earthly technology. However, the amount of knowledge he does have is unknown.
Expert Combatant: Centuries of training in Asgard has made Loki an extremely dangerous and unpredictable opponent. He was able to kill several Frost Giants, match Thor, overpower Captain America and kill a group of Dark Elves in combat. He is completely capable of fighting with spears, knives or even his bare hands, with utter ease. Therefore, while not as skilled as his brother, Loki is highly capable in his own right.
Weapons Handling: Loki's signature weapon is a dagger which he handles with marvelous skill, using it to defeat several Frost Giants and Dark Elves single-handedly. He is proficient with throwing knives which he used to kill SHIELD agents with a perfect on the mark throw. He is also formidable with spears, using Gungnir and the Chitauri spear to great effect as close combat weapons, rifles and tools.
Unpredictability: Due to his profound abilities, he was able to overthrown Odin after faking his death, deceived his own brother before stabbing him after learning of his interests of snakes, notably using illusions to gain the upper hand at opponents notably Agent Colson, combined with camoflauging weapons at close attacks until being bested by Thanos,

Relationships[]

Family[]

Frost Giants - Biological Family
- Laufey † - Biological Father and Victim
Asgardian Royal Family - Adoptive Family
- Buri † - Adoptive Great-Grandfather
- Bor † - Adoptive Grandfather
- Odin † - Adoptive Father and Former Enemy
- Frigga † - Adoptive Mother and Former Queen
- Hela † - Adoptive Sister, Enemy and Attempted Killer
- Thor - Adoptive Brother and Attempted Victim turned Situational Ally turned Ally and Friend
- Love - Adoptive Niece

Allies[]

The Other
Chitauri - Formerly
Leviathans - Formerly
Jane Foster †
Revengers - Teammates
- Bruce Banner/Hulk - Enemy turned Ally
- Brunnhilde/Valkyrie - Enemy turned Ally
Sakaaran Rebels
- Korg
- Miek
Asgardians - Allies turned Enemies turned Allies
- Heimdall †
- Skurge/Executioner †

Enemies[]

Asgardians - Allies turned Enemies
- Einherjar †
  - Einherjar Guard † - Victim
- Sif - Ex-Lover and Ally turned Enemy
- Warriors Three † - Allies turned Enemies
  - Fandral †
  - Volstagg †
  - Hogun †
- Lorelei
Frost Giants
- Hailstrum †
- Grundroth †
- Raze † - Victim
Dark Elves
- Malekith †
- Algrim/Kurse † - Victim
Erik Selvig - Former Thrall
Heinrich Schafer † - Victim
German Old Man - Attempted Victim
S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Nick Fury
- Maria Hill
- Phil Coulson - Victim (later resurrected)
- Jasper Sitwell †
Avengers
- Tony Stark/Iron Man - Attempted Killer †
- Steve Rogers/Captain America - Attempted Victim
- Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow - Attempted Victim
- Clint Barton/Hawkeye- Former Pawn and Attempted Victim
Kree
- Vin-Tak
Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange
Grandmaster - Ally turned Enemy
Sakaaran Guards
- Topaz †
Fenris †
Berserkers †
Thanos † - Ally turned Enemy and Killer
Black Order †
- Corvus Glaive †
- Proxima Midnight †
- Cull Obsidian †
- Ebony Maw †

Quotes[]

“	Enough! You are all of you beneath me! I am a god, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by-	„
	~ Loki's short last words to Hulk before being beaten by him.

“	Oh, dear. Is she dead?	„
	~ Loki, just after Jane collapses.

“	I am Loki of Jotunheim, and I have brought you a gift! I ask only one thing in return; A good seat from which to watch Asgard burn.	„
	~ Loki to Malekith while carrying out the plan he created with his "brother".

“	You must be truly desperate to come to me for help.	„
	~ Loki to Thor as he requests his aid in defeating Malekith.

“	Well done, you just decapitated your grandfather!	„
	~ Loki to Thor.

“	An ant has no quarrel with a boot.	„
	~ Loki to Nick Fury.

“	Are you ever not going to fall for that?	„
	~ Loki to Thor in "The Avengers" after he uses his duplication ability to trick him.

“	Brother, whatever you're doing, I suggest you do it faster.	„
	~ Loki to Thor.

“	Odin continues to bring me new friends. How thoughtful!	„
	~ Loki upon seeing the Dark Elves from his cell.

“	I have to get off this planet...	„
	~ Loki upon the reveal of Hulk being Grandmaster's champion.

“	Your savior is here! Did you miss me?	„
	~ Loki arriving to rescue the Asgardians fromHela.

“	I assure you brother, the sun will shine upon us again!	„
	~ Loki to Thor after revealing he snuck the Tessaract off of Asgard before it was destroyed.

“	Well, for one thing, I'm not Asgardian. And for another, we have a Hulk.	„
	~ Loki to Thanos.

Trivia[]

Loki is one of the only MCU main antagonists to appear in more than one film, the others beingAbomination,Red Skull, Thanos,Alexander Pierce,Scarlet Witch,Ronan the Accuser,Darren Cross,Erik Killmonger, andSamuel Sterns.
- Loki is also one of two characters to be the main antagonist in more than one film, the other beingThanos.
Additionally, Loki is the second antagonist to be defeated by a lone main protagonist so far in the MCU.Iron Monger andAldrich Killian were both killed by Pepper Potts;Malekith was crushed by his ship;Red Skull was banished due to the Tesseract; andWhiplash was defeated by Iron Man with the help of War Machine. Loki and Thor's fight inThor ended in a stalemate whereas inThe Avengers, Loki was beaten by Hulk. Ironically, Hulk also defeatedAbomination, making Hulk the victor in two consecutive good vs. bad fights and the first one to beat an antagonist in a fair fight without any assistance, the second being Ant-Man who defeated Yellowjacket.
Loki is one of the nine villains of the MCU to actually succeed in his plans, as he managed to take control of Asgard for himself inThor: The Dark World and also successfully steals the Tesseract whenthe timeline is altered inAvengers: Endgame. The other eight areBaron Zemo (who has managed to split the Avengers apart in revenge for his family's demise inCaptain America: Civil War),Erik Killmonger (who managed to get Wakanda to distribute the Vibranium around the world to help people inBlack Panther),Ghost (who has managed to obtain quantum energy to cure herself from a fatal disease inAnt-Man and the Wasp),Surtur (who managed to destroy Asgard inThor: Ragnarok), Thanos (who has managed to collect the Infinity Stones to wipe out half of the universe's populace inAvengers: Infinity War),Mysterio (who has managed to frame Spider Man as his murderer and expose his true identity to the world inSpider-Man: Far from Home),Flag-Smasher (who managed to stop the Global Repatriation Council from relocating of millions of people inThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier), andKang (who managed return on numerous different timelines and founded a new version of the TVA afterSylvie killed his variant He Who Remains and freed the Sacred Timeline inLoki).