ffffff. okay I guess I’ll break this down into two separate categories because I’m pretty sure I can come up with five from each, easy.
COMICS
1. from Journey Into Mystery: Loki’s I TRIED moment in Everything Burns.
The shit has hit the fan for Loki on a number of fronts at this point - basically somehow everything he’s tried to do has gone somehow awry, despite the best of intentions.
Fortunately, the panel after this one sees one of the great Thor and Loki hugs of this run. Unfortunately, things only get worse from here.
2. from Journey Into Mystery: the entirety of #645 but especially kid!Loki’s last three conversations. These are, in order:
A question to the Disir looking for a last ditch solution to the need to dissolve himself to save the world, because Loki would take having his soul devoured rather than having himself supplanted by his old, eviler self.
Sending Leah, his best friend, away, presumably to protect her from said old, eviler self.
Asking Thor to kill him if he ever goes bad.
Right at the end, facing the annihilation of his entire self, Loki spends his last three conversations on trying to protect others. Because however unorthodox, whatever his methods, in the end kid!Loki was what he tried to be: a hero.
3. from The Mighty Thor:
I metaed about this here, but the basic context of this moment is that Loki steals something called the World Seed from Asgard and hides it to keep Galactus away from Asgard, and when it comes out that Loki was the one behind the theft Thor attacks him, accusing him of betraying Asgard and threatening to break Loki’s neck. Thor does later apologize, but the moment itself is still heartbreaking, and exemplifies everything about the tragedy that is kid!Loki’s life on Asgard. Even when he tries to do good, it comes back on him - here, from his one and only protector, and the person he most wants to please. And, in this case, save.
4. from Agent of Asgard: Loki finding out he’s been played by the All-Mothers and they intend him to end up as his evil self after all.
It’s just such a painful moment of betrayal, and underlines one of the major themes of this series about the expectations of others, the weight of story, and the pressure to stay the same - especially as it exerts itself on Loki.
5. from Agent of Asgard: ”It’s all right.”
This isn’t angst, but it is feelsy.
I’ve talked about it before, I’ll probably talk about it again, but just…guh. The theme, about forgiveness of the self, is one that’s really personally powerful to me, and the execution of it is beautiful. The way it culminates the whole story about being able to choose what you are, and the way it brings Loki around from his earlier rejection of his older self to the ability to understand, to empathize, and to accept, even while saying definitively: “this isn’t what I am.”
But it’s a part of him, and Loki recognizes that and takes it in, but turns his back on the potentially crippling weight of guilt, instead choosing to move forward.
I will probably never read another series that speaks to me quite as much, or in the same way, as Agent of Asgard did.
MCU
1. The scene in the vault. I mean, this one is obvious. Everything about it from start to finish is painful - seeing Loki absolutely break and fall apart, the failure of communication between him and Odin, his panic and fear and horror. It’s Loki’s breaking point and part of the strength of Thor is that you see it happen, and it happens so fast.
2. The scene after Frigga’s death. I loved this scene - Thor coming down to get help from Loki, the initial attempt to fend him off with an illusion of certainty and confidence and sharp edges - and then how quickly it melts away to reveal the devastation underneath. Not only does it hurt because of how much it says about Loki’s grief, but also because of the way it’s a microcosm of the way Loki operates as a whole: the shell of confidence and mockery, and the wreck within.
I also love that Loki isn’t very visibly emotional other than the leftover wreckage in his cell - he’s burned out, just tired. There’s nothing left.
3. The opening scene in The Dark World. I come back to this scene all the time because it’s so dense in what it says about Loki and especially his relationship to Odin. The way his carelessness and insouciance melts away the second it becomes clear that Odin doesn’t intend to kill him indicates a lot, to me, about the reasons behind Loki’s behavior in the first half of the scene: he’s expecting it to be a chance to spit in Odin’s face one more time. But instead Odin does the one thing that really, really hurts: buries Loki, dismisses him to be forgotten. And you can see it dawn on Loki that this is it - he’s going to spend the rest of his life alone.
And god, “your birthright was to die” still makes me want to scream.
4. Loki’s death in The Dark World. I don’t care what Marvel says, this scene was Real and you can’t tell me otherwise. Loki believed he’d die, and whatever happened afterward was a surprise to him. Everything about this, from the moment you can see Loki turn toward Thor being beaten by Kurse to “I didn’t do it for him” makes me want to sob. And I did. Do.
e v e r y t h i n g. Loki using his moment of closeness even as he’s mortally wounded to kill Kurse. “See you in hell, monster.” The babbled apologies, the fact that it’s the first time Loki’s been held, or even touched in gentleness, since he embraced Frigga at the end of Thor. Thor crying because he just lost his mother and now he’s losing his brother too. And what I’ve talked about before, too, about Loki recognizing that this is the best possible ending for him: he’s never going to be a hero, but at least he can die like one.
Regardless of what comes after, it’s a damn painful scene. I love it.
5. Loki and Thor on top of Stark Tower in The Avengers. The entire thing is so painful, but my favorite part is when Thor finally gets the chance to address Loki, telling him to stop, trying to get him to see sense, and Loki’s “It’s too late. It’s too late to stop it.”
It says so much about Loki’s fatalism, his belief that he can’t turn back, that his bridges are burned and that the outcome of everything going forward is inevitable. It’s not just that there’s no resisting Thanos, but that there’s no resisting the inevitable course of his own existence and what he’s meant to be.
And yet he comes so close, for a moment, to turning around. Teetering on the edge.
Only to turn his back on that in the (literally) sharpest way he can - by stabbing Thor and throwing himself off the building. (Onto a flying alien motorcycle, but still.)
ffffff. okay I guess I’ll break this down into two separate categories because I’m pretty sure I can come up with five from each, easy.
COMICS
1. from Journey Into Mystery: Loki’s I TRIED moment in Everything Burns.
The shit has hit the fan for Loki on a number of fronts at this point - basically somehow everything he’s tried to do has gone somehow awry, despite the best of intentions.
Fortunately, the panel after this one sees one of the great Thor and Loki hugs of this run. Unfortunately, things only get worse from here.
2. from Journey Into Mystery: the entirety of #645 but especially kid!Loki’s last three conversations. These are, in order:
A question to the Disir looking for a last ditch solution to the need to dissolve himself to save the world, because Loki would take having his soul devoured rather than having himself supplanted by his old, eviler self.
Sending Leah, his best friend, away, presumably to protect her from said old, eviler self.
Asking Thor to kill him if he ever goes bad.
Right at the end, facing the annihilation of his entire self, Loki spends his last three conversations on trying to protect others. Because however unorthodox, whatever his methods, in the end kid!Loki was what he tried to be: a hero.
3. from The Mighty Thor:
I metaed about this here, but the basic context of this moment is that Loki steals something called the World Seed from Asgard and hides it to keep Galactus away from Asgard, and when it comes out that Loki was the one behind the theft Thor attacks him, accusing him of betraying Asgard and threatening to break Loki’s neck. Thor does later apologize, but the moment itself is still heartbreaking, and exemplifies everything about the tragedy that is kid!Loki’s life on Asgard. Even when he tries to do good, it comes back on him - here, from his one and only protector, and the person he most wants to please. And, in this case, save.
4. from Agent of Asgard: Loki finding out he’s been played by the All-Mothers and they intend him to end up as his evil self after all.
It’s just such a painful moment of betrayal, and underlines one of the major themes of this series about the expectations of others, the weight of story, and the pressure to stay the same - especially as it exerts itself on Loki.
5. from Agent of Asgard: ”It’s all right.”
This isn’t angst, but it is feelsy.
I’ve talked about it before, I’ll probably talk about it again, but just…guh. The theme, about forgiveness of the self, is one that’s really personally powerful to me, and the execution of it is beautiful. The way it culminates the whole story about being able to choose what you are, and the way it brings Loki around from his earlier rejection of his older self to the ability to understand, to empathize, and to accept, even while saying definitively: “this isn’t what I am.”
But it’s a part of him, and Loki recognizes that and takes it in, but turns his back on the potentially crippling weight of guilt, instead choosing to move forward.
I will probably never read another series that speaks to me quite as much, or in the same way, as Agent of Asgard did.
MCU
1. The scene in the vault. I mean, this one is obvious. Everything about it from start to finish is painful - seeing Loki absolutely break and fall apart, the failure of communication between him and Odin, his panic and fear and horror. It’s Loki’s breaking point and part of the strength of Thor is that you see it happen, and it happens so fast.
2. The scene after Frigga’s death. I loved this scene - Thor coming down to get help from Loki, the initial attempt to fend him off with an illusion of certainty and confidence and sharp edges - and then how quickly it melts away to reveal the devastation underneath. Not only does it hurt because of how much it says about Loki’s grief, but also because of the way it’s a microcosm of the way Loki operates as a whole: the shell of confidence and mockery, and the wreck within.
I also love that Loki isn’t very visibly emotional other than the leftover wreckage in his cell - he’s burned out, just tired. There’s nothing left.
3. The opening scene in The Dark World. I come back to this scene all the time because it’s so dense in what it says about Loki and especially his relationship to Odin. The way his carelessness and insouciance melts away the second it becomes clear that Odin doesn’t intend to kill him indicates a lot, to me, about the reasons behind Loki’s behavior in the first half of the scene: he’s expecting it to be a chance to spit in Odin’s face one more time. But instead Odin does the one thing that really, really hurts: buries Loki, dismisses him to be forgotten. And you can see it dawn on Loki that this is it - he’s going to spend the rest of his life alone.
And god, “your birthright was to die” still makes me want to scream.
4. Loki’s death in The Dark World. I don’t care what Marvel says, this scene was Real and you can’t tell me otherwise. Loki believed he’d die, and whatever happened afterward was a surprise to him. Everything about this, from the moment you can see Loki turn toward Thor being beaten by Kurse to “I didn’t do it for him” makes me want to sob. And I did. Do.
e v e r y t h i n g. Loki using his moment of closeness even as he’s mortally wounded to kill Kurse. “See you in hell, monster.” The babbled apologies, the fact that it’s the first time Loki’s been held, or even touched in gentleness, since he embraced Frigga at the end of Thor. Thor crying because he just lost his mother and now he’s losing his brother too. And what I’ve talked about before, too, about Loki recognizing that this is the best possible ending for him: he’s never going to be a hero, but at least he can die like one.
Regardless of what comes after, it’s a damn painful scene. I love it.
5. Loki and Thor on top of Stark Tower in The Avengers. The entire thing is so painful, but my favorite part is when Thor finally gets the chance to address Loki, telling him to stop, trying to get him to see sense, and Loki’s “It’s too late. It’s too late to stop it.”
It says so much about Loki’s fatalism, his belief that he can’t turn back, that his bridges are burned and that the outcome of everything going forward is inevitable. It’s not just that there’s no resisting Thanos, but that there’s no resisting the inevitable course of his own existence and what he’s meant to be.
And yet he comes so close, for a moment, to turning around. Teetering on the edge.
Only to turn his back on that in the (literally) sharpest way he can - by stabbing Thor and throwing himself off the building. (Onto a flying alien motorcycle, but still.)
