Avengers: Doomsday trailers: is Loki hiding as Steve Rogers?

Many Marvel fans think the studio is misleading us with its recent Avengers: Doomsday trailers, and perhaps some of the older ones too. The theory is that the man we see as Chris Evans's Steve Rogers is really Loki, and after seeing some of the evidence, I think it might be true.

To be clear, I don't mean Loki in disguise as Steve Rogers. The idea is that it's Loki in the scene, and Marvel is editing the trailers to make it look like Steve Rogers is with Thor instead of Loki. I'm going to argue both sides, because I think both can make sense story wise. At first my reaction was that this is just Steve Rogers, and I knew people wanted it to be Loki. But some decent evidence has come out.

Marvel has a history of changing what appears in its trailers

Marvel is famous for putting things in trailers that aren't in the movie, or taking out things that are. Avengers: Infinity War is probably the biggest example. The trailer showed the Hulk running with everybody in Wakanda, and that never happened. The Hulk only came out at the very beginning of Infinity War, and once he went back in, he never came out again.

Marvel did the same with Avengers: Endgame, and I would say it has done it in the vast majority of its trailers.

Fans say Steve Rogers' nose and hairline change in one Doomsday scene

The main piece of evidence is one particular scene. Many people are saying that if you compare the shots side by side, Steve Rogers' nose, hairline, cheeks and shadowing all change. One fan account made a gif that flips back and forth between the frames, and you can clearly tell the difference in the nose and the hairline.

Many people think that is because it's Loki. And once you go on the belief that this is Loki instead of Steve Rogers, a lot of other things start to make sense.

Why Thor's "it's not possible" reaction fits Loki better than Steve

In the first trailer, Thor sees Steve Rogers and says it's not possible, and Steve takes the hammer from him. If you consider that person to be Loki, it makes a lot more sense. Thor believes Loki is truly dead, and he hasn't seen him in a very long time.

With Steve, it's different. I think Thor knows Steve was doing his own thing: he was going to go back in time and he stayed there. Or maybe Thor doesn't know. If he doesn't, he probably thinks Steve is living a normal life as Captain America on Earth, so seeing him show up again wouldn't be that big of a surprise.

Even if Thor knows Steve went back in time, I feel the reaction wouldn't be that it's not possible. It would be closer to asking why he's back, after he went back to finally get a life. What would be impossible in Thor's mind is Loki back from the dead. It isn't really Loki back from the dead, it's a variant, but in Thor's head it would still seem impossible. On top of that, Loki wielding Mjolnir would definitely shock Thor.

The Mjolnir promo: why would Steve holding the hammer bug Thor now?

That brings me to the new promo, where Steve Rogers asks, "Does this bug you holding Mjolnir?" and Thor answers, "You know what bugs me?" Here's the problem. It has never bugged Thor before when Captain America lifted Mjolnir.

In Avengers: Endgame they fought together, with Thor using Stormbreaker and Steve using Mjolnir, and it wasn't that big of a deal. In fact, Thor seemed very happy when Steve lifted it and said, "I knew it." Back in Avengers: Age of Ultron, sure, Thor probably didn't want Steve to lift it, because that would have been a big deal.

If you think of this as Loki, the exchange makes different sense. Now it's Loki being worthy enough to hold Mjolnir, and that was always a big differentiator between Thor and Loki. Many people are also saying the face in this shot looks like Loki. Yes, it looks like Chris Evans, but look at the nose, the smile and the hair, and it seems like Loki is smiling back at Thor while the trailer covers it up to make it look like Steve.

The Bifrost scene and the TVA card Loki gave Steve

Another part of the scene shows them using the Bifrost. Many people believe this is Steve Rogers and Thor going to the TVA to see Loki, but that seems to contradict the reports we've heard in the past and the footage we've gotten in the trailers. In the trailers, Steve is holding a TVA card given to him by Loki.

Earlier footage, tied to Avengers: Endgame, shows Loki appearing at Peggy Carter's house and saying he's going to help her and Steve. Loki explains that they're not supposed to be there and that this universe is going to be destroyed, so he has to move them. He takes Steve to the Fantastic Four universe but leaves him a card, telling him it's how to contact him if he needs to.

What was being reported is that when Steve and Thor reunite, Steve tells Thor he saw Loki, that Loki saved him, and that Loki gave him the card in case he needed to contact him. From there, we believe that card would open a TVA portal and take them to the TVA, because the TVA exists outside of space and time.

Can the Bifrost get there? Based on what we know, it shouldn't. It should still exist within the nine realms, within space and time. In reality it's whatever the writers say, and they could come up with a way. Who knows what rules the writers or the Russos will set for this movie. But to get to the TVA you have to take a TVA portal; we've never seen any other way. Plus, in this scene they seem to be at Avengers Tower in New York.

What we know about the TVA and Dr. Doom

From what we know, Steve and Thor don't go with the Avengers and the Fantastic Four to the X-Men universe at first. They go to the TVA first, and that's when they discover the TVA has been destroyed because of Dr. Doom.

Then they travel to meet the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and everybody else, and they reveal that Dr. Doom did this. That's where the scene with Reed Richards comes in, where he asks, "Victor, did you do this?" He's asking because Thor and Steve are telling everyone that Doom is the one responsible for the destruction of the multiverse and that he killed everybody.

Reshoots may have given Loki a bigger role in Avengers: Doomsday

Here's where things get difficult. We've heard before that Loki is supposed to be dead. They could have changed that, though. There were many reshoots, and we've heard that Loki is more involved in the movie now than he was before. But those reports came before the reshoots.

We know Marvel planned the reshoots because there was a lot it couldn't get done the first time, with so many people and moving parts. Maybe it planned for this the entire time and we didn't hear about it because it hadn't happened yet. So I think Marvel might be adding Loki in a lot more than we thought.

Why Loki should survive until Avengers: Secret Wars

Maybe Loki doesn't die in the movie, and I'm crossing my fingers that he doesn't. We've heard that if people die at the hands of Doom, rather than at the very end, they're not coming back. We've also heard that Loki is going to be a very big part of Avengers: Secret Wars. So it would make sense that he wouldn't die in the middle of the movie but at the very end, due to the incursions, like everybody else, and then be resurrected in Secret Wars.

That only works if it's the same Loki, and it should be. Throwing another variant at us, one who isn't the Loki who sacrificed himself for the new glorious purpose of helping everybody, would be dumb. We don't want a new one we have no connection to. We need our specific Loki. Logically, it makes sense that he wouldn't die and would appear to Thor to get him, the Avengers and everybody else to help stop Dr. Doom.

Seeing Thor and Loki reunite is something I've been waiting for, and seeing Loki lift Mjolnir would be crazy. He can now, because of everything that happened in Loki season 1 and season 2. There's no doubt in my mind. Some people might fight me on that, but I think his self sacrifice at the end alone made him worthy enough.

The case that it really is Steve Rogers

The opposite could be true. It very well could be Steve Rogers. Thor could be overly surprised to see him again and say it's not possible, and Steve could be grabbing the hammer to remind Thor that he lifted it before and can do it again. That's totally possible.

Maybe they are using the Bifrost to get to the TVA. The Russos can say whatever they want, as long as it makes sense and has continuity, and there are vague rules that haven't been defined yet. I think they need to be defined in this movie. We have some rules about how the multiverse and incursions work, but whether the Bifrost can go outside space and time is whatever they decide. So maybe this is Steve and Thor going to see Loki at the TVA while the Avengers and the Fantastic Four head to the X-Men universe, before they follow. Can the Bifrost take you from one universe to another? That seems like it might be possible, so we'll have to wait and see.

It definitely could be Steve Rogers, but I would not put it past Marvel to hide the fact that this could be Loki. I think the interaction between Thor and Steve fits better if it's Loki. It makes more sense, and it feels more right.