Tom Hiddleston’s Loki is one of the most popular characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a rarity for a villain. Thanks to the actor’s undeniably charismatic performance, the God of Mischief’s presence is an always welcome one, and the Asgardian trickster’s allegiances are constantly shifting dependent on what benefits him the most at any given time.
After debuting in Thor, Loki returned as the primary antagonist of The Avengers, acting on behalf of Thanos by leading the Chitauri army in their invasion of Earth. He may have been defeated when his brother found some friends, but a new fan theory has put forward the idea that he deliberately set the extraterrestrial invaders up for a fall in order to unite Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, knowing full well that the Mad Titan was lurking in the background and hellbent on wiping out half of all life in the universe.
If you’ll recall, as well as closing out Phase One, it was the post-credits scene of Joss Whedon’s blockbuster that first revealed Thanos to audiences, which went on to inform the next seven years of storytelling. And as per the theory, this all hinges on the time travel element of upcoming Disney Plus exclusive Loki, which takes place immediately after the 2012 version of the character has escaped with the Tesseract.
The trailer for the series showed a decimated New York City, which may have been from a timeline where the Chitauri won the Battle of New York. And if you look at Loki‘s failed list of accomplishments, then he’s a terrible villain, having been unable to acquire the Space Stone before losing the Mind Stone and watching his attempt to conquer Earth go down in flames. But the theory offers the interesting notion that he’d done it all on purpose to try and stall Thanos as the Avengers grew in both numbers and power, because he’s seen a future where the big purple maniac wins and it isn’t one he wants to be a part of.
As ScreenRant explains:
If Loki’s larger arc in the MCU is reframed not as him constantly trying to gain power, however, but as him simply trying to screw things up for Thanos just enough to slow the Mad Titan down while not revealing his hand, suddenly, it makes sense. In that context, Loki was directly responsible for keeping three different Infinity Stones away from Thanos for longer than they otherwise would have: The Mind Stone, the Space Stone, and the Reality Stone. He prodded the Avengers to finally get it together and unify as a team. And, ultimately, he provided his powerful brother with a reason to aim his vengeance directly at Thanos. As to why Loki never revealed the plan to the Avengers, or even to his brother, that’s simple: He knew they’d never buy that Loki was actually trying to help. Not even his own brother trusts him, and Loki is fully aware of it – he is, after all, the Prince of Lies.
Tell us, though, what do you make of this new theory? As always, let us know down below.