Loki, the Norse God of mischief, made its way to the Marvel world through comics and was later adapted into a live-action character played by Tom Hiddleston. Since his first appearance in Thor (2011), Loki became a recurring character in MCU movies and, later on, a fan favorite. If we talk about the MCU, it has a vast multiverse with an almost infinite number of universes. In these infinite universes, different variants of Loki exist whom we get to meet in Loki season 1.
In light of the upcoming Loki Season 2, we are going to take a look at all the Loki variants we came across in the first season just in case we get to meet a few of these (or new ones) in Season 2. So without much further ado, let’s dive right into it!
1. 2012 Loki
Also dubbed as Variant L1130, he is the one who escaped from the year 2012 when the Avengers were trying to retrieve the time stone by going back in time. This is the variant of Loki we have all been following in the Loki series. The reason he was captured by the TVA is his escape using the Tesseract cube. In his timeline, he wasn’t supposed to escape and witness the events of Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok where Loki fakes his death and eventually dies in the events of Avengers: Infinity War, but he escaped, and hence, was captured by the TVA because his escape caused a branch in the timeline.
Mind you, this Loki is not the same one we’ve been seeing throughout the MCU, In his world, the events of Thor: Ragnarok, Thor: The Dark World, Infinity War, etc. have not yet taken place.
2. Sylvie
Sylvie is the female variant of Loki whom Mobius and the other TVA agents were hunting. She was taken by the TVA as a child when she was playing in Asgard, but it’s still unknown why she was taken or what her Nexus event was that led to her capture. Later on, Sylvie managed to escape TVA and began her quest to uproot the TVA and destroy everyone in charge of it.
The interesting thing about Sylvie is the fact that Sylvie is the second incarnation of Enchantress, created by Loki himself in the comics. Loki made her a way that she believes she is from Asgard and has been banished to Earth for eternity. However, the character played by Sophia Di Martino was turned into a literal variant of Loki.
3. Classic Loki
One of the most memorable Loki variants we saw in Loki season 1 was the classic Loki played by guest actor Richard E. Grant. He was seen sporting the classic Loki costume dating back to the first appearance of Loki in the Marvel comic Journey Into Mystery #85 issued in 1952.
Classic Loki thinks himself to be a coward in this adaptation since he didn’t face Thanos, which led to the death of the original Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This Loki Variant conjured up an allusion of himself which was killed by Thanos. He then escaped into space and took refuge on a faraway planet. Eventually, he grew lonely and started missing Thor (one of the most powerful Avengers), his brother but as he tried to leave that planet to go back to Asgard, he was captured by the TVA.
Classic Loki finally washed off his tag of being a coward when he laid down his life standing against Alioth, giving enough time to Loki and Sylvie to enchant Alioth.
4. Kid Loki
Another Loki Variant that caught some serious attention was Kid Loki. By far, his Nexus event was the most interesting and really dark, like, DC level dark. According to him, he killed his brother Thor. In the comics, when Loki dies, he is reborn and as a teenager, he is called the Kid Loki. He uses a magical sword as a weapon, which he later hands over to Loki to fight Alioth.
Nobody knows what happened to him after the events of Loki, specifically episode 5 of Loki Season 1. But according to rumors, there is speculation that he might reappear in the young Avengers.
5. Vote Loki
Vote Loki made his first comic appearance in June 2016 in Marvel Comics with a series of the same name. This comic run was a satire of the 2016 presidential campaign. This comic focuses on the time when Loki himself ran for president and a daily bugle report was on his tail to uncover the lies and deceit he was using to manipulate people.
In season 1 of Loki, Vote Loki appears as the leader of an apparent “army” of Loki variants who were led by Boastful Loki (read about him below) to the bunker where Classic Loki lives with his friends. Vote Loki had made a deal with Boastful Loki but betrayed him in the end leading to a full-fledged fight between all the variants present there. ( Read about it in detail in our Loki Season 1 Recap)
6. Alligator Loki
Alligator Loki is easily the most interesting Loki variant since according to Boastful Loki, Alligator Loki’s nexus event was “eating the wrong neighbor’s cat.” He also helped 2012 Loki and his companions during the fight between the Loki variants by biting off Vote Loki’s hand. He later left everyone else with Kid Loki, and it’s highly uncertain if we are ever going to see him again or not.
7. Boastful Loki
This Loki Variant earned his name as the Boastful Loki because of his claims. He claims that he successfully “Vanquished” Iron Man and Captain America and was successful in gathering all the infinity stones for himself. Alligator Loki instantly calls him a liar and even without the alligator Loki, it seems highly unlikely that his stories are true. He carries a hammer that looks pretty much like Mjolnir, but it doesn’t have any magical powers.
Later on, he leads another variant of Loki called the Vote Loki to the secret hideout of Classic Loki and his companions, which leads to a full-fledged fight among the Lokis. We never get to know if he survived the fight or not since that fight sequence was the last time he was seen on screen.
8. Frost Giant Loki
This variant of Loki, including all the Loki variants that will follow, is shown to us briefly when Mobious shows 2012 Loki and all the other variants of himself in Loki Season 1 Episode 2. Frost Giant Loki seems to be the variant of Loki who, in his timeline, was never taken under Odin’s wing. This variant seems to be the one we meet in episode 3 of What If… released in 2021.
9. Tour de France Loki
This variant of Loki is quite different from the others and honestly, very weird too. This variant looks like a cyclist who had just won…Tour de France…? I really don’t know what the writers were thinking while creating this one.
10. Hulk Loki
This variant looks like a mix between a frost giant and the Hulk. It’s possible that in his timeline, Loki, in the lust for power used Asgardian magic to merge the DNA of Hulk into himself and turned into this version of himself. We don’t know what the backstory of this jacked monstrosity of a Loki is, but he sure does look cool.
11. Trickster Loki
If we talk about mythos or mythology, Vikings were not the only ones to have a God of Mischief. All over the world, different cultures have a God with the same description and one of them is from the Greek myths. The Greeks worship the beings that live on Mount Olympus as gods and one of them is Pan.
Pan is the son of Hermes and the God of the Wild. He has a long beard, horns, and long hair as well. Of course, this variant cannot be Pan since Greek mythos are dated back to be originating somewhere around 700 BC with documented evidence written by Hesiod, and Norse mythos is dated back to 1100 AD with the first documented evidence written by Snorri Sturlson. So technically, Loki is a lot younger than Pan, but this variant seems to be modeled after Pan. You can call it a mythology easter egg. Nice one Marvel!
12. Viking Loki
This Variant of Loki is another reference to Viking mythology. The Vikings thought the Asgardians to be their Gods and worshipped them, this faith was given a nod in the comic run of Mighty Thor, Issue 6. In the comics, a Viking named Bodolf was taking his men into war and prayed to Thor for victory, but he didn’t come to Bodolf’s aid and he lost the war. Bodolf then prayed to Loki seeking revenge on Thor and, hearing his prayer, Loki came down to him.
Loki gave Bodolf the blood of a dragon to drink which would grant him powers like Loki himself. Bodolf consumed the blood and became extremely powerful but, as a price, he lost all his humanity. This variant of Loki is modeled like Bodolf in the comics but a variant of Loki himself.
Loki season one was an absolutely mindblowing run and as much as we can observe from the current resources available to us, it seems that season 2 of Loki is going to match our expectations. Just as much season 1 of Loki did.
Ajith Kumar
