Hello and welcome to another week in Marvel Snapshot! In this week’s column, I’ll be focusing on none other than Loki himself! Yes, that Lord of Mischief is always popping up at the worst time, and right now will be no different!
Alright, so I hope at this point everybody knows that Loki is actually responsible, although inadvertently, for the formation of the Avengers. Yes, way back in the day, Loki set out to trick the Hulk and did so, but what eventually happened was the formation of the Avengers instead of the catastrophe he intended for Thor. Loki is actually the son of a Frost Giant, but for whatever reason, was born the size of an Asgardian instead. After Odin killed his father, Laufey, in battle, he found Loki in their castle. He was hidden away by his father because he was ashamed of his size. Odin then took Loki and raised him as his own son.
Loki has been responsible for many of Thor’s and The Avengers’ headaches throughout the years. Some of the most notable are his helping Crusher Creel become one of Thor’s most powerful enemies. Loki gave Creel a potion that in turn imbued him with the ability to absorb anything. Hence the Absorbing Man was born. On one occasion, Creel even showed the ability to absorb the properties of Mjolnir, and went as far as to absorb the powers of mighty Odin himself! After being banished to Earth (Midgard) and stripped of his powers by Odin, Loki sought to steal the powers of Karnilla. This resulted in The Wrecker receiving the powers of an Asgardian instead. Loki often used the Destroyer as a means to try and kill Thor, but Odin usually stopped Loki, or Thor found his own ways to defeat his trickster step-brother.
The most heinous act for Loki has to be Loki’s manipulation of Norman Osborn. After manipulating Balder, Thor, Bor, and causing Asgard to be part of Latveria (after Ragnarok), Loki slowly and subtly influenced Osborn to attack Asgard and give it to him. Loki was a part of Norman’s Cabal, and used his powers to bring out Norman’s long dead other personality, The Green Goblin. These are the events (Secret Invasion, Dark Reign) that led into the Siege on Asgard, which eventually saw Asgard destroyed by the nigh unstoppable Sentry (Robert Reynolds). In the end, though, Loki realized the Sentry had lost all control, and The Void taken over, and realizing that Asgard had been smashed to pieces and he’ll have no throne to sit on, Loki used the Norn Stones to help the heroes fight back against The Void. Loki was then torn apart by The Void, and tried to repent and apologize to Thor just as he was ripped to shreds.
Checkout my recommended reading list and some of Loki’s best covers from then and now.
Recommended Reading
Journey into Mystery – vol. 1 #’s 85-125 (except 5 issues) (1952)
Thor: Blood Oath – Tpb (2005)
Siege Prelude – Tpb (2009)
Siege – Tpb (2010)
Acts of Vengeance Omnibus (release date of March 28th 2011)
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billy@comicattack.net
I really didn’t like Loki until the Siege event. He/She became a lot more interesting and the explanation of his motives was pretty cool as it wasn’t just random evil that he was orchestrating. I forgot what book it was in but he clearly defined that his actions weren’t purely “evil” because he’s the god of mischief.
Loki has always seemed like just a pain in the ass to me. lol
@Speech- Loki was a good Thor/Avengers villain, but outside of that, he wasn’t really anything to write home about.
@Nick- First and foremost, that seems to be his job description. 😀