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[Music] So, the finale of the Loki series came out recently, and I've been thinking about it ever since. Not because of the huge implications it will have on the MCU going forward, or because of the amazing production of the show itself,
Exploring why Loki is the best MCU character through his complex identity, growth, and emotional journey.
Key Takeaways
- Loki's character is defined by his complex struggle with identity and belonging.
- His journey from villainy to heroism is marked by self-reflection and acceptance.
- Family relationships, especially with Odin, Thor, and Frigga, deeply influence Loki's motivations.
- Unlike many MCU heroes, Loki's path is characterized by ongoing internal conflict and growth.
- The Loki series expands on his character, showing his continued evolution and search for purpose.
What the video covers
- The video analyzes Loki's character development throughout the MCU, highlighting his journey from outcast to self-acceptance.
- It discusses Loki's origins as a Frost Giant raised by Odin and his struggle with identity and belonging.
- Loki's early motivations are driven by a desire for acceptance from his family, especially Odin and Thor.
- The video contrasts Loki's evolving self-awareness with other MCU heroes who have clearer senses of purpose.
- Key moments from the films and series are examined, including Loki's relationships with Frigga, Thor, and Odin.
- Loki's nihilistic worldview and internal conflicts are explored, showing how they shape his actions and growth.
- The video highlights Loki's transformation from villain to hero, culminating in his acceptance of his true self.
- It covers the Loki series, focusing on his capture by the TVA and his ongoing struggle with identity and purpose.
- The narrative emphasizes Loki's ultimate choice to embrace love and belonging over power and ambition.
- The video concludes with reflections on Loki's future potential and the significance of his character arc.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and Loki's Emotional Journey
- 01:03Loki's Origins and Identity Struggles
- 02:13Loki's Relationship with Odin and Thor
- 04:15Loki's Nihilism and Actions in The Avengers
- 05:13Frigga's Influence and Loki's Sadness
- 06:20Odin's Love and Loki's Acceptance
- 07:34Loki's Transformation and Heroism
- 08:40Loki Series and TVA Encounter
- 09:38Loki's Self-Reflection and Future Potential
- 16:32Conclusion and Viewer Engagement
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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but because of how far Loki has come as a character. And it's made me realize that Loki might just be the best character in the MCU. In this episode of Cinemas, we'll be looking into why Loki is so great, but
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before we dive in, if you haven't seen the Loki series yet, this will contain spoilers, so I highly recommend watching before this video. Now, let's go back to the scene masterfully played by the brilliant Tom Hiddleston. It's this 43-second take that
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sums up Loki's arc so far. We get a slow zoom onto his face paired with Natalie Holt's heartfelt score. Loki doesn't say anything. All we see is Hiddleston showcasing the strong range of emotion felt by the character, which reflects the cascading
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journey he has endured to where he is right now in the TVA: loneliness, despair, self-reflection, and ambition. Why is he feeling like this? The answer is he finally knows who he is and accepts his real identity. When we are first introduced to the God
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of Mischief, we see this conflict cemented into his identity right from the beginning. He was born as a Frost Giant of Jotunheim to the king Laufey but adopted and raised by the Asgardian All-Father Odin alongside his brother Thor and mother Frigga. In Nordic
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mythology, Loki is portrayed as a scheming coward who cares only for shallow pleasures and self-preservation, often with a nihilistic view on his glorious purpose within the universe. In the original comics written by Jack Kirby, Loki was rejected by Laufey as he
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was smaller than the rest of his race and segregated as an embarrassment to his biological parents. Before knowing his true origin, Loki still feels like an outcast, not feeling a sense of belonging or purpose within Asgard. Loki is forced
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to live in the shadow of his favorite brother and compete for the destiny of being king. "Only one of you can ascend to the throne, and both of you were born to be kings." We can see here that deep down, Loki
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merely wants to be accepted by someone. Tell me. And ironically, the person he believes will give him the greatest meaning and purpose is his father Odin. But he's the one who originally bound Loki to a life away from the Frost Giant throne he was
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born to sit in. "I thought we could unite our kingdoms one day, bring about alliances, bring about permanent peace through you." This revelation is a turning point for Loki as he is further cast out both within the society and family he finds
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himself in and further cast out from himself after abandoning himself to evil and rage. "Why have you done this? To prove to Father that I am a worthy son." He still reaches out for Odin and Thor's approval. "I could have done it, Father."
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The king of Asgard's refusal to accept Loki causes his son to cast himself into the abyss of the universe, both physically and metaphorically. This reveals a big difference between Loki and some of the other big characters in
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the MCU. Some, like Captain Rogers, Iron Man, and Black Panther, already understand their identities and purposes, while others find it later, like Ant-Man, Captain Marvel, and Black Widow. It is Loki, however, that remains in this state of self-confusion.
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In The Avengers, we find Loki lost within himself. His sense of purpose fixates on seeking power over Thor's Earth with the help of Thanos and the Chitauri. Even despite Thor's plea to come back home to Asgard, Loki is blinded by this false
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ambition and pursuit of belonging, saying he'll prove himself as Odin's son and that it's too late. "It's too late." Highlighting Loki's nihilistic view of the universe that has always meant for him to lose. Instead, he seeks to compensate this war within himself with
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a war on Earth. Deeply convinced that there is no one who truly loves him, here he becomes desperate, and his hurt pride prevents him from reflecting upon his actions. With no one to challenge him, "I'll have that drink now."
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Next, in Thor: The Dark World, after being captured for his actions and jailed back on Asgard, we are reminded of one of the few people who hasn't given up on Loki: his adopted mother Frigga. "Frigga is the only reason you're still alive, and you
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will never see her again. You'll spend the rest of your days in the dungeon." Frigga seemed to be the only one still believing in him, still seeing the good in him. She never made a difference between her sons, sharing her powers with
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Loki and making him feel like someone special, someone valuable, and someone worth loving. Enthralled with his rage, "He's not my father." "Am I not your mother?" "You're not." He rejects her pleas but still tries to reach out for her, only
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for it to be a hologram. Always so perceptive about everyone but yourself. Here we finally get a glimpse behind the mask and hologram that Loki wears, with Loki's true sadness and despair coming to the surface when he hears of Frigga's
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death. Loki has been literally and metaphorically concealing his true images of himself and his search for belonging within his family. This allows him to reset and build a new identity once realizing he is the author of his own story and not the son of anyone but
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himself. We see in Ragnarok, Loki has begun to recover from his trauma and begins to accept himself, even going so far as indulging in his own self-image while disguising as Odin. This stage performance reflects new dreams and motivations for Loki's identity. On that
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day, I did not yet see it: you as God's savior. No, you were merely a little blue baby icicle that melted this old fool's heart. In spite of all his actions, we see Odin purposely calls both Loki and Thor,
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reaching out to the lost Loki who previously was blinded by his self-inadequacy to accept what he always wanted. And Odin later says again, "I love you, my sons." These are words Loki has been longing to hear his entire life, and
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we see that it means so much to him. And after receiving that, the death of his father symbolically shows the end of Loki's attachment for Odin's acceptance. Later in the film, Thor reaches out and believes there's potentially still good
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in Loki, highlighting the brotherly love and faith that Thor has always had for Loki at his core. "Okay, I thought the world are you? I know maybe there's still good in you, but let's be honest, our paths diverged a
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long time ago." This reassurance spurs Loki on to become the hero of Asgard he sought to be. [Music] Finally feeling the acceptance of his people and of himself after defeating Hela. [Music] Loki, who finally understands his own identity and purpose, not as an outcast
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but as Odin. [Music] With some of his final words, he says, "I assure you, brother, the sun will shine on us again." Here he chooses the life of his own brother over that of the Tesseract, marking a huge change in his motivations
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and love for his only remaining family. Colored with typical Loki trickery, the act of sacrificing himself to his former master Thanos and giving up the Tesseract in order to save Thor illustrates Loki's overcoming of his darkness, the demons that plagued him,
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quite literally exchanged for the light of the love given to him by his adoptive family. By choosing the life of his brother, Loki embraces his own death in favor of what always mattered to him: love and belonging. In the Loki series, we jump back to the
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Loki we saw after The Avengers, having used the Tesseract to escape, only to be caught by the TVA due to his straying away from the sacred timeline. We're back to the Loki consumed by rage and desperate for belonging. In the first
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episode of the series, Loki is physically and metaphorically stripped of the powers and the surface he used to mask himself by the TVA, with even the lights in the waiting room reflecting a sea of eyes on Loki trying to expose his
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identity. Loki says, "You want to be king? I don't want to be. I was born to be." And he wants to finish what I started, which is claim my throne. More importantly, he states with conviction, "I know what I am."
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a murderer a liberator and having seen from his previous path in the infinity saga we know this to be a lie that loki continues to tell himself being blinded by the pursuit of what he is owed loki has never been challenged to reflect
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upon himself until he meets mobius played perfectly by the iconic owen wilson mobius tells loki i want you to be honest about why you do what you do what makes loki tick and at this stage even loki doesn't know the answer to
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that yet still battling within himself he's then exposed to the horrific actions he commits in the future and still tries to justify himself before realizing that this is not what he wants upon saying frigger's tragic death i love you my sons
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[Music] remember this place [Music] it's here that after seeing the loss of everyone important in his life as well as his own eventual death by thanos that loki realizes his past faults and reflects on who he is we also see the
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lack of meaning that comes from seeking power through the infinity stones being compared to mere paperweights in the tva some of the guys use them as paperweights [Music] lady sif furthers this repeatedly by telling loki i hope you know you deserve
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to be alone and you always will be after he cut off her hair which in the comics was because he realized she will never be his casting loki back out within himself and forced to confront his existence and purpose finally loki
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submits to the mask he wears admitting to sif who he is i'm a horrible person i get it i really am it's because i'm scared of being alone you are alone and you always will be the arrival of sylvie another alternate
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version of loki compounds the challenge for loki to see beyond himself and immediately puts his behavior into perspective saying this isn't about you this triggers loki to self-reflect on his place in the world where after spoiling sylvie's lifelong pursuits on
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lamentus one he realizes we may lose sometimes painfully but we don't die we survive highlighting his relentless ambition to belong here they share a moment where they both finally belong to one another only to be forced into a
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fight with the sacred time keepers this tragically ends in loki being pruned from existence and literally coming in contact with other versions of who he could be the most impactful being that of old loki played by richard e grant
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with an amazing performance from grant it's here that old man loki shares the tale of how instead of seeking belonging with his brother thor and saving him from thanos he instead selfishly chooses his own survival casting a projection of
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himself as mere debris reflecting the lack of meaning he would later feel as an inanimate object drifting in space i cast a projection of myself so real even the mad titan believed it then hid as inanimate debris after i faked my death i simply drifted
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in space away from thor away from everything i thought about the universe and my place in it and it occurred to me that everywhere i went only pain followed so i removed myself from the equation landed on a remote planet and stay there
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in isolation in solitude for a long long time and old man loki furthers this by saying i got lonely to tell you the truth i missed my brother and i wondered if he missed me if anybody else did
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but as soon as i took my first steps to getting off the planet the tva arrived because we my friends have but one part to play the god of outcasts nothing more and our loki rejects this in search for more only to be faced by
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even more variations of what he could be hello which one of us are you reuniting with sylvie loki's loneliness gets put in perspective with sylvie having no one and they belong with each other i don't have anyone loki again realizes his past
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mistakes saying i betrayed everyone who ever loved me i betrayed my father my brother my home i know what i did and i know why i did it and that's not who i am anymore later faced against goliath old loki is
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given a second chance to redeem his mistakes and he chooses to sacrifice himself using his final strength and shouting the realization that this was always his by being able to see a future version of himself find solace and catharsis in
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finding his true place in the universe loki is enabled to edge closer to finding his identity finally with kang we are reminded that you no you can't get to the end until you've been changed by the journey this stuff
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it needs to happen highlighting that these experiences for loki had to happen in order for him to realize who he really is and where he belongs after a brief confrontation with sylvie we see this revelation in loki's emotional plea
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and admission that after all this all i know is i don't want to hurt you i don't want a throne i just want you to be okay they share a touching yet ancestral kiss that ultimately symbolizes loki's final
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acceptance of himself and his place in the universe now with the multiverse thrust into chaos with the ever branching timelines we finally arrive back to where we began tom hiddleston's touching performance bringing loki's entire character arc into one perfect
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scene at the end we see a renewed loki that finally understands his purpose as a hero and who knows where he'll go next but it's this journey through loneliness despair and self-reflection that has led him here to the ambitious loki director
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kate herron who also directed part of netflix's critically and commercially successful series sex education puts it perfectly saying that loki is about self-acceptance where tom hiddleston furthers this noting this is a character who doesn't know how to change and grow
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it's about coming to terms with who you are and she said i think it's about self-acceptance you've got a character who doesn't know how to change and grow and we have this amazing story that's actually about coming to terms of who
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you are through two hours of screen time over 10 years and six films loki's inner turmoil with himself comes to a climax and he has found his identity and glorious purpose and this is why loki is the best character in the mcu
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thanks so much for watching everyone this has been the first episode of cinemas so if you enjoyed it subscribe to the channel throw me a like and let me know what you think down in the comments also i can't wait to do more
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videos so please let me know which characters you'd like me to do next
Topics:LokiMCUMarvel Cinematic UniverseTom Hiddlestoncharacter analysisLoki seriesidentityself-acceptancefamilyhero journey
