We’re now less than four months away from the Avengers: Endgame premiere, which will finally bring us the closure we’ve been waiting for. Endgame will restore order to the universe, and many of the characters who perished after Thanos snapped his fingers during that epic Infinity War finale will be brought back to life.
The ending of the upcoming movie won’t be 100% happy, though. This is, after all, a Russo brothers Avengers flick. But most of the beloved characters who turned to dust will be resurrected — even characters who died early in Infinity War might be back brought to life (if they really died in the first place). While we wait, however, we’ll show you a huge change Marvel made to an Avengers villain who saw a hero’s death in Infinity War.
The God of Mischief, a popular fan theory says, tricked everyone back in Infinity War when he died, Thanos included. He tried to kill the mad titan, but failed, and so Loki saw an early exit in the latest of the Avengers movie.
But Tom Hiddleston, who plays Thor’s brother in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and who will star in a Loki TV series for Disney’s upcoming streaming service, will also appear in Avengers: Endgame. While it’s unclear whether Loki died in Infinity War, we already have leaked pictures from the Endgame set that show Loki and several Avengers in a New York setting that suggests time travel is in order for some of our heroes.
Even if Loki did perish, Hiddleston will play the Loki from the battle of New York from the original Avengers film. And we’ll see the Loki that the Avengers captured in the aftermath of the battle. That’s a significant detail, because, it turns out, Loki isn’t the kind of villain-turned-hero we thought he was. He may have been more of a hero all along, and Marvel just made a massive change on its website to explain why this is the case.
Fan have theorized for years that Loki wasn’t himself when he tried to take over the world in the original Avengers, and that he was under the spell of the Mind Stone he himself used to brainwash other people, including professor Selvig and Hawkeye — read about it at this link.
This brings us to the following passage on Marvel’s official page for Loki (via Reddit) — emphasis ours:
Arriving at the Sanctuary through a wormhole caused by the Bifrost, Loki met the Other, ruler of the ancient race of extraterrestrials the Chitauri, and Thanos. Offering the God of Mischief dominion over his brother’s favorite realm Earth, Thanos requested the Tesseract in return. Gifted with a Scepter that acted as a mind control device, Loki would be able to influence others. Unbeknownst to him, the Scepter was also influencing him, fueling his hatred over his brother Thor and the inhabitants of Earth.
Nowhere in the first Avengers are we specifically told that Loki has been under the influence of the Mind Stone — or in other MCU movies that had Loki in them. What’s abundantly clear is that Loki isn’t totally evil. He may have a somewhat faulty moral compass, as does Thor, but he never acts as ruthlessly as in The Avengers again.
This detail from Marvel also sets up Loki for a heroic arc, especially in the upcoming TV series. Not to mention that, with half a paragraph, Marvel made it canon that the Mind Stone may have a mind of its own.
Avengers: Endgame premieres on April 26th.
