Loki: Everything You Need to Know About Asgard

Asgard is a place, for starters. But, more than that, it’s a story. Or rather, a collective narrative that the people who inhabit Thor’s world share. The titular kingdom is a focal point for the God of Thunder’s series of films. Over in the comics, Asgard‘s origins literally lay in a story, Journey Into Mystery #85 to be exact. That 1962 issue sets the tone for everything that comes afterward. A single comic issue that brings the old gods of Norse mythology to a global pop-cultural mythology. These sorts of ideas can only be understood through an entire group engaging with the text and behaving as an audience. In understanding stories and his place with regards to them, Loki is the perfect character to help the MCU understand its next chapter as a multiverse.

As a hero in the MCU, Thor Odinson got his start in the court of his father Odin. Acting out adventures with his brother Loki, they dreamed of vanquishing enemies and triumphing over evil. These are the sorts of stories that people tell themselves. But, the thing about stories is that they’re really a mirror. In the world of Marvel Studios heroes, foundational myths are key for how we understand their arcs and attitudes. For Thor and Loki, a lot of their relationship can be understood through the lens of Asgard. With Loki the series almost here, examining that myth may help viewers understand why the character behaves how he does. But, first a quick story from Odin himself.

“Once… mankind accepted a simple truth, that they were not alone in this universe. Some worlds, man believed to be home to their gods. Others, they knew to fear. From a Realm of cold and darkness, came the Frost Giants. Threatening to plunge the mortal world, into a new ice age. But humanity, would not face this threat alone. Our armies drove the Frost Giants back into the heart of their own world.”

“The cost was great. In the end, their king fell. And the source of their power, was taken from them. With the last great war ended, we withdrew from the other worlds, and returned home, to the realm eternal… Asgard. And here, we remain as the beacon of hope. Shining out across the stars. And though we have fallen into man’s myths and legends, it was Asgard, and its warriors, that brought peace… to the universe.” Odin, Thor.

In this foundational text, the King of Asgard tells the realm’s history in the form of a children’s fable. The Nine Realms lived in harmony until the Frost Giants attacked. (Gee that sounds familiar…) In the end, it was up to Odin and his forces to protect the other nine realms through force.

Or, was it? Loki’s story in that first adventure shows him clearly being a piece of history that fell through the cracks in the retelling. He’s the son of Laufey, King of the Frost Giants, and raised as an Asgardian in a sort of peace agreement. Once he becomes aware of this, his rage at Thor intensifies and jumpstarts the events of this film. There are lies told and stories twisted all across the three Thor films. It’s a core theme of narratives being fluid depending on who tells these stories. Fate would have it that power makes for an unreliable narrator.

In fact, the Bifrost and the rainbow bridge make these links solid and physical in the text of the film itself. Heimdall actually bonds the nine realms together and his sight powers cut through treachery. (It’s why the movies have to constantly get him out of the way when there’s conflict as to not have him point out inconsistencies. Terribly convenient to have built into a storytelling apparatus.) The ending of that first movie has Loki fall literally between the cracks into the abyss and tumble into a wormhole.

Once inside of Sanctuary, Loki begins to tamper with events beyond his control. Effectively tilting the story of the Avengers into a direct collision course with Thanos’ forces. In a bit of sad coincidence, he also inadvertently dooms a number of his Asgardian to death at the hands of the Mad Titan as well in Avengers: Infinity War.

But, this kind of timeline branching is key to Loki’s Disney+ series. Unlike Thor, who seems to be cursed to ride the rails of fate in the tradition of a mythical hero. (Yes, he does try and fight it at multiple points, but the core conceit of superhero comics always causes him to revert back to the status quo in some form or fashion.) Tom Hiddleston’s trickster’s real power is slipping in and out of narratives as he chooses. Maybe being from Jotunheim has its benefits after all?

Loki ends up ruling over Asgard for a while as Odin in disguise because he’s the one telling the story now. Even when he’s removed from power, the Asgardian is offered much more flexibility in terms of adhering to a recognizable hero arc than Thor ever is. When they arrive on Sakaar at different points, Loki chooses to use charisma to better his situation while Thor opts to use the combative ways of his forefathers.

Sometimes, you just can’t shake the narrative. And this goes double for how the adage of “blood is thicker than water” applies to their partnership despite the fact they’re not blood relations at all. Amazingly, Odin confesses to the fact that Asgard is really collective narrative shared by the people who live there, work alongside one another, and care for their neighbors.

“Asgard is not a place. Never was. This could be Asgard. Asgard is where our people stand. Even now, right now, those people need your help.” – Odin

That conceit is now out in the open and acknowledged by millions of MCU fans as the final word on interpreting Asgard. But, if we dig a bit deeper, we see how this reading bleeds into Loki’s solo adventure on Disney+. The world is a bit larger than it used to be in these movies. Now, there is time travel, reality-warping threats, and multiple universes to contend with. A lot of old characters have hung up their holsters for good. Viewers have a great deal of uncertainty about the road ahead for the first time since the Infinity Stones were name-dropped on-screen.

Loki is poised to open that ambiguity even further. Hiddleston rocketing through the Marvel multiverse with Owen Wilson in tow? Yeah, that’s a hook that works. But, more interestingly, they take aim and codify what makes that character unique. Thanos is really only a true presence in the two films that feature him as a lead. Ultron gets referred to in passing, but only really exists in the second Avengers film. However, Loki is the one ‘villain’ or antagonist turned ally in the Marvel universe that’s allowed to be fluid. Most of them get killed off or depowered. What makes the trickster so exciting is that he’s allowed to grow in unexpected ways.

He can slip in and out of a narrative as it suits the story. Lore can be added and subtracted at any time. Emotional resonance can be injected into Thor: The Dark World when you just tweak the narrative a tad. Viewers have seen this concretely in all of the MCU works after Endgame. Peter Parker takes control of his own future in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Wanda Maximoff leans into herself in WandaVision. Sam Wilson decides to take up a mantle on his own terms in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

But, what does Loki do when confronted with the opportunity to forge ahead. Better himself naturally. However, the character makes sure that everywhere he goes, the story continues. Asgard might be in the middle of nowhere on Earth in the larger continuity. For Loki, it’s wherever he decides to go next and that can’t help but be a good thing. The story continues to be told and will get rewritten often. That’s probably better than sticking to the script.

Loki debuts on Disney+ beginning Wednesday, June 9th.

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