Heroes and villains in the MCU are usually pretty easy to tell apart, so it’s no wonder the ones that are a bit more complicated wind up being massive fan favorites. The universal adoration (and sky-high viewing figures) indicate that Tom Hiddleston’s charismatic God of Mischief Loki might just be top of the pile.
His family history is thorny, to say the least, and his back-and-forth between good and evil is fascinating and always surprising. Like everything in Loki’s character, his powers are also multi-faceted and chaotic. He can basically do a bit of everything, combining his natural frost giant superhuman strength, agility, durability, and cryokinesis (ice manipulation), with the magic he learned from his mother, Frigga. As the God of Mischief, Loki is also known for being a cunning trickster and master of manipulation and illusion, skills he mastered as a child in order to taunt his brother Thor.
While he can tap into all kinds of magic powers, Loki’s speciality is deceit. In fact, he’s almost as skilled at tricking people with his words and emotions as with magical illusions. But, while most of this was known to all of us Marvel Cinematic Universe fans, Disney Plus’ Loki introduced some interesting new powers that would have surely come in handy for the mischievous Asgardian in previous outings.
Does Loki have new powers in the Disney Plus show?
Well, the short answer is yes. It seems meeting his many variants has helped Loki develop new untapped abilities. Specifically, the demi-god can now blast powerful green energy similar to what the Scarlet Witch can do (only hers is, you know, red). In the second episode of Loki’s second season we see how, when paired with Sylvie, their combined blasts can knock several people down. It appears that this energy begins with Sylvie as he takes her glowing green hand before the blast, but the power certainly seems to emanate from both of them.
Even so, the pair don’t come close to matching Classic Loki’s wizardry as seen when the two met in the Void. Older and more experienced, Classic Loki is a representation of the power Loki’s magic could reach in the future, as he learns new ways to manipulate it. Classic Loki’s green energy blasts are presented as an impressive skill but one that can only be achieved after a lot of practice. In the same vein, Sylvie has also honed her enchantment skills, a power that greatly interests Loki, despite having used it occasionally and briefly in the past. Oh, and he can also do “shadow play” now, which is basically the ability to manipulate his shadows.
Even with this multiversal reasoning, this sudden inclusion of new powers in the Disney Plus show that had never shown up in any of Loki’s previous movies feels a bit random. While we’re hoping Marvel provides further explanation about how he’s developed them soon, it’s quite interesting that the franchise is using Loki’s stand-alone project to take his powers to new heights.
What are Loki’s greatest powers?
Let’s be honest, energy blasts are dull in comparison to the clever and playful possibilities of the power set that defines Loki, the trickster god. Shape-shifting, projecting illusions, duplicating, concealing his presence, manipulating/moving objects with his mind, and reading other people’s thoughts and memories are a lot more fun.
Loki’s famous for pretending to be other people (or animals, remember when he turned into a snake just so he could stab Thor?), for creating duplicates of himself, for generating objects at will, or for teleporting in short distances during fights. He’s also read Valkyrie’s memories once by touching her forehead, turned Thor into a frog when they were kids, and managed to mind-control Erik Selvig and even his father Odin. The man also loves his knives, and, quite honestly, his mind is his greatest asset.
As season 2 of Loki continues to explore his abilities, who knows how powerful he will become? After that brilliant display, while chasing after Hunter X-05 AKA Brad Wolfe in episode 2, we’re eager to see more of his skill set.