Loki: 5 Superhero Secrets

God of Secrets and Lies

Loki: “I have a friend who believes in me. I have a brother whom I love. I am my own, and will not sit long in any box built for me. These things are right. These things we’ll keep. As for the rest… let’s tell a different story. Let’s be something new.“

Loki: Agent of Asgard #13

Loki is one of Marvel’s most secretive characters. He always has a trick in his back pocket, a scheme percolating in his brain. It simply wouldn’t do to give his plots away by letting his secrets get out. So what has Loki been hiding in plain sight? Let’s find out.

#5 Acts of Vengeance

Loki: “Yea, I have played the part of the lackey, whilst I did create the perfect scheme for thee to destroy all the champions of Midgard! And what hast thou accomplished? Naught! Naught that could not have been done more quickly and efficiently [dispels his glamour] by the God of Evil!”

Acts of Vengeance Omnibus

Every superhero has a small army of supervillains and criminals that they regularly fight. Some villains may migrate to become another hero’s nemesis, but most of them stick to the same foe. The number five Loki secret is the event story where he tricked everyone into swapping dance partners.

A mysterious man organized a get-together for the “prime movers” in the supervillain community. Small scale threats like The Kingpin and the Wizard sat side by side with the Red Skull, Magneto, and Doctor Doom. The man convinced them that the only way to eradicate the superhero community was to unite all the villains and send different enemies at the heroes.

The villains began their onslaught on the heroes. Teams of low-level mooks tried to take down the Fantastic Four. Ultron hunted the significantly weaker Daredevil. The mix-up kept the heroes on their backfoot as they struggled with villains they knew little about and had no experience fighting.

Fortunately, the problem with gathering all the villain leaders together is that they can’t get along. Many of them tried to get one over on their rivals, with Magneto going so far as to try killing the Red Skull for being a Nazi. The constant backstabbing let the heroes survive the attacks and track the plan back to Loki. Despite a last stand, he was defeated and the supervillain community fractured.

#4 Rebirth

Ikol: [first words] “Damn me. Damn you all.”

Journey Into Mystery #645

Sometimes, you have to take a secret to the grave. But that doesn’t mean that it will stay there. The number four Loki Secret is how he is still around despite having died.

Shortly before the event Siege, Loki realized that he had become predictable. Loki convinced Hela, Goddess of Death, to let him reincarnate instead of being brought back the next time he died. He was soon killed by another villain and reborn as an amnesiac French boy named Serrure.

Thor eventually found Serrure and restored part of his memories. Serrure was horrified by his past and that he had been an enemy of Thor, who he looked up to. He decided to become a hero called Kid Loki in the hopes that he wouldn’t become a villain again.

Kid Loki soon encountered a specter of the original Loki, who claimed his death and rebirth had been part of a scheme. He tried to possess the reborn Loki, but was defeated and sealed into a magpie. Kid Loki used his magic to make the specter serve him, naming it Ikol.

Kid Loki’s time came to an end when the demon Nightmare tricked him into creating an artifact called the Fear Crown. The crown would give Nightmare the power to conquer the world. The only way to stop him was to let Ikol possess Kid Loki and retroactively never create the Crown. The two merged, with Kid Loki’s experiences and views making the regretful Ikol a better person. Kid Loki is dead. Long live Loki.

#3 Vote Loki

Loki: “America, if I were your president, I’d have the guts to lie right to your face. And you’d love it.”

Vote Loki

Not every Loki secret is doom and gloom. Supervillain armies and juggling multiple incarnations of yourself are interesting, but sometimes a villain just wants a bit of trickery. What better trick could there be than the God of Mischief running for president?

Loki stopped HYDRA from attacking a political rally during an election year. The pageantry and manipulations interested him, and he decided to enter the race. Normally Norse gods don’t run for president, but the fusion of Kid Loki and Ikol occurred on U.S. soil, so Loki is technically an American citizen. 

Loki ran on a platform of being honest and transparent about lying to his constituents. He was constantly embroiled in scandals, but managed to spin all of them into positive press. He constantly mocked his opponents, be they other candidates or annoying reporters. At first seen as a novelty, Loki’s campaign grows into a seemingly unstoppable juggernaut. Why does this sound disturbingly familiar?

There’s still a bit more to this tale. Why don’t you check out our list of the Top 5 Superhero Presidents for more details?

#2 King Loki

King Loki: “That’s why. Because I tried to change… and I changed. And it didn’t matter. Because even if the God of Lies is not the God of Evil… he is still the God of Lies. And that’s all we’ll ever be! A liar in a land of truth! A deceiver in a world of honest men! Never accepted! Never allowed in! NEVER ONE OF THEM!”

Loki: Agent of Asgard #12

Many people live in the present, but sometimes, your future can be your greatest foe. The penultimate Loki Secret is his ultimate enemy, King Loki.

After merging with Kid Loki, Ikol tried to become a different person. He became an anti-hero who performed espionage and missions for Asgard, while also trying to bond with humanity. All of these distractions were to prevent himself from becoming the vain tyrant he had once been. But in one timeline, Loki failed.

Loki tried to be more than the God of Mischief, but the Asgardians refused to believe that he could change. He eventually gave up and returned to his role, dubbing himself King Loki. The mad king threw himself into his schemes, eventually driving humanity to extinction and destroying most of the universe.

King Loki traveled into the past to break Loki’s spirit and convince him that he was inevitable. He also attacked Thor several times, trying to corrupt his hated brother. Ironically, King Loki died helping Thor defeat an all-powerful villain called Gorr the God Butcher, and sacrificed his life to reignite Earth’s sun.

#1 Destiny

Odin: “This is your time of fire. Your hour of trial. When the storm is at the door and all is darkest. Hold to yourself, God of Lies. Be worthy, not of your brother’s power, but your own. Remember. Remember what a lie is.”

Loki: Agent of Asgard #11

There are many Loki Secrets, but even he didn’t know our number one at first. I won’t spoil the story, but it is all too easy for a liar to deceive himself.

Loki was breaking down. Despite all the good he had done, all the missions he had accomplished, everyone still saw him as a villain. His future self’s words and the guilt of killing Kid Loki ate away at him. The only things keeping Loki sane were Thor’s support and a human friend named Verity.

As the Marvel Universe began to collapse in the lead-up to Secret Wars, King Loki and Hela started Ragnarok to save the Asgardians. Loki fought their army to protect his home, but was driven to the breaking point. King Loki and an apparition of Kid Loki appeared, trying to sway him into a final choice: Embrace oblivion like the Kid, or grow into the mad king, the God of Lies.

All seemed lost until Verity asked what the God of Lies was. Loki realized that a lie is merely a story. Loki accepted that the King and Kid incarnations were both parts of himself, allowing him to move forward and become the God of Stories. Loki transformed Asgard into a story, knowing that he could simply retell it when the universe was fixed to bring it back. Loki and Verity then traveled into the future so they wouldn’t need to wait for everything to be fixed.

What is your favorite Loki Secret? Is there one even better than these? Tell us in the comments.

Image: Loki (Tom Hiddleston) in Marvel Studios’ LOKI exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. (c) Marvel Studios 2020. All Rights Reserved

Jared Bounacos

Jared Bounacos has written for Movie Rewind since 2016.