Loki comics: how did Kid Loki become the god of stories?

Loki's modern comics story is one of death, rebirth and rewriting. Loki is a story between drafts, in the process of being rewritten. Loki season 2 has wrapped up, with Tom Hiddleston in the title role, and the god of stories has made their debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This is my guide to Loki's rebirth in Marvel Comics and the runs I usually point people toward when they want to learn more about the character.

Anyone who wants to get into comics now should, in my opinion, choose comics based on a character they want to get to know. Starting with a character beats being overwhelmed by the enormous number of comics out there. So this is my Loki cheat sheet: a rundown of what the character has been through.

Journey into Mystery brought Loki back as Kid Loki

Loki's first run in Marvel Comics was called Journey into Mystery, so it's only fitting that their rebirth carries the same title. This run went from 2011 to 2013 and picked up where Loki's death in Siege left off. Loki died after facing the Void to help the Avengers defeat it. But he had laid schemes to break free from the destiny of always being the villain.

He was reborn as a child version of himself, Kid Loki. This was not the original Loki, because that one had died, which gave this Loki a chance to be good. Loki had also struck his name from the books of Hell, meaning he can't truly die and would be reborn instead.

Thor found this new child version of his brother in Paris. The boy had no memory of his life as an adult. Thor explained who he really was, and the child described dreams in which he was the villain. Thor offered his help and brought him back to Asgard.

Back home, the other Asgardians still hated Loki and bullied him continuously. Odin belittled him, yelled at him and still blamed him for the fall of Asgard. Understandably, Loki ran away for a while. After being attacked by Tony Stark, he had to be rescued and returned to Asgard by his brother.

Odin, Ikol and the crime that will not be forgiven

While Kid Loki stayed on Asgard, Odin continued to distrust him. Still, he refused to kill Loki or send him back to Midgard. Thor would only bring him right back, and Odin still saw Loki as his son and wouldn't abandon any of his children. That's nice of him, isn't it? Odin, the number one dad of the Nine Realms.

Despite how he was treated, Loki still tried to help Asgard and Thor. Then he faced an echo of his former self, which revealed that the death and rebirth had all been part of the old Loki's plan, and that he would always be a villain. Loki turned the spirit of his past self into a magpie named Ikol, which is Loki spelled backwards.

Eventually Loki left Asgard after saying goodbye to Thor and Hela. He and Ikol merged, and Loki headed off to Midgard, where he joined the Young Avengers. That merge, the death of Kid Loki, would often be referred to as the crime that will not be forgiven.

Loki in the Young Avengers

Loki may have been the outcast of the Young Avengers, because he still showed many of his deceitful traits from time to time. But he cared about his teammates, especially when helping Wiccan with his magic.

He was still plagued with guilt and by the ghost of the child version of himself that he had killed. Wiccan helped Loki age up into the form you will probably be most familiar with if you've seen him in the comics at all. After that, the influence of Kid Loki waned somewhat.

Agent of Asgard is my favorite Loki comic run

Where does Loki end up next but New York City. This is Agent of Asgard, which ran from 2014 to 2015, and it's my personal favorite comic run. Loki works under the All-Mothers to redeem himself from the crimes of his past. After each mission he completes for them, he is absolved of one past crime.

In this run he meets his best friend, Verity Willis, a human with the power of lie detection. She is the perfect match for a god who struggles to tell the truth from time to time. In this run, it's more than from time to time.

Loki is constantly running from the threat that he will still become the evil trickster of his past. The fear is that the path he is on, working for the All-Mothers, will prove fruitless and lead to the death of the future at the hands of King Loki. After revealing his crime that will not be forgiven to Thor, Loki is resurrected and reinvented once more as the god of stories, determined to break free of the chains of destiny and become the author of their own story.

Loki isn't very present during Secret Wars, apart from the Vote Loki spinoff where they run for president. It isn't technically a canon story, but it's a fun read, and it was cool to see that variant in the first season of the show.

The Mighty Thor turns Loki into a double agent

Then comes The Mighty Thor, the era where Loki starts sinking their teeth into playing the villain again, in a way. They are more of a double agent between Malekith's council and Asgard, and they have a big part in setting up the War of the Realms.

Loki betrays Asgard by stabbing Frigga during her trial, to keep Asgard from weakening and to keep her safe from Malekith. Despite Odin's hunt for them, they then sneak in to help heal her. That is arguably one of my favorite and saddest Loki moments. It was never something they wanted to do, and they regret it immediately, but they do it to keep their loved ones safe. Ultimately, they keep making awful choices, but it's for the people they care about.

Loki eventually returns to live in Jotunheim and works with his father, Laufey. He works to prove himself so that Laufey might be proud of him, despite not meeting any of the standards Laufey holds.

Loki becomes Sorcerer Supreme over Stephen Strange

There is a break in all of this where Loki becomes Sorcerer Supreme. Loki shows up at the Tournament of Sorcerers, which Stephen Strange is trying to win, because winning means becoming Sorcerer Supreme. Loki wins despite doing nothing but leaning against a wall and listening to music, which is hilarious. Not only was he not competing, he was never invited in the first place.

The Vishanti accept Loki, saying they no longer want a mortal to be Sorcerer Supreme, so understandably Stephen is upset. Loki moves into the Sanctum Sanctorum and gets to work, even though everybody thinks he's up to no good. Stephen hatches a plan to take back his title and to keep Loki from finding a spell that would give its caster all of the world's magic. Stephen hides it inside his friend and apprentice Zelma Stanton, going to that extreme length to stop him, while Loki seems to be genuinely trying to do good as Sorcerer Supreme.

Stephen releases the Sentry and steals magic from Yggdrasil. While fighting the Void, the creature that had previously killed him, Loki reaches into Zelma's soul. He extracts the spell, taking control of Earth's magic so he can separate Stephen from the Void that possessed him. That is the coolest thing Loki has ever done in the comics, and personally I wish we had more of that magic in the MCU.

Why Loki faked the Tournament of Sorcerers

When Loki does this, Zelma becomes privy to all of his secrets. The biggest is that the Tournament of Sorcerers was a lie. He was never appointed by the Vishanti; it was all an illusion.

So why did he do it? Loki claims it was to make Stephen stronger for events in the foreseeable future: the War of the Realms, hell on Earth, damnation, the gathering of the Infinity Stones and the final host. Zelma and Stephen don't believe him, and Loki returns the title and the cloak to Stephen. One of the coolest things is that you find out through the comics that follow that Loki was right, but mostly because they're at the forefront of many of these events.

Loki betrays the team in Infinity Wars

Infinity Wars shows Loki's journey gathering the Infinity Stones with a ragtag team of other Marvel characters. He works alongside Gamora, Scott Lang, Hulk, Emma Frost, Kang the Conqueror and Ms. Marvel, and the latter two were combined as one person for a while.

Loki betrays the team once all the stones are gathered and uses them to enter another universe to confront the Celestials. That leads to another amazing comic panel, where Loki falls backwards proclaiming that if they don't see him again, he's found something better. It's one of my absolute favorites.

Loki asks the Celestials to see his future, then starts laughing in defeat, saying he knows when he's beaten. He returns to the team he betrayed, hands back the stones and goes to help save the main universe and the Warp World universe from collapsing.

Thor 2018 and Loki's choice to kill his brother

Around the same time, the comics get a little wibbly wobbly. Thor (2018) and other books were running at once, but this one starts off strong. Loki makes a portal so Thor can visit Hell and join the war against Sindr, Surtur's daughter, and Thor takes Loki with him.

They meet their brother Balder, who has been leading the battle with Skurge the Executioner, whom you might recognize from Thor: Ragnarok. To stop a fight with Hela, who has come to reclaim her throne, Loki suggests that Hela and Balder marry and co-rule Hell, and the two reluctantly agree. The ceremony is a mess, by the way: Thanos ends up crashing it and breaking up with Hela, and she ends up marrying Karnilla, the Norn Queen, instead of Balder.

During the ceremony, Thor admits he thinks it would take strength from the Valkyries themselves to stop Sindr. You have to go to Valhalla to meet them, but you have to be dead to go to Valhalla. So Thor suggests that Loki kill him. Loki refuses at first, which leads to the most heartwrenching Loki line ever, something along the lines of knowing he would never see the gates of Valhalla. Of course he would refuse; it would look bad on him. But when Thor tells Loki he still loves him, Loki kills him, and Thor goes to Valhalla to meet the Valkyries.

War of the Realms and Loki's best line

After the fight with Sindr comes War of the Realms, the big attack on Midgard. Loki fights alongside his father until he doesn't. Laufey decides he's had enough of Loki, pulls a Kronos and eats him alive on national television, while his friends from the Young Avengers and his family watch.

Daredevil, now the god without fear and in control of the Bifrost, tosses his sword into Laufey's mouth. Loki uses it to carve his way out from the inside, partially digested and looking rough for wear. He kills Laufey and delivers what I think is the coolest line he has ever said: "What's the matter, father? Was it something you ate?"

Loki as king of Jotunheim and beyond

From there, the god of stories is declared king of Jotunheim, ruling the Frost Giants and helping Thor with Asgard as a neighboring king. Loki also runs off from time to time to do their own thing, such as finding the missing pieces of a ship that a past version of themselves had made from the fingernails of the dead, which is gross, by the way, and which caused problems all over the universe.

Loki doesn't stay king for long. By the time Loki season 2 wrapped up, they had renounced the title and set off on their own journey, which by then included wielding the power of Thor alongside their brother. The tale of Loki is a little confusing.