As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
- Jane slapping Loki is kinda off, especially when you think about the absolute pounding he got in The Avengers, that he just up and walked away from with naught but a few cuts, bruises and a nicked ego. How can this puny mortal do anything to what is basically a god in Earth-terms? From that, it is obvious that Loki's seen it coming a mile off and just played along: why? Starting with the obvious, Thor, Lady Sif and the Warriors Three are watching: he'd be dust on the wind if he gave Jane some of her own medicine. So then the Trickster gets back at everyone by doing what he does best: fucking with the emotions of people around him. Beside unsettling Jane with his faked response, he needles Thor by reminding him that Jane is no Asgardian (and also of his threat against Jane while jousting on the Bifröst), and Sif by implying that this mortal, weak woman is beloved by Thor, unlike her own self - "I like her."
- Loki doesn't have a very high opinion of mortals believing them to be weak and insignificant. When he first meets Jane and starts to speak to her, it is with a quiet, polite, slightly apologetic tone of voice because after everything he did on Earth, that he's expecting her to be scared of him. Her slap doesn't really have much effect, like Thor earlier it's barely noticeable, but her outrage, attempt to hurt him and absolute lack of fear impress him leading to the 'I like her' comment which he genuinely means at that moment.
- Jane appears rather slap-happy in this film. It's telling that it only happens after she is possessed by the Aether. It could either be that the Aether gives her the confidence to slap gods without fearing as many repercussions (the Aether would protect her if they retaliated), or it could be the Aether itself making her slightly less restrained.
- It's been established that when anyone attacks Jane, the Aether defends itself and blasts them backwards. Why, then, did it not blast Loki back when he grabbed her and threw her in front of Malekith? Because it was part of the plan. Maybe Jane's body was more relaxed, or maybe the Aether is somewhat sentient, but either way, the Aether didn't repel Loki because Jane wasn't under any real threat.
- Odin allows Thor to keep Mjölnir when the latter renounces his intent to sit on the throne. Upon first glance, it appears that Odin is merely being a benevolent father, but upon the revelation that it's Loki sat upon the throne in disguise as Odin, it becomes clear that the real reason is that Loki is unworthy of holding Mjölnir; and Odin not being able to do so would give away the deception or at the very least, lead to Thor noticing that something was up.
- This time, Thor doesn't fall for Loki's illusion trick in prison, reflecting Loki's taunt of "Are you ever not going to fall for that?" in The Avengers. This, of course, leads into another piece of Fridge Brilliance over Loki stepping up his deceptions from mere parlor tricks to an elaborate scheme involving his faked death.
- Rather Fridge Heartwarming: The reason Thor doesn't fall for Loki's illusions this time is that he knows how close Loki was to Frigga since childhood, as she was the one taught him his magic, and he knows that Loki would never be this calm and uncaring after their mother's death.
- Much has been made of Loki's complete underreaction when Kurse starts breaking all of the other prisoners out of their cells, but this is Loki, a known Master of Illusion. He might have turned himself invisible while throwing up an illusion of himself calmly reading in case his cell was broken into by someone determined to kill him. This explanation is especially likely if, as eventually happens to him in Avengers: Infinity War, he was afraid that Thanos might come and break him out of prison in order to punish him for his failure on Earth. This might also explain why Loki stared down Kurse in such a creepy way that he made Kurse think he was too dangerous to be released, and also could be why he did absolutely nothing to help himself during his trial, when he was explaining himself to Odin. He could have decided that Asgardian justice, whatever form it took, was far preferable to what Thanos will eventually do to him when he gets ahold of him.
- Loki's sly and treacherous nature didn't just come from a vacuum; he had learned it from Frigga, who's quite cunning in this movie. She visits him in his dungeon against Odin's command, and since Loki is an enemy of the Crown, her actions could be construed as treason—of course, she's too clever to be caught.
- During Loki & Thor's escape from Asgard, Fandral is the only one of Thor's compatriots who doesn't threaten Loki, instead making a cutting remark about Loki's lack of grace. This reflects Fandral's status as an expert swordsman in contrast to the the brutish Volstagg, and proud warrior Lady Sif.
- How is Loki able to sit on the throne in disguise as Odin, when Heimdall is able to see through his deceptions? It was revealed in Thor that Loki is able to mask himself from Heimdall if he chooses to.
- It could also be because Heimdall's view is generally focused out, for enemies coming to Asgard, as opposed to internal threats.
- Why didn't Loki's death cause him to lose the life-long illusion spell making him look like an Aesir? Because he didn't really die. If you look carefully to the scene, it's still a close call: his skin is notably paler and takes a blueish hue, and his eyes do not remain their usual color either.
- Loki and Captain America:
- Chris Evans has played two Marvel superheroes (Johnny Storm and Captain America), whose personalities could not be any more different. What do you get when you combine the two of them? Loki's imitation of Captain America!
- All four of the other Avengers beat Loki in some manner. Iron Man got the better of him in the tower; Black Widow tricked him at his own psychological games; Hawkeye blew him up with the trick arrow; and Hulk smashed him—all four were situations where Loki was sure he was in control and they got the better of him. The only time Cap gets the better of Loki is in the initial fight where Loki intentionally "lost" as part of the plan. He's comfortable making fun of Cap because he feels he's the only one of the Avengers he actually beat.
- The "Deleted Scene" where Loki impersonates Captain America (this time with Tom Hiddleston wearing Cap's uniform) is called "Loki: The First Avenger" - in the comics, it was Loki who brought the original Avengers team together.
- Why is Odin so angry at Loki he barely even treats him as his son? Odin clearly intended to raise Loki to prepare him to either overthrow Laufey and become the new King of Jötunheim, or become Thor's trusted advisor. By usurping the throne and attempting genocide against Jötunheim, forcing Thor to destroy the Bifröst to stop it, Loki has made it impossible for him to rule the Jötun, thrown the Nine Realms into chaos, and proven he's not trustworthy enough to become Thor's advisor. No wonder Odin's pissed off at Loki at the start of Dark World. Loki probably screwed up centuries of careful planning with his little stunt.
- As of Thor: Ragnarok, it's also possible one of the reasons Odin so impassionately emphasizes to Loki that "we are not Gods" is because he's seen this sort of ambition and madness mindset overtake someone before: Hela.
- Loki let someone he knew was bad escape, only for them to kill the person closest to him. Marvel Studios didn't own the shared movie rights to Spider-Man in 2013, but they basically gave Loki his origin story.
- People like to say that Loki and Tony Stark are not so different, but actually this movie proves otherwise. Namely in how they treat people close to them and those lower than them. Tony? Despite his Awesome Ego, he truly cares for his friends, trusts them on personal level, and can take criticism from them. Even at his less than lucid moments, he is always careful not to harm Innocent Bystanders, as shown in the climax of Iron Man 2. Yinsen's death was a major turning point of him, causing him to become The Atoner. Loki? He manipulates Thor for all it's worth, always thinks he's in the right, has no problem sacrificing his own kind and the people of Earth to forward his own goals, and Frigga's death didn't stop him from taking over Asgard.
- One for Captain America: The First Avenger: We know that the Tesseract is one of the Infinity Stones; more specifically, it's the Space Stone. So what specifically did it do to people shot by those weapons that were powered by the Tesseract? Probably blasted them into oblivion (literally, in that it sent them somewhere else to die) or else transported their molecules in a thousand different directions so they were essentially vaporized. Hence the lack of bodies left behind when it was used.
- Frigga fooling Malekith with an illusion of Jane when he can sense the Aether seems not to make much sense, nor does his killing her our of hand once he discovers the trick. However, as shown after Frigga dies, Jane was literally just in the next room. Malekith could sense the Aether was close, saw Jane, and assumed that's where it was. When Frigga refuses to tell him where Jane is, he kills her because he knows it's not far, and figures he can find Jane after a brief search (or that she'll give herself away once he's killed her protector, Frigga). Thor shooting lightning in his face screwed up that plan, but still.
- Some InUniverse brilliance on the part of Ian. He smashes dark elf soldiers with a floating car, recognizing that while the wonky gravity may have reduced the car's weight, its mass remains the same.
- That moment you realize that Malekith was beaten by a hammer and nail.
- When Heimdall meets Thor in the bar after Frigga's death, he puts his helmet on the table and Thor stares thoughtfully at it for several seconds before asking Heimdall to help him defy Odin. Heimdall's helmet has big horns and reminds Thor of Loki, and that he can use his help to escape Asgard without the Bifrost.
- Thor doesn't seem to get why Jane is so upset that he hasn't contacted her in two years. However, given that Thor is over fifteen hundred years old, those same two years would be roughly the equivalent of someone his apparent age not calling for two weeks, rather understandable given how busy he was for that time.
- When Thor on Vanaheim says, "I accept your surrender", he's not talking to the Kronan that bellowed a challenge at him - he's talking to the marauders, knowing that they will try to surrender after he turns his opponent into gravel.
- After Loki's death, the scene pans out to a massive storm in the distance which is notably absent a few seconds ago. Except, Thor is the God of Storms who has demonstrated earlier that he can control storm clouds at will. The storm in Svartalfheim is actually Thor's magic reflecting his extreme grief at Loki dying.
- Malekith calls Frigga a witch as an insult, but given that Avengers Endgame reveals she was raised by witches this was at best an Insult Backfire and an indirect compliment at her skill; the pleased smile on her face shows that she wasn't hurt at all.
- During the battle on Asgard, Thor jumps off a balcony while summoning Mjolnir, catching the hammer in midair. Seen in isolation, this comes across as him being rushed (and showy) about getting into the fight. But post-Endgame, this small bit of drama actually becomes very convenient ... because it's probably the exact moment when, in the Time Heist timeline, Mjolnir is given back to Thor by Steve Rogers. After its foray into the future, Steve took the hammer back to Asgard so it could fly to Dark World Thor in time for the battle. Rogers may never have known where he was supposed to put the thing - even we, the audience, don't know where Time Heist Thor summoned Mjolnir from in Endgame's "I'm still worthy" scene - but because it flies in from offscreen, it doesn't matter whether Cap puts the weapon in Thor's bedroom, in Odin's throne room, on the palace roof, in the cellar of the Warriors Three's favorite drinking hole, or behind a garbage can in some random alley. A much easier task, for Steve, than having to set the hammer down exactly where Dark World Thor'd last left it.
- Jane being unable to drag the unconscious Thor out of the path of the falling Dark Elf ship makes her look incredibly weak. However, Asgardians have a body density three times that of Humans, so if Chris Hemsworth weighed two hundred pounds, then Thor would have been six hundred pounds. No wonder it was impossible for Jane to move him.
- Loki gives the dark elf Kurse the instructions to "take the stairs to the left" when he leaves the dungeons. This allows him to get through the palace undetected by Odin and the Asgardian soldiers. Unintentionally, Loki played a part in his mother's death, and Word of Saint Paul (Tom Hiddleston on the DVD Commentary) is even that he is very much aware of that after being told of her death.
- The Dark Elves (excepting Malekith and Algrim) all go masked, with heavily tinted lenses over the masks' eyeholes. This would seem to imply they're sensitive to light, or that it hurts them; of course they view the coming of light to the universe (and seemingly its imposition over Svartalfheim) as a bad thing if it causes them all severe physical pain. What's more, some of the extended-universe material suggests that early on, the Asgardians used airborne toxins as an agent of war against the Dark Elves, permanently poisoning their planet's atmosphere, which would make them masked for protective purposes against that as well. There don't seem to be any non-soldier Dark Elves left, implying all civilians/remaining families were killed during the ship crashes. And the soldiers' masks... resemble crying children.
◊ - Odin's viewing the Dark Elves as monsters that paying any price to wipe out would be worth it. It seems sort of jarring after he had the opposite attitude about the Jötun in the first film. Is it just Frigga's death though? Remember he took in a Jötun baby and raised it as his own... and Loki has attempted the genocide of one race and enslavement of another. Maybe Odin now thinks that some races just deserve to be wiped out. Becomes even more scary after Ragnarok makes clear that Frigga might have been the one thing keeping him from reverting to his old bloodthirsty ways.
- As we saw in The Avengers, Loki made a deal with Thanos; in return for the use of the Chitauri, Loki would give him the Tesseract. Now, Loki is sitting on the throne of Asgard, and now has full access to the vault holding both the Tesseract. Furthermore, the scene after the credits reveals that the Tesseract is the MCU version of the Space Stone, and the Aether is the MCU version of the Reality Stone, two of the Infinity Gems needed to power the Infinity Gauntlet. And given that The Avengers makes it clear that Thanos intends to collect on Loki's end of their deal, this means that two of the Infinity Stones are essentially within his reach.
- Odin claims that a mortal has as much a place in Asgard as a goat does in a banquet hall. In the original Norse mythology, goats are found in Thor's banquet hall regularly... as the main course.
- Exactly how long was it before anyone realized that a gigantic carnivorous frost-beast from Jötunheim had been left loose in London at the end of the film?
- It is still unknown how exactly Loki faked this death, but if Kurse hadn't thrown him to the ground after (seemingly) stabbing him, Loki might have been killed by the black-hole-grenade too.
On the Headscratchers page.
