Free AI web copilot to create summaries, insights and extended knowledge, download it at here

Abstract

se talking about <i>Marley and Me</i>.</p><p id="1509">I can just picture it: Wilson running around, cleaning up Loki’s messes, cursing the god of mischief all the way. And think of the mischief when time travel is involved! But eventually Wilson will come to admire Loki, and to miss him when Loki inevitably moves on.</p><p id="f910">As story models go that I just thought of, it’s not bad.</p><h1 id="238d">3. How Much More Loki Does Tom Hiddleston Have in Him?</h1><p id="828f">There’s no two ways about it: Tom is looking <i>old</i>. I noticed it when he popped up briefly in <i>Endgame</i>. But that was a fleeting, there-and-gone moment. It’s going to be much harder to hide when Tom is front and center for most of the runtime.</p><p id="7108">Not that there’s anything wrong with aging. But it makes the narrative — that <i>this</i> Loki is the same one from the first <i>Avengers</i> movie, and therefore younger than most the Lokis we’ve met — rather hard to believe completely. Especially when you consider that the “gods” aren’t really supposed to age at all.</p><p id="809d">Tom is like the Benjamin Button of Lokis. I don’t think that’s a good thing.</p><h1 id="c59b">4. Loki is the Protagonist, Not Necessarily the Hero</h1><p id="49d4">This series is unique in that it allows Loki to be the main attraction. He’s been in the limelight plenty, but usually as the antagonist or the grudging ally. This time, he’s in the driver’s seat.</p><p id="55e8">That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a hero. In fact, we know he’s not. <i>This</i> Loki just invited an interstellar invasion of Earth so that he could reign supreme. He hasn’t yet gone through the growth that the death of his mother and the events of Ragnarok caused. In other words: he’s still a villain! Misunderstood, maybe. Conflicted, yes sure. But still a Bad Guy.</p><p id="5385">We’ve seen plenty of narratives with bad people as the protagonists. Usually, however, the story is one of gradually becoming bad, of compromises and mistakes. But Loki’s growth needs to move in the opposite direction, bad to less worse, and maybe, just maybe, eventually good.</p><h1 id="687d">5. The Narrative Dissonance is Strong with This One</h1><p id="b435">And that leads into my last thought. We’ve already taken this journey of discovery with Loki. That was a <i>different</i> Loki, of course — that Loki was strangled by Thanos in <i>Endgame</i> after Loki tried to shank him. That Loki is dead and gone, and all the lessons learned and character growth went with him.</p><p id="f568">And now were back to zero, starting over. Obviously the time cops and Owen Wilson can shortcut the growth. Owen can show Loki what happened in the unaltered timeline. And I guess, maybe Loki can internalize the lessons via osmosis.</p><p id="b1e1">But it doesn’t really work like that, does it? How can Loki experience real growth without participating in the moments directly? And doesn’t this time branch mean he has already altered w

Options

hat could’ve been? It seems those opportunities should be gone now, and new ones need to arise if Loki is to get back to the here and now (in which we recognize him as the same guy from <i>Endgame</i>). But can he possibly reach such a state without Thor?</p><p id="547f">I don’t think so.</p><p id="3986">It’s heady stuff to think about — time travel is always tricky. The answer lies ultimately in the goal of the series: is it to give us Loki back, the Loki we loved and lost in <i>Endgame</i>? Or is this just a fun diversion, existing in a little time bubble?</p><p id="f7c1">For that matter, what will the time cops do with Loki once he’s fulfilled his duty? Do they execute variants or let them loose in the time stream?</p><p id="6bea">If we know anything about Loki, it’s that he’s a schemer. A long con kinda guy. Looking forward to seeing how this all plays out.</p><p id="7c50"><i>I like to write. You like to read. <a href="http://eepurl.com/gGYaQz">Let’s be friends</a>.</i></p><p id="6fe5">Related stories:</p><div id="da13" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/the-greatest-movie-trailers-of-all-time-99c3bf827ebe"> <div> <div> <h2>The Greatest Movie Trailers of All-time</h2> <div><h3>I bet you can’t guess my favorite</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*wg-XsVE0GPS5OTfeImUlkQ.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="5c2b" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/disney-marvel-studios-have-been-mishandling-black-widow-for-years-490e341eaada"> <div> <div> <h2>Disney & Marvel Studios have been Mishandling Black Widow for Years</h2> <div><h3>At this point it doesn’t really matter when they release the film</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*fE3VAwIXYPa0J7LxqyI1jA.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="c070" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/the-falcon-and-the-winter-soldier-is-both-an-epilogue-and-a-new-beginning-1912f7f3ad22"> <div> <div> <h2>‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ is a New Beginning for the MCU</h2> <div><h3>Stepping out of the OG Avengers’ shadow</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*V-NdkCskf7rMD_E-xn3R6Q.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

FanFare

5 Thoughts After Watching the ‘Loki’ Trailer

Burdened with glorious purpose

Loki for President, apparently. Image: Marvel Studios

Marvel’s plan to bury us with new content continues apace, as yesterday they dropped the trailer for the new Disney+ series Loki. The trickster god has once again sidestepped death only to find himself trapped in a sort of bureaucratic limbo.

Here are 5 thoughts I had after watching the trailer.

1. Time Cops

I am only a casual fan of the comics, so the idea of an organization tasked with maintaining the time stream is new to me. But given all the time travel shenanigans we’ve been witness to already, the idea is clearly not unwarranted.

Hell is where a place where time stands still forever. I get that sort of feeling from this time organization, the sort of misery common to waiting rooms and the DMV. I’m especially digging the bureaucracy — one of the employees thinks nothing of handing Loki a ridiculously massive stack of papers to read and sign, because time is irrelevant here.

Loki is a prisoner and the time authorities need his help cleaning up the mess he’s created. Only, he’s not exactly a prisoner — he’s a variant. It’s a juicy sort of word that suggests all sorts of narrative possibilities.

As a concept and a jumping off point, this time organization is flipping a lot of my buttons. It’s fresh but monotonously familiar, and offers an easy in for the Loki adventures to follow.

2. Owen Wilson

I love Owen Wilson. There is just something so earnest and likeable about him. Yes, we all would love for a ‘wow’ or a ‘whoa’ sometime in the course of the show. And while I wouldn’t be against him briefly reprising his role from Wedding Crashers in some fashion, with Loki filling Vince Vaughn’s shoes, that’s clearly wishful thinking. There is a movie from Wilson’s filmography that presents a model for how the series could go though.

I’m of course talking about Marley and Me.

I can just picture it: Wilson running around, cleaning up Loki’s messes, cursing the god of mischief all the way. And think of the mischief when time travel is involved! But eventually Wilson will come to admire Loki, and to miss him when Loki inevitably moves on.

As story models go that I just thought of, it’s not bad.

3. How Much More Loki Does Tom Hiddleston Have in Him?

There’s no two ways about it: Tom is looking old. I noticed it when he popped up briefly in Endgame. But that was a fleeting, there-and-gone moment. It’s going to be much harder to hide when Tom is front and center for most of the runtime.

Not that there’s anything wrong with aging. But it makes the narrative — that this Loki is the same one from the first Avengers movie, and therefore younger than most the Lokis we’ve met — rather hard to believe completely. Especially when you consider that the “gods” aren’t really supposed to age at all.

Tom is like the Benjamin Button of Lokis. I don’t think that’s a good thing.

4. Loki is the Protagonist, Not Necessarily the Hero

This series is unique in that it allows Loki to be the main attraction. He’s been in the limelight plenty, but usually as the antagonist or the grudging ally. This time, he’s in the driver’s seat.

That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a hero. In fact, we know he’s not. This Loki just invited an interstellar invasion of Earth so that he could reign supreme. He hasn’t yet gone through the growth that the death of his mother and the events of Ragnarok caused. In other words: he’s still a villain! Misunderstood, maybe. Conflicted, yes sure. But still a Bad Guy.

We’ve seen plenty of narratives with bad people as the protagonists. Usually, however, the story is one of gradually becoming bad, of compromises and mistakes. But Loki’s growth needs to move in the opposite direction, bad to less worse, and maybe, just maybe, eventually good.

5. The Narrative Dissonance is Strong with This One

And that leads into my last thought. We’ve already taken this journey of discovery with Loki. That was a different Loki, of course — that Loki was strangled by Thanos in Endgame after Loki tried to shank him. That Loki is dead and gone, and all the lessons learned and character growth went with him.

And now were back to zero, starting over. Obviously the time cops and Owen Wilson can shortcut the growth. Owen can show Loki what happened in the unaltered timeline. And I guess, maybe Loki can internalize the lessons via osmosis.

But it doesn’t really work like that, does it? How can Loki experience real growth without participating in the moments directly? And doesn’t this time branch mean he has already altered what could’ve been? It seems those opportunities should be gone now, and new ones need to arise if Loki is to get back to the here and now (in which we recognize him as the same guy from Endgame). But can he possibly reach such a state without Thor?

I don’t think so.

It’s heady stuff to think about — time travel is always tricky. The answer lies ultimately in the goal of the series: is it to give us Loki back, the Loki we loved and lost in Endgame? Or is this just a fun diversion, existing in a little time bubble?

For that matter, what will the time cops do with Loki once he’s fulfilled his duty? Do they execute variants or let them loose in the time stream?

If we know anything about Loki, it’s that he’s a schemer. A long con kinda guy. Looking forward to seeing how this all plays out.