There were a lot of surprising deaths in Avengers: Infinity War, and while fans are holding out hope that Avengers 4 will undo them, when it comes to Loki‘s death early in the film there’s a lot of debate over whether it was real to start with. Now, Kevin Smith is leaning towards the idea that the trickster god may not be dead at all.
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Before getting into Smith’s comments on a recent episode of his Fatman Beyond podcast, you’ll need some context. Fans of Infinity War have turned their focus to a notable detail in the scene where Loki (Tom Hiddleston) attempts to double cross and stab Thanos (Josh Brolin) — Loki’s dominant hand. The idea is that Loki is always portrayed as right-handed except for two situations, when he goes to stab Thanos in Infinity War and the scene where he fakes his own death in Thor: The Dark World. The theory suggests that because Loki used his left hand in Infinity War, it’s proof it was all illusion.
When a fan at Fatman Beyond pointed this out, Smith admitted he had thought about it as well.
“You’ve got a point, because I’m sitting there watching, I rewatched Infinity War again last night and I was like ‘I can’t believe they killed f*cking Loki,’” Smith said, noting that it could be a clue that Loki was simply being his trickster self.
The fan also pointed out one of Loki’s specific lines in the film and Smith agreed that seemed to support the fan theory as well.
“Last night when I was watching it, that’s the line I hung on, which is where he goes ‘the sun will shine on us again brother’ and then he gets killed and Thor should have been like ‘I guess you were wrong, f*ck!’ but you know, he doesn’t and that made me think like maybe there is a play here and stuff,” Smith said.
It’s an intriguing theory and the idea lines up with another theory that involves a “Loki illusion,” though that theory is more focused on his actions and how they don’t line up with his usual character tendency towards self-preservation. However, both theories seem to dismiss comments from Hiddleston himself about the character’s journey as the actor discussed at ACE Comic Con in Seattle earlier this year.
“When I came to shoot the scene in Infinity War, I think it’s very powerful he calls himself an Odinson, and that closes the whole journey of Loki and what he can do,” Hiddleston said. “It [Loki’s death] set the stakes up emotionally. It takes the stakes up dramatically. You know that Thanos is someone who’s far more dangerous than anyone we’ve seen before.”
What do you think? Do you agree with Smith that the Loki lives theory seems sound or do you think it’s a stretch? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Avengers: Infinity War is now available on home media.
Ant-Man and the Wasp is now playing in theaters. Upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019; Avengers 4 on May 3, 2019; Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5th, 2019.
