Here’s Why Loki Never Showed Up in ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’

Loki was an incredibly important part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He had a vital role to play in the first phases and played a huge role in Thor’s own character development since much of Thor’s motivations were fueled by Loki’s various schemes. Loki appeared in numerous MCU projects, most notably in Thor’s standalone movies and the Avengers projects, until ultimately getting his own standalone show. This is why fans were wondering why isn’t Loki in ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’?

Loki wasn’t in ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ because the original Loki died during the events of ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and the younger alternate version of Loki was with the TVA doing its own thing. As far as Thor is aware, Loki is dead and gone, at least the Loki he knew and loved, so there really wasn’t any reason for Loki to appear, and according to the co-writers, there were never any plans to include him in the movie.

Now that we’ve covered why Loki wasn’t in the latest Thor movie, it’s time to analyze why. Loki’s journey through the MCU was complicated, to say the least, and there really is a good reason for his absence from ‘Love & Thunder.’ If you’re interested in more, stay with us and keep reading!

Original Loki died, so it makes no sense to include him in ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’

Loki first debuted in the same movie as his adoptive brother, Thor, during the events of ‘Thor’ released in 2011. Loki was introduced as a jealous younger brother constantly competing with Thor for their father’s attention in the hopes of inheriting the Throne of Asgard for himself.

Loki’s jealousy eventually grew into something far more sinister and malevolent, as he ruined Thor’s coronation and plotted to permanently remove Odin and Thor from the picture.

This was partly fueled by his insane desire for power and party due to his rage directed toward Odin for lying to him about his true origin as Frost Giant of Jotunheim.

Starting as rivals, Loki’s and Thor’s relationship grew into a full-blown war by the time the first ‘Avengers’ movie was released. We could see Loki making a deal with Thanos, ready to annihilate Earth with the Chitauri army.

Then, by the end of ‘Thor: Ragnarok,’ many things transpired between Thor and Loki, including numerous betrayals, fights, and schemes mostly initiated by Loki. Still, they managed to form an uneasy truce in their attempts to defeat their sister Hela and save Asgard from destruction, something in which they partly failed.

By the time ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ roled in, Loki and Thor were “allies,” but at the beginning of the movie, Loki’s MCU journey abruptly stopped. He was killed by Thanos. The Mad Titan crushed his neck because he refused to hand him the Tesseract. And that was it.

Even though Loki returned from the dead numerous times, this time, it was final. Even Thanos remarked upon it. So it really doesn’t make sense for Loki to appear, except maybe in the flashbacks. Or does it?

Why did fans expect to see Loki in ‘Love & Thunder’?

Fans expected to see Loki in ‘Love & Thunder’ because the God of Mischief was seemingly resurrected during the events of ‘Avengers: Endgame’ and even went to have his own standalone show, and somehow, Thor movie without Loki seems incomprehensible.

But Loki wasn’t truly resurrected, and fans were left empty-handed. The Loki we saw during the ‘Endgame events was not the same Loki that made Thor’s life a living hell. It was a younger version of Loki that was never killed by Thanos and captured by the Avengers.

When the Avengers performed the Time Heist, they tried to apprehend Loki during the Battle for New York, like it happened the first time around, only Loki, this younger, totally different Loki, created a Nexus Event when he activated Tesseract and transported himself to the Gobi desert.

By transporting himself away and escaping the Avengers, Loki damaged the Sacred Timeline in such a way he had to be arrested by the TVA, and that reality had to be pruned. Thanos never killed that version of Loki, but it also never “rejoined” the normal world following his arrest by the TVA. Loki is currently hunting for He Who Remains with Mobius, trying to salvage what he can regarding the Multiverse.

So, while Thor is fighting Gorr, we have no idea where Loki was at that exact time, but we do know that as far as Thor is aware, Loki is still dead and likely has no idea that another version of his brother exists. We really can’t pinpoint what Loki was doing during the events of ‘Love & Thunder’ since the first changes to the Multiverse as a whole were noticeable during the events of ‘Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania’ since, following the death of He Who Remains, evil variants of him were able to exist, and this leads us to Kang the Conqueror.

Simply put, the original Loki could never be in ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ because he is dead, and the new Loki can’t appear because he is in a different timeline altogether.

Writers never planned for Loki to be a part of the movie

Co-writer Jennifer Kaytin Robinson confirmed, following the release of ‘Love & Thunder,’ that there were never any plans to include Loki in the next stage of Thor’s journey.

“He’s doing his own thing,”[Loki and Thor] are on two separate journeys.”

Hollywood Reporter

And it makes absolute sense. Thor’s journey was, so far, largely defined by what his brother was doing. It’s nice to see how the character grows even in the absence of Loki. And it’s nice to see Loki growing as a character due to events completely separate from Thor and their former rivalries.

As far as whether Loki will return in the future ‘Thor’ installments, we can’t confirm anything either way. There have been some rumors that ‘Thor 5’ is in development. However, the movie itself is not conclusively confirmed, much less who will take part in it.

The next stage in Loki’s journey is ‘Loki’ season 2, which will be released in a couple of weeks on Disney+.

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