Who is Loki’s bad Loki? There are tons of variants in Marvel Comics.

A series about a villain must have its own villain, and in the final moments of the first episode of Loki on Disney Plus, the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe show revealed the antagonist who will oppose Loki, who is on the run from his correct timeline.

The answer was extremely Loki of Loki.

[Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for Loki episode 1.]

The villain of Loki is … another Loki. Or to put it in TVA terms, a variant on the run from its real timeline.

Though the Avengers had some close calls Endgame, Loki could be the first time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that a character from one timeline really gets to know each other from another. But Marvel Comics readers know that the Marvel Multiverse is made up of endless alternate realities and dimensions that coexist alongside our heroes on Earth 616 (the regular Marvel Universe), and they interact all the time.

Until recently, Loki was a powerful, deceptive, but ultimately irredeemable villain in the comics. Today we better know him as an antihero who looked at himself across many potential timelines and started making changes for the better. But who is the real Loki? Let’s take a tour of the Marvel Comics Loki variants that may have served as inspiration for you Loki TV series.

Different world, same Loki

Image: John Francis Moore, Ron Lim / Marvel Comics

Like many extensive comic crossovers and events, forays into the multiverse are often products of their time. If the futuristic Miracle 2099 The Universe received several ongoing series in 1993, perhaps in the hope of attracting new readers who put themselves off the overwhelming backstory of ongoing books like put X-Men or Spider Man. The 2099 Loki was a scientist named Jordan Boone who was apparently turned into Loki, but ultimately the identity of. assumed Halloween Jack. The extent to which Boone was actually Loki is not clearly defined, but he definitely looked and appeared regularly in the 2099 universe for trouble.

Likewise, as of 1996 Heroes born again Reimagining Loki as his classic Silver Age self reflected the overall feel of Marvel’s editorial choices during that time. A handful of younger creators who had made their careers at Marvel before branching out for Image Comics were brought back to the Marvel episode and given a free pass to restart and repeat classic stories with minor updates. Her work showed an impatience with the slowly unraveling soap opera style of storytelling brought about by Chris Claremont’s X-Men books and Steve Engleharts. got known avenger.

Heroes born again Loki is cartoon-like evil and completely devoid of depth, he just wishes to become the one god, which actually almost happens before Odin steps in to fight him all over New York City. Loki loses and the whole thing Heroes born again Universe was more or less blinked out of existence by Franklin Richards (long story).

Marvel took another leap into a possible future in 1998 MC2, a line inspired by What if…? No. 105, which tells the story of May Parker / Spider-Girl, the daughter of Peter and Mary Jane. The MC2‘s series A-Next brought a mustache-swirling Loki to bring the new Avengers together in the same way he’d helped start the original team; by posing such a threat that they had to join forces to eliminate it. Loki has a daughter here, but MC2 sales stalled and the books were canceled without much time to delve deeper.

The Ultimate Universe also had a Loki who was re-introduced as a smart villain who was dressed as badly as he was well. Disguised as Nazi Baron Zemo, Loki launches a full-fledged attack on Asgard, from which he was banished for murder. This Loki isn’t particularly deep, but his tendency to distract and manipulate works great as he creates global disasters and forces the Avengers to retaliate.

Lokis opening a new sheet of paper

Image: Jim Krueger, Alex Ross, John Paul Leon / Marvel Comics

By doing Earth X Backdrop, a dystopian Marvel universe where everyone develops superpowers, Loki makes a handful of appearances – with a new design that incorporates tree-like features. This version of Loki got Odin to turn Thor into a woman so he could learn humility, which is a policy that we have a lot of questions about but not much time to delve into here.

First the Loki from Earth X is just as ominous as it was when he appeared in the Silver Age. He drops some creepy one-liners about his sister Thor, seduced Clean into the betrayal of Doctor Strange and is in opposition to Thor several times. But this Loki gets to know his nature and needs time to actually explore it, after all he gives up his role as Asgard and goes on earth in the hope of finally finding himself. Although it’s a rocky road, he ultimately chooses to be a hero, which gives us a rare glimpse into the altruism of the god of lies.

Loki lurks around the corner through many corners Earth X and its sequels, Paradise X and Universe X. In this imagination, the Asgards are amorphous extraterrestrials who become living embodiments of the stories that humans tell. This idea is regularly taken up with Loki in many worlds, including Agent from Asgards King Loki, who unequivocally tells a younger version of himself that he is bad because that is how people imagined him and that he will simply never change – much like Agent Mobius describes Loki’s place on the Sacred Timeline Loki.

Asgard agent enables Loki to break away from his infinite identity as “the sin that is not forgiven”. King Loki’s speech telling Loki that he is doomed to be the unrepentant villain only leaves Loki struggling to define himself on his own terms. And with the help of Verity Willis, a person with the ability to see through all lies, Loki re-imagines our universe as the god of stories.

Lokis who finally win

Image: Bill Sienkiewicz / Marvel Comics

Very rarely, even in the Multiverse, Loki really wins the day, but there are exceptions. in the What if…? # 47, Loki briefly reigns on top when he finds Mjolnir before Thor ever does. But in the end, that advantage simply delays Thor’s rise as Odinson. Again Loki’s shortsightedness and need for revenge against Odin cost him everything.

in the Loki (2004) we saw what happens when Loki receives his wish and claims the throne of Asgard. Loki immediately takes the opposing gods Lady Sif, Balder and Thor and becomes a tyrant. But in the opening sequence of the comic, he gets a crack in his confidence when a young child tells him that his reign can never be truly complete, and from there, Loki’s fragile ego only grows as the miniseries progresses. For this Loki he has been grievously wronged by the Asgardians and all he does is nothing but justified revenge, but with the writer Robert Rodi and the artist Esad Ribić telling the story from his perspective, the writer Robert Rodi presents him and the artist Esad Ribić as surprisingly relatable.

For a shapeshifter, Marvel’s comic book multiverse has rarely undertaken a complete image overhaul of him in the past few decades. Yet even this stereotypical image of a cackling, sneaky god has been used to give the main universe version of the character far greater freedom of choice. In the future, Loki’s intricate and unique self-esteem could become an incredible storytelling device across the Multiverse, and Loki is prepared to make this possible.

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