Is Loki the greatest MCU character?
Ever since it’s inception in 2008, MCU has set a never before seen standard in the superhero movie universe. Though there were movies like Sam Raimi’s Spiderman, Marvel’s X-Men that paved the foundations, the world had never witnessed such a wide variety of interconnected story-telling of different characters that spans over 30 movies and multiple TV shows within the same universe. Having garnered a mind boggling amount of about 30 billion USD for a good part of 15 years, makes MCU commercially the most successful and the greatest franchise of all time. Over time, the audience has absolutely adored the characters, may it be Robert Downey’s Iron Man, Chris Evans’s Captain America, Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, Hemsworth’s Thor and the list goes on…Let’s take a look at different factors that contribute to the attributes of a well written character.
The Complexities: For a franchise this big, it is difficult to write, build and develop consistent characters that grow with the audience and hold a special place in their hearts. The chances of the character getting ruined are very high, I mean take Thor for an example, just when we thought Thor’s character was at peak with his self titled movie ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ and ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, it only went downhill from there, not considerably well in ‘Avengers: Endgame’, but it was totally massacred in ‘Love and Thunder’. Anyway, considering these facts, a question emerges, Who and what is the perfectly written character in the MCU?
The Growth: For a character to be relatable, it has to be imperfect. The character must have flaws, there should be a learning curve, and realizations along that curve; regrets, remorse, mistakes are what makes a character humane, and ultimately ‘relatable’, because let’s face it, we are imperfect beings and we are forever learning. That makes a great character, the one that has grown and has a purpose, or should I say ‘burdened with glorious purpose’.
Prime does not last forever: Though, the current state of MCU might look shaky, with most of the movies from phase 4 and onwards not delivering well on the promised quality and getting massacred by politicial agendas, ‘Loki (2021–2023)’ has managed to retain the good old ‘Marvel’ quality, thanks to the creative writing freedom.
The Background of Loki: Over the course of 15 years, and the whole run of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, no character comes closer to the complexities and the learning curve, the character of Loki has to offer. Thanks to Tom Hiddleston, for his portrayal of Loki has imprinted the image of Loki in our hearts and brains that cannot be replaced.
From being ‘a scared little boy shivering in cold’, to a supposed villain, known for switching sides, a backstabber, a trickster, a murderer, the God of mischief has come a long way. Loki first appeared in the ‘Thor (2011)’ movie. Born to a Frost Giant, adopted as the second son of Asgard by Odin, Loki Laufeyson was initially depicted as an envious younger brother who has always been jealous of his brother Thor. “I remember a shadow, lurking in the shade of your greatness”, as said by Loki himself when Thor approaches him when he is in the midst of his quest of ruling on Midgard (Earth).
Initially, Loki sought to become the king of Asgard, he craved for the throne, but he knew he never rightfully deserved it. It was in his nature to lose, because he lacked conviction, as stated by Phil Coulson. When Thor was banished from Asgard and Odin went adrift into his great sleep, Loki appropriated himself as the King of Asgard, and also made sure that Thor won’t return. In the meantime, Loki prepares to unleash the full potential of Bifrost onto Jotunheim to wipe out an entire civilization that pose as a potential threat to Asgard. Well, he was doing it to prove himself. Later when he’s on the brink of his supposed death, he says to Odin “I could’ve done it father, for you, for all of us”, who would’ve thought after all these years those lines will come to a full circle…
Failing to obtain the throne of Asgard, Loki seeks out to rule the Earth, where he is faced with the ‘Earth’s mightiest heroes’ The Avengers. On his quest of killing, manipulating the Avengers, and being the villain, he fails yet again to claim the throne that he had craved for his entire life. Loki’s words and actions pointed to a fact that he potentially had a soft corner, love for his family, his home, and all he wanted was recognition, validation, a glorious purpose; and in search of that purpose, he spirals down to most gruesome of paths.
Throughout the MCU, Loki has been seen switching sides with heroes and villains time to time, may it be in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ or ‘Avengers: Infinity War’. He dies bidding farewell to his brother Thor with the words “I assure you brother, the sun will shine on us again”, before dying at the hands of Thanos.
‘Loki and the TVA’: When Avengers: Endgame came out in 2019, none of us would’ve thought that we would get one of the best Marvel projects till date, based on the fact that Hulk didn’t like stairs. During the chaos caused by the Hulk in the aftermath of the New York battle in 2012, the Loki from that Timeline manages to escape using the Teserract, causing a nexus event due to branching of the sacred timeline, because his escape was never meant to happen. Consequently, he is apprehended by the ‘Time Variance Authority’ or TVA, that ensures the natural flow of time by pruning the branched timelines.
There, he is interrogated by Mobius who seeks to know ‘what makes a Loki tick’, as learning about this Loki will help him get closer to another Loki variant that has been killing their minutemen. Here, Loki sees his entire life play out, the past, present and future in front of him on a screen, where he realizes the cause of his mother’s death was him, which almost makes him cry, and he sees how he dies.
During the interrogation, a critical aspect of Loki’s personality is revealed as to why he does what he does. When confronted multiple times, he says “I don’t enjoy hurting people, I do it because I have to. A cruel ellaborate trick, conjured by the weak to inspire fear, a desperate play for control.”
Loki is now stuck with a job of finding the other variant, so that he could put an end to the whole TVA thing and seek an audience with the Time Keepers, the supposed creators of the TVA and the sacred timeline. Later, Loki manages to figure out a pattern in hiding spots of the variant Loki, as a result, they go on a quest to catch her.
After meeting up with The variant Loki, later revealed to be a woman named Sylvie, Loki proposes a deal to work together, resulting in the occurrence of chaotic sequence of events that lead them in an apocalyptic world ‘Lamentis’ which is categorized as a ‘Class 10 apocalypse’. Now, they need to get off this moon that is about to collide with a planet. In order to do so, they team up and get on The Ark, using their magical abilities of course. During this time, they share a deep conversation and bond with each other. Eventually, their cover is blown and they are thrown out of the train, and they are left stranded on the planet. But they are rescued by the TVA moments before their certain death.
Back in TVA, they are brought face to face with the Time Keepers for judgement, which are later revealed to be fake! So, a question arises, who exactly created the TVA, and the sacred timeline? Loki and Sylvie put up a fight with the minutemen, in the end Loki is pruned by Ms. Ravonna and sent to the ‘void’, where he meets several ‘Lokis’.
Furthermore, Sylvie prunes herself in hopes of meeting with Loki, she ends up in the void too. After having a chat with his variants, Loki realizes he must visit the ‘citadel at the end of time’, where ‘He Who Remains’ resides, for answers. The problem is, the citadel is guarded by a mysterious cloudy being Alioth, that will kill anyone who dares to approach the citadel. With the help of his variants, notably the elder Loki, Loki and Sylvie manage to enchant the Alioth and pass through.
Here, they meet with ‘He Who Remains’, the creator of the sacred timeline and the TVA. As Sylvie has immense hatred for the TVA, and she doesn’t believe ‘He Who Remains’, she proceeds to kill him, but Loki stops her, they end up disagreeing and fighting each other, which results in Sylvie killing ‘He Who Remains’. THIS results into branching of the sacred timeline at a tremendously fast rate, as the one who protects the flow of time is dead. He warned both the Lokis that killing him will result in infinite other versions of him emerging into a great war. A war that ends everything, the very existence of the multiverse.
Now, Loki that has lost hope and will to continue returns to TVA, only to realize that Mobius doesn’t recognize him, his timeline is changed, and there are monuments of ‘He Who Remains’ everywhere. (Season 1 Ends on that cliffhanger)
to be continued…