[6] As in the comics, Loki is depicted as Thor's adoptive brother and nemesis, a master of Asgardian magic and sorcery, and a supervillain who regularly returns from apparent death.

Feige, a self-professed "fanboy", envisioned creating a shared universe just as creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had done with their comic books in the early 1960s.

[9] In December 2007, Protosevich described his plans for it "to be like a superhero origin story, but not one about a human gaining superpower, but of a god realizing his true potential.

Del Toro was a fan of Jack Kirby's work on the comics, and said that he loved the character of Loki, but wished to incorporate more of the original Norse mythology into the film,[11] including a "really dingy Valhalla, [with] Vikings and mud".

[19] Hiddleston stated that he had to keep a strict diet before the start of filming because director Kenneth Branagh "wants Loki to have a lean and hungry look, like Cassius in Julius Caesar.

And like all the delusional autocrats of human history, he thinks this is a great idea because if everyone is busy worshipping him, there will be no wars so he will create some kind of world peace by ruling them as a tyrant.

I think the fascination for me about playing Loki is that, in the history of the mythology and the comic books and the Scandinavian myths, is he's constantly dancing on this fault line of the dark side and redemption.

"[28] Hiddleston recalled, "When I met Alan [Taylor], he asked me how I thought I could do Loki again without repeating myself and I remembered talking with Kevin Feige when we were on the Avengers promotional tour.

[30] As the ruler of Asgard since the end of Thor: The Dark World (2013), Hiddleston notes that "Loki has devoted most of his efforts to narcissistic self-glorification.

Hiddleston said that the "breadth and range of identity contained in the character has been emphasized and is something I was always aware of when I was first cast 10 years ago...I know it was important to Kate Herron and Michael Waldron and to the whole team.

Wen stated that he "designed Loki's armor to be more overtly ceremonial than practical", in keeping with the character being more focused on scheming for power than engaging in battle.

Wada decided to bring that grounded aspect to Sylvie's look into a storyline with magic elements, stating that "I believe it more that somebody can go fight when they're in a rugged boot more than a pair of high heels... function is such a clear and important thing to reference in all good design.

This is interrupted by Frost Giants, allowed in to Asgard by Loki, attempting to retrieve an artifact called the Casket, which was captured by Odin in a war centuries before.

Sif and the Warriors Three, unhappy with Loki, attempt to return Thor from exile, convincing Heimdall, gatekeeper of the Bifröst—the means of traveling between worlds—to allow them passage to Earth.

In exchange for retrieving the Tesseract,[a] a powerful energy source of unknown potential, the Other promises Loki an army with which he can subjugate Earth.

Loki uses the Tesseract, in conjunction with a device Selvig built, to open a wormhole above Stark Tower in New York City to the Chitauri fleet in space, launching his invasion.

In 2013, Dark Elves led by Malekith attack Asgard, searching for Jane Foster, whose body has been invaded by an unearthly force known as the Aether.

He and Thor are then sent into another portal to Norway, where they find a dying Odin, who explains that his passing will allow his firstborn child, Hela, to escape from a prison she was sealed in long ago.

Thanos intercepts the attack with the Space Stone and kills Loki by snapping his neck, leaving his body to be cradled in Thor's arms as their ship explodes.

After some research, Loki proposes that the variant is hiding near apocalyptic events like Asgard's Ragnarök, where the impending destruction means their actions cannot change the timeline, thus concealing them from the TVA.

The pair sneak aboard a train bound for the Ark, a spaceship intended to evacuate Lamentis-1, in order to siphon its power and recharge the TemPad.

This allows Loki and Sylvie to successfully enchant Alioth and see a rift opened, revealing the Citadel at the End of Time in the foreground, and walk towards it.

B. takes Miss Minutes off-line, Sylvie is able to enchant Wolfe into pruning Renslayer, but the temporal radiation spaghettifies Timely before he can place the Throughput Multiplier in the Loom.

B., and after successfully guiding Timely in setting up the Throughput Multiplier, Loki learns that the Temporal Loom cannot be fixed due to the multiverse as it was not equipped to handle it.

Loki is told that the Temporal Loom is nothing but a failsafe designed to protect the Sacred Timeline and that Sylvie must die in order to reverse what happened.

Having finally found his glorious purpose, Loki sits alone on a throne at the center of the timelines that he now maintains, listening to his friends through them with a heartbroken but satisfied expression on his face.

Sylvie (portrayed by Sophia Di Martino as an adult and by Cailey Fleming as a child) is a female variant of Loki who seeks to "free" the Sacred Timeline from the TVA, developing a method of body possession to achieve her ends.

When Thor intimidates the party guests into cleaning up while also mentioning that Frigga is coming, Loki's fellow Frost Giants put the London Eye back on its stand.

", Loki was trying to have Jotunheim get its own ski resort at the time when Howard the Duck and Darcy Lewis approach him for help in protecting their unhatched offspring.

While riding in a carriage with some women explaining his next performance, they get stopped by the arrival of Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, and Scott Lang, who want to steal their food.