Hey! Hallie here!
Loki has been one of my favorite fictional characters for a long time. Anyone who knew me in high school or college knew how much I loved this character. I’m certainly not the only one. One of the major causes of Loki’s constant presence in the MCU is his giant fanbase. But, throughout his on-screen history, there have been various controversial subjects that fans have debated concerning the trickster god. Many fans are divided on which parts of his story were best or what makes the most sense for the future of Loki. So, with his show just around the corner, here are my most controversial Loki opinions.
Loki in ‘Avengers’ is a frustrating mess:
Loki’s first two films focused primarily on making him a fully-fledged villain. ‘Thor’, his first movie, did so by giving him understandable motives and a sympathetic backstory. The movie went through the steps of showing Loki’s friendship with Thor, his discovery of his adoption, his betrayal of Asgard, and his ego taking over his better judgement. Throughout the movie we saw him completely fall apart, and though he wasn’t exactly a completely moral person beforehand, we still felt for him as he fell from grace. The ‘Avengers’ forgot all of his motives. It stripped him of his humanity and relatable features. He was nothing more than a generic Marvel villain. The only remnant of Loki left was his love of presentation. While that was fun to watch, it did nothing for his character. This strange blip in his personality led many Loki fans to speculate about why he might be acting this way. Many believed Loki was being influenced by the Mind Stone, as Loki had done to others throughout the film. Without much fanfare, Marvel decided this was a good excuse for the lack of character progression Loki experienced in the movie and made it canon.
However, making this theory canon erased all of Loki’s autonomy in the movie. Now it’s as if it isn’t really Loki that we see in ‘Avengers’. On top of all that, the ‘Avengers’ film did give us a scene that implied Thanos’ involvement in Loki’s actions, but it was so short and so irrelevant to the rest of the plot that most people forgot about it. The scene I’m talking about is Loki’s flashback to being blasted on the side of the face while The Other, a follower of Thanos, is threatening him. The scene implies that Loki was threatened, and even tortured, into doing what he did. If Marvel had expanded on this scene instead of confirming the fan theory, Loki’s autonomy would have stayed in tact. Well, more in tact. So, summed up, Loki was stripped of his personality in ‘Avengers’ and Marvel confirmed a fan theory that further strips him of his personality in the film. I’m obviously not a fan of this development. In any case, I feel ‘Avengers’ is the worst movie for Loki’s character.
‘Thor: The Dark World’ saved Loki:
So I’ve already expressed how frustrated I am by his appearance in ‘Avengers’. Because of that, I have to give major credit to the film Loki appeared in immediately afterwards for setting him on a completely different path. ‘Thor: The Dark World’ is considered one of the MCU’s worst. But I don’t hate it. The movie is very flawed in many ways, but Loki is amazing in it. We actually get to see some of his reasoning for siding with Thanos in the previous movie through the trial he endures at the movie’s opening. We also get to see him mourn Frigga, repair his relationship with Thor, and nearly sacrifice himself for Jane even though he knows nothing about her. He’s also hilarious. The scene where he turns into Steve is probably the best in the entire movie and his bickering with Thor immediately endears the audience to him. All of this without getting rid of his moralistic issues. He’s still a morally-gray trickster god, but his humanity and relatability come back in full force and are even multiplied. This movie, more than any other, created the Loki we know and love today.
Loki’s death in ‘Infinity War’ is awful:
I’ve talked about this on this blog before, but it’s been awhile so I’ll say it again. Loki’s death made no sense. Coming at Thanos with a knife? Getting anywhere close enough for Thanos to be able to grab him? No. That isn’t what Loki does. He fights at a range if he’s in over his head because he cares about his survival. He’s not the type to sacrifice himself, at least not before all his resources have been exhausted. Loki has pulled off way more elaborate ruses than a brief illusion and he never would attack Thanos with just a knife. Also, the fact that Thanos said “No resurrections this time” to the audience as if he has also been watching all of the MCU’s films and knows Loki’s story arc, is so over-the-top and ridiculous that I actually rolled my eyes.
So that’s it! Notice how I didn’t mention ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ here? It’s because I have nothing to say. It’s perfect. Loki is perfect in that movie. But anyways, Loki’s been doing pretty well since ‘The Dark World’, so I hope the Disney+ show doesn’t break the streak. It looks as if it’ll be amazing. Only time will tell if there will be more controversy to discuss once it starts being released.
Don’t do anything fun until I get back!
Hallie
Oreos & Peanut Butter 