There’s probably no villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with charisma quite like Loki’s. Now slated to star in his own TV series, the character has been noted for completing various acts of trickery to further his needs and managing to best others through his sly plans.
This has gotten him the moniker of the God of Mischief, which is due to a combination of Loki’s mischievous acts and him being able to fool his foes into falling for his traps. There are particular instances in the MCU that best highlight the trickster’s knack for all things chaos and upsetting the system, and it’s worth checking these out before watching his solo series.
Making Laufey Believe He’s Delivering Odin To Him
Laufey, the biological father of Loki, had been embroiled in a war with Odin for thousands of years, only to fall into a trap by Loki and die at his hands. Loki achieved this by making Laufey believe he was cutting a deal for Odin’s life and giving Laufey access to Odin’s chambers to kill him.
However, he then used Gungnir to attack Laufey himself, who was powerless to this deception and ultimately blasted to smithereens by the son he had once abandoned. The major mischief caused in this situation was the fact that it left Jotunheim without a king and cast the planet into disarray.
Influencing Thor To Attack The Frost Giants
Loki threw all of the Asgardian succession into turmoil by influencing Thor to attack Jotunheim. He made Thor believe he was on his brother’s side in his plan to attack the Frost Giants, motivating him to go through with the plan, eventually breaking the situation into war between Jotunheim and Asgard.
Loki’s act cost Thor his place as the heir apparent to the throne of Asgard, along with breaking Odin and Frigga’s spirit that he took advantage of to usurp into the position of king. With just one hint in Thor’s ear, Loki had accomplished utmost disaster.
Commemorating Himself While In The Guise Of Odin To Make The Asgardians Like Him
Fans of Loki love his wacky logic that sees him do ridiculous things. After taking on the guise of Odin, he went further by having statues of himself commissioned and placed around Asgard to make it appear as if Odin was commemorating Loki.
Loki also had the play known as “The Tragedy of Loki of Asgard” authorized to feed his ego. However, this ended up working well since the Asgardians began to see Loki as a tragic figure and outright ignored Thor’s arrival in favor of watching the play.
Influencing Erik Selvig To Steer S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Plans
If one were to ask Loki himself, he would definitely claim to be better than Thor due to his use of skills and strategy. Loki used his knack for duplicity at the end of Thor, where he influenced Erik Selvig to agree to harness the power of the Tesseract.
This was his way of ensuring that Selvig continued to test on the Tesseract until Loki could be summoned, which came to pass in The Avengers where he arrived to completely destroy the base and make off with the cube.
Baiting Thanos Until The Hulk Attacked Him
Although some argue that his attack on Thanos made no sense, Loki was actually successful in the plan he had for the Titan. His tactic was to make Thanos believe that he was on his side, bait him into the appeal of the Tesseract, and then sic the Hulk on him.
This worked to perfection, as the Hulk did launch the surprise attack on Thanos. Of course, Loki didn’t realize just how powerful Thanos was, but there’s no doubt that he did manage to trick the Mad Titan into falling for his trap.
Stabbing Thor As A Child By Making Him Believe He Was A Snake
Thor is the character most want to see in Loki, as he’s the one against whom Loki is at his most mischievous. The first instance of this happened when they were children, where Loki made Thor believe he was a snake.
With the fearless Thor looking to admire the snake, Loki revealed himself to have been the snake all along and stabbed his elder brother. While this was played off as a joke, the fact that he was so duplicitous at the age of eight really confirms his title as the God of Mischief.
Making The People In Stuttgart Kneel To Him
While it seemed needless for Loki to stage such a big display of power in Stuttgart, his true fans understand how his pride works. Loki took control of a public location in order to command the people there and force them to kneel to him.
His overall intention was to get captured there, but this was also a mischievous way of Loki looking to assert dominance as he made a show out of all the people submitting to his power. He also beat down Captain America in order to make others see how their hero was only a man while he was a god.
Unleashing The Hulk On S.H.I.E.L.D. And Causing Infighting Between The Avengers
It appeared as if Iron Man had beaten Loki into submission in The Avengers, only for this to be revealed as Loki’s plan. He wanted to get to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s base in order to instigate a fight between the Avengers over what to do with him while having the mind-controlled Hawkeye destroy the Helicarrier from the outside.
This caused Bruce Banner to turn into the Hulk while the Avengers had been consumed by their infighting. When all was said and done, Loki had made off with both the scepter and the Tesseract as the Helicarrier threatened to plummet to the ground.
Every Time He Cast Multiple Illusions Of Himself
Depending on who it favored, this is Loki’s best and worst trait. He mastered the spell of creating illusions of himself to the point where he feigned his demise by causing his copy to die and making off in actuality.
He used it in his battles as well, as Loki brought multiple copies of himself during his battle with Thor on the Bifrost Bridge to addle his brother as he didn’t know which Loki was genuine. Loki managed to stir things up each time he cast these illusions, which Thor eventually realized was his go-to move.
Using The Battle Of New York To As A Way To Make His Victory Public
Nobody can mix malevolence with mischievousness the way Loki can, with the Battle of New York all a way for him to show how he had beaten Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. In a way, this was all a giant prank that got severely out of hand.
The Battle of New York saw the world at the mercy of Loki, with only the sudden arrival of the Avengers causing Loki’s plans to go awry. Had it not been for them, Loki would have become the ruler of Earth and the entire battle would have been his coronation of sorts.
