You can’t have Thor without Loki… or so we might have thought. Because after playing a key role in the first three Thor movies (and the first Avengers film), Tom Hiddleston’s God of Mischief met his end at the hand of Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. Cue Chris Hemsworth waterworks.
Of course, you can’t keep a good trickster down, and Hiddleston returned as an alternate-timeline version of Loki in his own Disney Plus series last year. And with a new Thor movie released this week, fans would be forgiven for wondering whether Hiddleston – and one or more versions of Loki – would make an appearance.
Is Loki in Thor: Love and Thunder?
Well, we’ve now seen Thor: Love and Thunder – and while we don’t want to give anything away about the plot, it’s no spoiler to say that for the first time, Hiddleston’s Loki is not a character in the story. However, in some small ways, his presence is still felt.
At the beginning of the film, a series of flashbacks to Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) past adventures includes quick shots of Loki in the earlier films, meaning that Hiddleston technically still appears in every Thor film.
Soon afterwards, we see an actor playing Loki (actually Matt Damon) re-enacting the events of Thor: Ragnarok, while later in the film there’s a more touching tribute to Thor’s lost brother. As revealed in a trailer for Love and Thunder, Thor now sports a back tattoo in honour of Loki, featuring his trademark horned helmet and the words “RIP Loki” just in case it was too subtle for anyone to pick up on.
So while the simple answer to this simple question – is Loki in Thor: Love and Thunder? – is a flat “no,” he’s definitely not been forgotten. And who knows? With season 2 of Loki underway and more Thor movies apparently in the pipeline, we could still be in for another classic Thor/Loki adventure.
Or at least, another classic Loki betrayal. Who could have seen it coming?
Thor: Love and Thunder is in UK cinemas from Thursday 7th July. Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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