With the new Loki television series new streaming on Disney
+ the present might be the best time to take a look at the Asgardian God of
Mischief himself. So, here is a post dedicated to Thor’s adopted brother
and everyone’s favourite trickster: Loki in the MC2.
Loki made his MC2 debut early on, in the introductory
A-Next #1 where we saw the formation of the next generation team of Avengers.
Just as he did in the original Avengers #1, Loki inadvertently
helped bring these heroes together. Attempting to steal the enchanted mace of
the original Thunderstrike using his rock troll minions, complications
arise when Mainframe, Stinger, J2, Jubilee, Jolt
and Speedball assemble to defend Kevin Masterson, the rightful
inheritor of the mace.
Transporting the heroes to Asgard’s Isle of
Silence and capturing them, Loki stood poised to harness the maces magical
energy against his many enemies, only for Kevin Masterson to leap into
the centre of Loki’s spell and grasp the Thunderstrike mace. Immerging
from the ensuing explosion, Kevin Masterson finds himself transformed, merging
with the mace to become the powerful hero Thunderstrike. The heroes escape
to the surface only to find themselves overwhelmed by the trolls’ sheer numbers,
but thanks to Kevin signalling for help the group are rescued by Thor
and Loki flees. Following this, the assembles group are returned to Earth
and some of the heroes’ band together to re-form the Avengers and
history repeats itself, all thanks to Loki.
When next we see Loki Laufeyson again, he masterminds a plot to bring an end to the age of heroes he helped start. To do this, Loki sends the trolls to kidnap various heroes and -using a dark crystal- turns them against the remaining heroes (Last Hero Standing #1-#3).
When Thor arrives alongside Captain America and
a small group of other heroes including Spider-Girl, the final battle
takes place. Thor battles Hulk and Captain America is left
the last hero standing to oppose Loki. Managing to break Loki’s spell
over the heroes by targeting Loki’s dark crystal, Captain America is still
slain by the God of Mischief. Fortunately, Thor has not killed Hulk
so the spell is not completed. Thor casts Loki to Limbo as
punishment for his actions, with a repentant Hulk accompanying him at
the last moment (Last Hero Standing #5).
That’s the last we see of Loki in the MC2, but it’s
worth mentioning his daughter, Sylene makes her presence known not long
after wards in the pages of the Avengers Next mini-series. If there’s
interest, I’ll cover Sylene in a future post. She’s also an interesting
character.
Until I fulfill my glorious purpose as God-King, I remain
frogoat