The MCU Secretly Hinted Loki Got More Powerful After The Avengers Beat Him

Even though Marvel Studios showed Loki learning a new skill during his Disney+ series, Tom Hiddleston’s God of Mischief was hinted to have previously achieved this power upgrade on the Sacred Timeline. Tom Hiddleston has portrayed several different versions of Loki since his MCU debut in 2011’s Thor. The first tragically met his demise at the hands of the Mad Titan Thanos, but the second embarked on a new adventure with the Time Variance Authority and eventually became a true hero in the Multiverse Saga. The latter added new tricks to his repertoire in Phases 4 and 5, but the original Loki may have already shown off these impressive gifts.

During the Avengers’ Time Heist in Avengers: Endgame, which saw the team travel through time to collect the six Infinity Stones, a version of Loki escaped from the team’s clutches shortly after 2012’s Battle of New York. This version of Loki was brought to the TVA, where he learned about his life and the multiverse, and came into contact with his variants. One of these, Sophia Di Martino’s Sylvie, taught Hiddleston’s God of Mischief one skill that his tutelage on Asgard had never given him, but it seems that the MCU’s primary version of Loki did learn this gift – only after his imprisonment following the events of The Avengers.

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Earth-616’s Loki Used Enchantment After The Battle Of New York

Throughout Loki season 1, Sylvie uses enchantment to take over the minds of other individuals. This also allows her to hack into others’ memories and learn as much as she can about the TVA. Upon meeting Sylvie, Loki is astonished that she has an ability that he doesn’t, though his female variant teaches him how to use enchantment in Loki season 1, episode 5, to bring down Alioth. Up until the events of The Avengers and the Battle of New York, it seems Loki never learned how to use enchantment, but Marvel Studios’ original version of the God of Mischief did show off this powerful skill in subsequent MCU projects.

2017’s Thor: Ragnarok saw Loki and his Avenger brother Thor team up to defeat their mysterious sister, Hela, the Goddess of Death. It took some time to learn his brother’s trust, however, particularly after Loki had manipulated their father, Odin, and stashed him away in a retirement home on Earth. Interestingly, Loki presumably used enchantment to subdue his father, and Loki uses enchantment once again to unlock a tragic but beautiful memory for Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie, similarly to how Sylvie can unlock memories for the individuals she enchants. Since Loki’s God of Mischief didn’t know about this power, Loki presumably learned how to use it sometime after The Avengers​​​​​​​.​​​​​​​

Loki’s Time In Prison May Have Taught Him New Skills

Following The Avengers, the only free time Loki would have had to learn new abilities would have been during his imprisonment in 2013’s Thor: The Dark World. It’s known that his witch mother, Frigga, often visited him in his cell, and since she’d taught him how to harness magic as a child, it’s possible that Frigga taught her nefarious son how to wield enchantment, too. This would explain why the Sacred Timeline’s Loki could enchant others while Phase 4’s Loki couldn’t – as he had never been imprisoned on Asgard. This also proves the powerful bond shared between Loki and Frigga, which is something the MCU perhaps didn’t explore enough.