If we talk about deception, one of the best deceivers in the history of mankind and all of the mythology has to be Loki, the Asgardian God of Mischief. In his thousands of years of existence, he sure does have tons of experience in deceiving everyone around him, including Gods, humans, and every other being he possibly encountered. However, his experiences with deception are not just limited to living things, Loki has successfully deceived or cheated something no one else can many times, i.e., death itself.
So, in this article, we will delve into the history of this character in the Marvel cinematic universe and learn all about how many times Loki has cheated death in the MCU till now. So let’s dive right into it.
1. Loki First Cheated Death As a Baby
As we all know, Loki was not always a part of the Asgardian family but was taken in by Odin as a baby. Loki’s real father left him in a temple shortly after his birth, thinking that the infant would not survive. But we are talking about Loki here, he wouldn’t die that easily. As the war between Asgard and Jotunheim ended and Asgard stood victorious, Odin found this infant and used his magic to make him look more like an Asgardian. Odin took Loki with him to Asgard and raised him like his very own son alongside his elder son, Thor.
Even though Odin bringing Loki under his wing seemed like something he did as a good deed, but it was later revealed that Odin did it as a tactical move to bring peace among the nine realms. This revelation gave a deep setback to Loki, causing him to resent everyone except his adoptive mother. Maybe, this was the reason Loki turned out to be evil initially but when he later found out that Odin loved him as his own son, he visibly had a change of heart.
2. Loki’s Fake Death in Thor (2011)
In ht original Thor movie, we were introduced to Thor, one of the most powerful Avengers in the MCU, as well as Loki. This was the first time Loki willingly cheated death. In the movie, when Loki crosses Laufey to defend Odin, we see Thor trying to make Loki understand that killing off a whole species is not the answer to what their father did, but Loki is determined to have his revenge on Odin and won’t back down at any cost. As a last resort, Thor breaks the rainbow bridge even after the cost being him unable to meet Jane ever again.
As the bridge breaks and both Thor and Loki are about to fall into a wormhole, Odin arrives and rescues both of his sons. Loki feels a sense of guilt and tries to explain to Odin that whatever he is doing is to make him proud, but Odin still makes it pretty obvious that he is deeply disappointed in Loki. Loki is visibly heartbroken and lets go of Odin falling into the eternal abyss to what seems to be his death.
However, he survives the fall and ends up at the Sanctuary where he meets the Mad Titan. Thanos makes an offer to Loki that he would rule Earth on the condition that Loki will recover the Tesseract (one of the Infinity Stones in MCU) for him. He is then given a scepter with the Mind stone in it to help him on his mission to take over Earth but Loki is defeated by the Avengers and sent back to Asgard.
3. Loki Cheats Death in Thor: The Dark World
When Malekith and the Dark Elves invade Asgard and kill Firgga, Thor sees no other alternative than freeing Loki from his cell, who in turn helps them escape via a secret portal. However, this trick does not help anyone because soon Malekith and his soldiers catch up to them. In an attempt to give Thor enough time to destroy the Aether, Loki pretends to switch sides but that doesn’t work out very well.
Malekith’s servant and guard, Kurse then attacks Thor. Kurse overpowers Thor while Loki saves himself from the Elves attacking him. Seeing his brother being heavily overpowered by Kurse, Loki springs into action and stabs Kurse. However, that has no effect on the enemy and Kurse stabs Loki instead. While being stabbed, Loki sets off a bomb on Kurse’s belt, thus, killing the monster before Loki himself dies in Thor’s arms.
This scene was pretty emotional to watch but at the end of the movie, we find out that Loki faked his death and returned to Asgard. He cast a spell on Odin and impersonated him by taking his form to become the king himself.
4. Loki Dies in Infinity War, Does He?
If you recall, at the beginning of Infinity War, we see a scene of the ship used by all the Asgardians to escape the planet after Ragnarok. Thanos also boards the ship and Loki tries to distract him by unleashing the Hulk. However, Loki’s plan fails so he pretends to pledge allegiance to Thanos and tries to stab him. But, Thanos is too powerful for that and stops Loki before he can even attack Thanos. The Mad Titan then snaps Loki’s neck killing him for good.
We thought that Loki couldn’t possibly evade death but his purpose was not over yet. In Avengers Endgame, when the team goes back in time to perform a heist for the Infinity Stones, Tony Stark drops the Tesseract near Loki’s feet which Loki uses to escape. This event sets in motion the Disney+ Loki series bringing back Loki from the dead. He didn’t exactly cheat death in this case but even after dying, he is still alive in the MCU, so I think it does count. And his adventures will continue in Loki Season 2.
5. Loki Survives Doom at Lamentis-1
In the Loki series Season 1, when Loki figures out that his time-hopping Loki variant (Sylvie) hides in apocalypses, he assists the TVA in following her and chases her back to the TVA. After a significant struggle between both of them, Loki accidentally teleports them to a dying planet called the Lamentis-1. Doom is imminent on this planet but both of them try head and toe to escape. However, all their attempts go in vain and they give up engaging in a conversation about their past.
This conversation builds an unlikely connection between Loki and Sylvie, which causes a massive nexus event and is detected immediately by the TVA. As soon as the Moon of Lamentis-1 collapses into the planet and Loki and Sylvie are moments away from dying, the TVA shows up and captures them. Even though this event ended in Loki getting captured, he did cheat death here as well. Wait, are you a little dusty regarding the events of Loki Season 1? If you are, do check out our season 1 Recap to refresh Loki season 1 in your mind before we dive into season 2!
Loki Season 2 release date is upon us, and we might see the God of Mischief cheat death a few more times. Are you excited about the second season of Loki? Let us know in the comments below.
