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Comic Book / Loki: Agent of Asgard

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Team Lokinote 

"Trust me. I (still) know what I'm doing."
— Loki, issue #1 (and #15)

Loki: Agent of Asgard is the continuing adventures (after Journey into Mystery (Gillen) and Young Avengers) of Marvel's lovable God of Mischief, Loki, as written by Al Ewing. Only now those adventures involve doing wet-work for the All-Mothers of Asgard, in exchange for their freedom and the chance of redemption. The twist is that this time, Loki really, really, really means it. But the problem with having a past like Loki's is that sooner or later, it's going to catch up with you.

This series ties-in to the following eventsnote :

Because this book is part of the Thor family, all characters from this series can be found here.

Tropes featured in this series include:

    open/close all folders 

    Tropes A-D 
  • Actually a Doombot: Discussed in issue #6. Doom himself notes that his Doombots have given him the perfect out if he's ever defeated or acts "unworthy of myself" - everyone just assumes it was a robot.
  • Actually Pretty Funny: The "brown trout" joke. Verity cannot help laughing, and even Thor admits that it was pretty funny.
  • All of the Other Reindeer: Old!Loki claims that they succeeded in escaping the role of "God of Evil" ...but went right back into it after ten years of being reminded they were still the God of Lies.
  • Ambiguous Gender: Loki can only shapeshift into themself. That's a no on houseflies, a yes on femme-presenting. This means young Loki has a female aspect to change into (there is also Word of God on this), which they do sometimes just because they can, and they identify as a woman when looking like one to boot (things like referring to themselves as Goddess or using she). Odin called them his child who is both son and daughter. and that's not even touching all the stuff under I Have Many Names.
  • Ambiguous Situation: Are Those Who Sit Above In Shadow really back to life thanks to Ragnarok, or are they Beyonders pretending to be them in order to escape Doom? They do use a version of the Beyonder's old catch-phrase, but then again... Loki only suggests the Beyonder option is a "nice explanation for the science crowd". Your reading of the text affects the text, remember.
  • Ancient Astronauts: Touched on by Story!Loki in the final issue, who isn't entirely sure whether ancient Asgardians influenced mankind's myths and legends or not, but as they admit their own memory is "rubbish" at that point.
  • And I Must Scream: On being returned to Asgard by Amora, Lorelei and Sigurd are sealed in giant goose eggs and sent to the Isle of Silence, not to be freed until Ragnarok. They're pretty pissed when they get out.
  • And the Adventure Continues: Yes. The whole world ended? There is only Battleworld (and doom... or maybe Doom)? Grand Finale everybody! Or rather not. It's Loki, who does what they want, so after solving the loose plot-threads decides to end the last tale of Loki of the main Marvel universe by skipping to the next one. In mood it's incredibly bittersweet.
  • Animal Motifs: Magpies became Loki's. Fits with the portent (Odin even hears "Thunder, and the laughter of magpies" in issue #4 of the Original Sin tie-in (The Tenth Realm), when Thor and Loki need him), thief and conman interpretations. They even play on it like in All-New Marvel Now! Point One, making "magpie" the "safeword" for Agent Coulson after tricking him, in issue #3, Old!Loki turns into a magpie as part of their plan to create Gram.
    • Magpies are a continuing motif since their introduction in Journey into Mystery.
    • Jackal when they briefly turn into Anubis while discussing how they can only turn into themself.
  • Arc Words:
  • Art Evolution: Loki's design has a slight, noticeable shift during the course of the run. At the start his tunic is bright solid green with gold framing and looks more like plated armour, but as things go on, it shifts into a more of a scale-maille looking thing, with a olive bronze-like colour.
  • Art Shift: During the Original Sin tie-in, the artist changes to Simone Bianchi when in Heven.
  • Artifact Title: Loki quit his job as "the Agent of Asgard" in issue #5, but the subtitle stuck with the series until the end.
  • Ascended Meme: During the Original Sin tie-in issues, Old!Loki is referred to as Old!Loki, as they are on this very page.
  • Back for the Finale: Given the "Last Days" storyline is the Grand Finale for the majority of the Thor storyline, several characters reappear in issue #17, like Beta Ray Bill, or Bill, Born of Bills, to aid Asgard in its final hours.
  • Badass Boast: King Loki gives Loki one after Loki runs them through with Gram:
    King Loki: I saw the effect and then built the cause! I saw the story and then wrote the origin! That's who I am!
  • Bad Future: Judging by what's shown in issue #6, this is where Old!Loki really comes from – a future in which Midgard is a barren, blasted wasteland. They might not be lying and Asgard lives a new golden age... but it comes with a price Thor would not pay willingly.
    • Issue #12 follows up on this. Asgard has a good future, but every living thing on Earth was killed by Old!Loki simply to hurt Thor, including the Earth itself.
  • Bag of Holding: Old!Loki's can hold anything from a rocket launcher to a small mountain of gold.
  • Bait-and-Switch:
    • Done through the first five issues with Old!Loki. From their appearance and behaviour, the audience is led to believe they're the original Loki reborn somehow, and up to their old tricks again. Then in issue #5 Loki stabs them, and they reveal the truth, that they're Loki from the future. They even taunt Loki, and the audience as well, about this.
    • And then throughout issues #10-#13, where the most telegraphed message was King Loki will win! and so forth. See the YMMV subpage for the reactions which ranged from resignation to "it's Loki, things can't be this simple". And... well this entry is under this trope so yes, things were more complicated.
  • Batman Gambit: Gram owes its origin to a truly ludicrous gambit on the part of Old!Loki, which in turn is part of an even bigger gambit.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: Issue #11, Loki uses this against Frigga, pointing out that them going back to their old ways was exactly what she wanted, and that's exactly what she's got, Loki the villain, hated and distrusted by all of Asgard.
  • Berserk Button: Odin actually admitting he loves Thor and Loki for Old!Loki, who angrily yells that he never said that to them.
  • Be Yourself: Odin's admittedly very cryptic advice in issue #11 seems to allude to this, with things like they should be worthy of their own power and not their brother's. This also says that Odin knows what Loki did on the moon in Axis, and isn't that impressed. This gets heavier in issue #12: If they're telling the truth, Old!Loki has fallen because they couldn't reconcile what they thought to be their nature as "God of Lies" with their redemption which combined with weapons grade projecting made them hate the world even more.
  • Big Bad: Old!Loki, who is the one pulling the strings behind all the bad things happening to our Loki.
  • Black-and-Gray Morality: Old!Loki and Mephisto are evil, everybody else varying degrees of jerkass. Closest thing to good people here are Verity, and Thor, who is way too nice (and impulsive) to be in this series.
  • Blah, Blah, Blah: When Sigurd overhears Loki telling Verity about their plan in #4, it's represented as "Rhubarb rhubarb [relevant word] rhubarb".
  • Blatant Lies: During Verity's speed-dating attempts, one man tries to claim Roxxon is a charity.
  • Blessed with Suck: Verity Willis can see through lies. All lies, every lie. She can't even enjoy a book or a film because she lacks suspension of disbelief. She learns to suppress her reaction to books during the time skip in #13, armed with the knowledge that even if a story is fiction, it can still be true.
  • Break Them by Talking: Old!Loki to Teen!Loki, Evil Gloating included.
  • Brilliant, but Lazy: Loki is much happier at home playing video games, trolling the neighbourhood (or the internet probably), writing slash fiction, and having fun in general, than going on missions or such. Sadly for them this isn't that kind of comic.
  • Call-Back:
    • During issue #3, Loki notes they have developed a fondness for the way humans prepare meat, something that came up occasionally in Young Avengers.
    • In the Original Sin tie-in mini Thor also acknowledges the fact that since Young Avengers Loki is frequently found in eateries.
    • Magneto's brief appearance in issue #7 has him quoting something he said all the way back in X-Men issue #16.
    • In issue #11, Sif notes the time Loki possessed her.
    • Old!Loki brings up Loki's dealings with Mother, and what they did to Wiccan and Hulking in the same issue, telling Verity about them.
    • Issue #13: The ghosts of Original and Kid Loki recite their respective last words.
    • At the beginning of issue #14, the spectral forms of Those Who Sit Above In Shadows recite the Beyonder's claim from the beginning of Secret Wars (1984).
    • Issue #14 ends with almost (adds a 'still') the same lines issue #1 began. "Trust me. I still know what I'm doing..."
  • Calling the Old Man Out:
    • Loki, to Frigga in issue #11, for her treatment of them. She lashes out and banishes them for it.
    • Also done in an immensely satisfying manner in issue #16 where Story!Loki finally gets Odin's and the Asgardian's approval and respect, placing them at the same level as Thor... and tells them to stick it.
  • Cannot Tell a Lie:
    • Loki after the inversion is undone can't take falsehoods, not even benign ones or jokes. They are not literally unable to tell them but all come out incredibly weak and they feel so bad about them that they correct themself immediately. They theorize that this is either an after effect of the inversion, or being in the middle of the truth wave, or maybe they're just sick and tired of untruths or some combination of these. This prompts them to be suicidally honest with Verity and Thor.
    • And in issue #11, Old!Loki calls them on it, and how they never told Verity about all the things they did before meeting her.
  • The Caper: Several. A casino robbery by Lorelei, which Loki infiltrated; Loki and their friends breaking in Asgardia to "Save Sigurd" or actually check out the most secure cell.
  • Caper Crew: When Loki isn't working alone. It's currently also a Five-Man Band:
    • The Leader: Loki (The Master Mind, The Hacker, The Conman, The Pickpocket)
    • The Lancer: Thor (The Distraction, The Inside Man)
    • The Smart Guy: Verity (The Coordinator, The Hacker (if it's illusions))
    • The Big Guy: Sigurd The Ever-Glorious (The Muscle, The Inside Man)
    • The Bait: Lorelei (The Burglar, The Roper)
  • Card-Carrying Villain: Old!Loki, which is why the Sword of Truth doesn't even faze them.
  • Carpet of Virility: Story!Loki's masculine form, much to their delight.
  • Charm Person: Both Amora's and Lorelei's signature spell. Seen for example at the Speed Dating episode when Lorelei robs a guy. Also if you look closely when Heroic!Loki agrees to Inverted!Amora's plan in issue #9 there are some mostly green magic sparkles around their eyes indicating that someone is manipulating them.
  • Chekhov's Boomerang: Andravi the dwarf's death-curse is important in issue #3, and again in issue #15.
  • Chekhov's Gun: That super cell reception spell mentioned in issue #5? It comes handy when Loki's forced to choose their destiny in the metaphorical realm in issue #13.
  • Children Are Innocent: Valeria has observed that often when adults get in trouble, there's "kissing" involved.
  • Cloning Gambit: Loki isn't really Loki, they're a copy of the original Loki's personality, in Kid!Loki's body, made as the original Loki's Get Out of Jail Free card. However, due to the way they were created, they've inherited some of Kid!Loki's goodness, and isn't the same as the original Loki. They feel guilt, for one thing.
  • Clothes Make the Superman: Loki doesn't need equipment to be formidable, but having some can't hurt, right? Right! As of issue #9 they have 3 pieces of invisibility granting clothing (cloak, pendant, belt), and a pair of Seven League Boots, which allow them to walk on any surface.
  • Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Verity for Loki's Trickster God-ness ("NO!", "What Were You Thinking?") and Pungeon Master ("Shut Up!") tendencies.
  • Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Both played straight and subverted with magic. Every spellcaster's power has its own color, like Doom's is light blue, unfortunately Lorelei's is blue too; Amora's is green, as is Loki's (Both Lokis' albeit the old one's can verge into yellow), which can make distinguishing between them kind of hard and defeats the purpose of the trope, but given the nature of this series this might be the point.
    • When Loki is briefly inverted during AXIS, their costume is white with gold highlights.
  • Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Considering the belief that the comic came about as a bit of corporate synergy at Marvel due to Loki's popularity in the films (note the lineup of Avengers they meet in Issue #1 is the exact same lineup of the movie,) it only makes sense that they would borrow Loki's likeness from Tom Hiddleston.
  • The Con: As Loki themself said, there is always a Con going on somewhere, even if this wasn't what the asker meant. For example the one to get Sigurd in Asgardia as a preparation for the later caper. Yes. Loki conned Mephisto.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • Loki uses that unpleasantness involving Thor's DNA and Iron Man to momentarily distract the Avengers.
    • The reason Old!Loki managed to sneak into Thor is because he was already weak after a recent run in with Malekith in The Mighty Thor. That run-in is also the reason Loki snuck in on behalf of the All-Mother.
    • Cul, brother of Odin, appears in a flashback, which proves true his claim of being Odin's predecessor.
      • Cul later appears in The Ten Realms, revealed when Loki frees Odin from his self-exile. On the way home afterwards, what does Loki tell Thor under her breath?
        "Uncle Cul says hello, by the way."
    • During his attempted infiltration of Loki's apartment, Sigurd is noted as wearing clothing from Cortex Sportif.
    • In issue #6, we see Latveria recovering from a scuffle between Doctor Doom and the Invisible Woman from Fantastic Four Annual.
    • Old Loki mentions the time they crossed paths with Bucky Barnes while Bucky was the Man on the Wall and having space adventures.
    • They also summarize the major plot points of the series, where they makes it sound like they physically rescued Sigurd from a lava river when they thwarted Mephisto's plan to deceive him.
    • A flashback in Issue #15 shows Verity had to register herself when the Superhuman Registration Act was enacted, but that she never had to join a superhero team.
      • This issue also revealed that Verity is the daughter of Roger Willis, the keeper of the Casket of Winters from all the way back in the Simonson era. Another nod to this era is the reappearance of modern weaponry in Asgard (they grew fond of M-16s in that arc).
    • A continuity nod not in Loki: Agent of Asgard, but directly of it. In Mighty Avengers #8 (a series also written by Al Ewing), Power Man is trying to send messages to some of his fellow teen super heroes from an underwater base with bad reception. One of the replies makes it through. Loki's, who was in the middle of Loki: Agent of Asgard #2 when they replied to the message.
      "Hi Vic! Sorry, got hands full :-("
      "OF 1000000000 EUROS!!!! 8-O ha ha!"
      "Anyway am holding up casino right now but hope Ava better soon. HUGS. —L"
  • Continuity Porn: This series exists, amongst other reasons, to give a satisfying ending to all the continuity accumulated around Loki throughout Journey into Mystery and Young Avengers. Add Al Ewing, who loves to connect everything to everything and reference everything else too, and we end up in this trope. It's a testament to Ewing's talent that this title is readable pretty much as a standalone series despite all of this.
  • Cool Shades: Sigurd's contribution to the preparation for the last battle in the name of the heroic magic known as... "Cool".
  • Cool Sword: Gram, which used to belong to Sigurd (the Ever-Glorious), as piercing as truth itself. Most of the wounds it inflicts aren't fatal, because the truth usually just hurts. Old!Loki had a large hand in its convoluted creation.
  • Decapitation Presentation: Old!Loki kills Balder and cuts off his head, and when they attack Asgard, they're carrying Balder's head with them.
  • Determinator: Loki, at least the young one. They came too far, sacrificed too much, did what they had to do (even if they regretted it later) for this chance to Screw Destiny.
    Freyja: He will come to his senses in time.
    Odin: No. Not that one. He'll not go quietly into any box you build for him.
  • Did You Actually Believe...?:
    • Old!Loki to Loki when they stab them with Gram in issue #5. A sword designed to reveal the truth doesn't work on someone who's honest about who and what they are.
    • Story!Loki in issue #16 turns this on Old!Loki. Actually dying? Of course not, that was a metaphor, which gods do kind of literally, of the past that creates them being no more!
  • Disproportionate Retribution: The Angels are so offended that Odin won't pay them for supporting him after they switched sides that they start a war with Asgardia and murder his baby daughter.
  • Distressed Dude: Subverted with Sigurd. Him being imprisoned in the dungeons of Asgardia was planned so that he could act as the inside man.
  • The Dividual: The All-Mother is a triumvirate of Frigga, Gaea and Idunn. Frigga usually speaks for all three, though on occasion Gaea and Idunn raise doubts and concerns about what exactly they're doing (Gaea asking Old!Loki about what became of Earth in their future, Idunn objecting to Sigurd being thrown in a dungeon). They have a vague Hecate Sisters theme going on (Idunn being the maiden, Frigga the mother, and Gaea the crone... well, slightly older mother).
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: Loki's behaviour in issue #14, with their reaction to their new appearance and claiming they're an entirely different person from before, all sounds entirely like he's just regenerated.
  • Doesn't Like Guns: Loki doesn't usually use them. They prefer their own methods.
    "What? NO! Why would I use a gun?"
  • Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Played with and explored, regarding Lorelie's past use of this on Thor and Loki. When she's first introduced, the narration retcons the fact that her and Loki's initial fling was the result of Amora's spell on the two, and both were consensual. Her rape of Thor, however, is noted and Thor makes it clear he does not forgive her for it, and its largely what fuels Thor's disagreement with Loki's plan in #5. Loki personally doesn't have any disgust in her over it, but that's largely because they've personally done far worse to Thor themselves.
  • Do Not Go Gentle: Issue #14 revolves around the imminent end of all existence, And Old!Loki decides to storm Asgard with the forces of Hel. So Odin and Freyja break out the big guns. As in literal guns.
  • Dragon Hoard: Old!Loki steals the gold hoard of a shapeshifter, who places a truth curse on it with his dying breath. This curse physically transforms the man it ends up with into a dragon, reflecting his greedy inner self.
  • Dying Moment of Awesome: Freyja goes out stabbing the Midgard Serpent, which then explodes. She gets to go to Valhalla for it, and since it's Ragnarok, comes back to life as Einherjar.

    Tropes E-L 
  • Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Story!Loki's female form even more than before.
  • Epic Fail: Somehow Hawkeye is so bad at video games that he manages to get the army after him, and has no health while he's falling out of a plane. This is something you'd expect to happen in Grand Theft Auto or another similar game. He's playing a bass fishing simulator.
  • Escape Artist: Loki claims that they are the bona fide expert on escaping from Cool And Unusual Punishments, especially those by Odin. With their track record we're inclined to believe them.
  • Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Nobody thinks Old!Loki's jokes are funny except themself, while our protagonist's humor is groan-worthy and punny but at least not mean spirited (their heroic version oddly doesn't seem to really have a sense of humor at all).
  • Exact Words:
    • To go with the Bait-and-Switch, even the recap page takes time to note that Old!Loki looks like Loki, never actually outright saying that they are.
    • Verity becomes angry when she realizes that he has been using this to get around her truthsense.
  • Faking the Dead: Loki taking the third option comes with the convenient side-effect of their apparent death, for the villain's great dismay.
  • Fanservice: The book is dripping with it, both the typical (such as the second panel of the first issue being Loki naked in the shower,) and the non-sexual kind.
  • Fan Disservice: Issue #11 ends with Loki bound and gagged to a chair, shirtless. What makes this a disservice? Their future self, King Loki, magically puts them in such a position. Extra points for Loki's arm being broken, meaning that just moving their arm would be extremely painful.
  • Fantastically Indifferent: Lorelei robs a man and makes him hand over his wallet while he just grins and shrugs. Justified, as 1) she's using magic to mess with his head and 2) it's Marvel's New York.
    "Ehh, it's New York. I mean, I was mugged by the Eel last week, y'know?"
  • The Fatalist: The All-Mother. They perceived Old!Loki's appearance as a godsend as it fit their belief of everything will be as destined, they also imply this about the other Asgardians. And then Old!Loki even told them what they wanted to hear... They lectured young Loki on the benefits of Freedom from Choice, but they were always designated as villain so totally didn't buy it.
  • Fetch Quest: Loki had to go on one before the series began, fetching the keys to open the box containing Gram from all manner of places (outer space, the Red Skull's pocket, the Braddock Academy, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier.) The last one is given to them by Thor as an act of trust. And this was a fetch quest in a fetch quest, since they needed the sword to cure Thor of a nasty case of possession.
  • First-Person Smartass: The issues where Loki themself narrates, like the first.
  • The Fog of Ages: When Odin and Old!Loki finally meet in issue #7, Odin states that he stirs a ancient memory in him that he can't properly recall. This would be their meeting during issue #3, when Old!Loki travelled back to Odin's past as a specific part of his Batman Gambit to create Gram. Old!Loki even told him at the time he wouldn't remember their meeting.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • Loki's The Wizard and I rendition places them as both Elphaba and the Wizard, so hero and villain (which turned out to be true), child of the villain and father of the hero (yeah, metaphorically at least), woman and man (see: ambiguous gender); and so forth. That play also goes suddenly crashing and burning around the end of the first act, is notoriously mocking of the idea of Black-and-White Morality, and... you know what? Just go and read up on Wicked (or even Wicked), and enjoy your very own forest of Epileptic Trees.
    • The fact that Old!Loki uses a bazooka to kill Andvari is a hint that this might not be the Loki that was, given the Original Loki's disdain for mortals.
    • Andvari's death curse in issue #3, that gave Gram its truth revealing powers, explicitly specified that it's to "force truth upon all! So all will know" Loki's foul deeds (murder and theft). Lo and behold issue #10 and #11, impressive even counting in that the wrong theft and murder, not to mention Loki, got revealed.
    • Doom's speech and pretend identity crisis in issue #6 foreshadows both epiphanies at the end of the series.
    • Verity's inability to listen to most stories as anything not 100% true will set off her power since it feels like a lie foreshadows Loki shifting from God of Lies to God of Stories, the more positive side of his old title. Her later learning to read stories because she realizes they can be true in a way even if the author thinks they are making it up, foreshadows her giving Loki their way out of their "destined path" in the end.
  • Freudian Excuse: Teen!Loki has many of these. As lampshaded by Valeria and Loki in issue #7:
    Verity: What makes hate easy?
    Valeria: Mommy and daddy.
    Loki: Harsh! But yes.
  • Fun with Acronyms: This series has the official acronym Loki:AoA which is pretty unassuming, but what AoA is can change depending on the issue:
  • Future Me Scares Me: Loki feels this way about Old!Loki.
  • Gambit Pileup: The All-Mother has plans, as does Loki, Old!Loki, Odin, and who the heck knows who else.
  • Gatling Good: Odin whips out a Gatling gun as Old!Loki prepares to attack Asgard.
  • Genre-Busting: This is a Super Anti-Hero, Redemption Quest, Spy Fiction and/or Criminal Procedural comic about stories with Time Travel and a Unicorn!
  • Gone Horribly Right or Wrong: If Old!Loki is to be believed, this happened to create them in their timeline. They succeeded in rewriting their past and redeeming themself... except for the "sin" of being themself. (It actually can come more off as them doing this to themself, though.)
  • Good Costume Switch: Heroic!Loki's costume still has the traditional green and gold, but also a lot of white, and switches horns for wings on their helmet/circlet. Maybe it's Evil Costume Switch though, depending on your opinion which one of them is better (or at least less annoying).
  • Groin Attack: Sigurd (the Ever-Glorious) is reasonably convinced that if he ends up in Valhalla, the Valkyrie are going to remove Little Sigurd.
  • Guns Akimbo: Freyja, dual-wielding M-16s!
  • Gut Punch: You'll see this series called light-hearted, which was true at the beginning (the creeping shadows were there though), then it reached the end of issue #9 and this page grew a Tear Jerker subpage.
  • Hate Plague: In issue #6 and #7, courtesy of the Red Skull. But what counters hate better than truth? Well, in the case of Doom, apparently delusions also work.
  • Heroic BSoD: Poor Verity when the end of everything sinks in.
  • Hero of Another Story: Sigurd the Ever-Glorious, first legend of Asgard and hero of some of its greatest. Although the narration points out a more accurate title would be the Sometimes-Glorious. He's got some issues.
  • Homage:
  • Hope Springs Eternal: Kind of. This is probably the least flattering way anybody ever worded it but Story!Loki's very somber, and slightly exaggerated for dramatic effect, assessment of the situation (the end of the story/world) in issue #14 included this:
    Verity: But it's not the end? There's – There's hope?
    Story!Loki: It's never the end of all stories. They get everywhere. Like roaches. Wipe out the whole omniverse – There'll still be a story somewhere. Loads, probably.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: All Old!Loki had to do to gain Freyja's trust was make a single accurate prediction.
  • How We Got Here:
    • The 1st issue begins with Loki stabbing Thor through the chest with a sword, and a voiceover of them saying "I know what I'm doing." The rest of the issue is dedicated to explaining why Loki's doing it.
    • The 9th issue opens with Loki beaten up on the moon, with the rest of the issue being a flashback about the things leading up to this.
  • I Am Not Left-Handed: Sigurd inverts the trope namer ("I'm actually left handed"), although not the trope itself. Loki tries to retort that they've seen that same movie, and gets kicked out a window for it.
  • "I Can't Look!" Gesture: Old!Loki covers their eyes and proclaims that they can't bear to watch, when Loki attempts to lift Mjölnir. The thing is obviously an act as they are still looking, not to mention laughing their ass off.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: Inverted Amora justifies her actions an awful lot this way basically making it her version of Never My Fault. Heroic!Loki goes along with this but clearly has doubts and is uncomfortable.
  • I Die Free: Kid!Loki did if you ask Teen!Loki, and in the end they agree. Yes, they think that being forced to become Old!Loki, or even themself, is a form of narrative slavery and a Fate Worse than Death.
  • I Have Many Names: Loki has, albeit they generally don't use them, but the omen delivered by one of Odin's crows in issue #11 began like this:
    O nobly born. (Listen well.) Trickster. Shapeshifter. Tamer of monsters. Moon king and wanderer.
    • Issue #13 has an extended version which adds things like: "moon queen", "lotus lord of dance", "mother of gods" and "master-magician of them all" among others.
    • They also gave themself a bunch (references to Journey into Mystery), when they confessed in issue #10:
    I am the echo of a scream. I am the magpie who whispers. I am the crime that will not be forgiven.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Most of the fight between Heroic!Loki and Villainous!Thor consisted of the heroic one trying to get through to the other by talking.
  • Immediate Self-Contradiction: During issue #6, two Latverians are talking, and the one affected by the Red Skull's hate plague complains that there's no freedom of religion in Latveria, then immediately grumbles about there being a mosque in Latveria, much to his friend's confusion. The same man also accuses his friend of worshipping Von Doom like a god by reading his "scripture", which he describes as "aheistic nonsense".
  • Inconvenient Summons: The All-Mothers have a bad habit of calling on Loki when they're trying to relax, or socialize with people, or in the shower...
  • In Defence of Storytelling: Stories change the world, stories change you, and your reading of the text affects the text. Even if stories are just lies it doesn't mean they aren't important.
  • Insane Troll Logic: Thor does this to himself in issue #1, when Loki insinuates that Tony kept Thor's DNA sample even though he promised to destroy it, and Tony points out that Loki has lied before. Thor retorts that Loki never pretended otherwise. Averts Bat Deduction since we never find out whether what Loki said was true or just extremely plausible.
  • Insistent Terminology:
    • Sigurd is almost never just Sigurd, but Sigurd the Ever-Glorious or when the narration feels snarky Sigurd the Sometimes-Glorious.
    • Loki states they liberated their Seven League Boots from the Ljosalfar of Alfheim.
  • Insubstantial Ingredients: Gram is made of meta-l. A death curse combined with greed, a physical sword forged for revenge, bound by story logic and made to last with the metaphysical weight of true legends.
  • I Resemble That Remark!: In issue #1, Thor says that Loki created "a most terrible slash" upon the Internet. Loki says that's not the right word, but it's still true.
  • Ironic Echo: Inverted. In issue #1 Loki states that they would rather take an arrow to the face than burn. In issue #5, Old!Loki says they would rather burn than take an arrow to the face.
  • Irony:
    • The God of Lies becoming best friends with a human lie detector.
    • Moreover, the God of Lies being so honest with himself that Gram, the Sword of Truth that maims or kills you by making you look at your deepest truth, has no effect on him.
  • It's All About Me: King Loki believes this of themself and the younger model, sarcastically asking if they ever stopped to note Verity's lack of other friends.
  • It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: What Story!Loki claims when Verity questions why they turned her "soul" into jewellery.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: While being unyielding, rude and cruel in issue #9 Odin also seems kind of disappointed in Heroic!Loki opting to go with Amora and not protecting their friends, and berates them that they will never really grow and truly change as long they lack humility, which prompts them to get out some of their old Guile Hero.
  • Karma Houdini Warranty: Loki's actions from the end of Journey Into Mystery finally hit home in issue #10, but by then, Loki's changed, and is honestly trying to be better. Which just makes what happens worse.
  • Kick the Dog: Old!Loki telling poor Verity all the evil Loki committed in an attempt to destroy their friendship. Only that little spoiler makes it not a case of Kick the Morality Pet.
  • Kleptomaniac Hero: Loki isn't above the odd bit of theft to get the job done. Or really, because they can.
    • It's how they acquired most of the keys to the box containing Sigurd's sword, including stealing one from the Red Skull. Without the now-telepathic villain noticing.
    • Sigurd (the Ever-Glorious) steals an invisibility belt from A.I.M. in order to get to Loki. Loki then steals the belt from him.
  • Ladykiller in Love: Sigurd the Ever-Glorious, if Amora's self-righteous and jealousy-fuelled rant directed at Lorelei is to believed.
  • Ladyland: The Tenth Realm is inhabited entirely by misandric and fringe-free-market-capitalist angels. Luckily, Loki has a way around that one.
  • Large Ham: When Old!Loki starts off on their explanation of what, exactly, is going on:
    Old!Loki: You think I'm the Loki that was?! Dolt! Simpleton! I am what will be! I am the destiny you run from – but will never escape! Because nobody else wants you to! I am King Loki! I am your future! I am YOU!... and I am dreadfully prone to histrionics. Do excuse me.
  • Laughably Evil: Old!Loki rivals the Joker when they feel like it. They can go demented Bugs Bunny, Catch Phrases and apparent Toon Physics included.
  • Lemony Narrator: It's Al Ewing. Those captions (and the recap page) can get quite strange.
  • Let Me Tell You a Story: Inverted. In the middle of a conversation about their changed looks and behaviour, the imminent end of all existence and the nature of stories Story!Loki out of the blue asks Verity to tell them her story. Verity is as confused by this as the readers probably, but Loki says it's very important and you do not question the Goddess of Stories about such decisions!
  • Let's Get Dangerous!: Old!Loki, in issue #14, faced with the Final Incursion, decides he might as well get down to some serious dog-kicking, starting with murdering Balder and unleashing the hordes of Hel.
  • Let's You and Him Fight: The title of issue #4. Someone in this comic's creative team might be a troper.
  • Literal Metaphor: Lots. Like Loki admitting that "I killed my child self." gets "this must be metaphorical, right?" reaction from Verity, she remains convinced of this until King!Loki basically tells her that gods are living myth and metaphor and they do everything literally, even the metaphors. The literal-metaphorical-literal-metaphorical fire to the point when even the characters lose count of the quadruple subversion. Showing what's Beneath the Mask by doing a literal Dramatic Unmask.
  • Living Lie Detector: Verity can infallibly tell when someone is lying, has no patience for any form of fiction, and can even see through high-level illusions. If done carefully enough, she isn't immune to lies by omission, like what Loki pulled when doing the caper. She sarcastically congratulates them for that feat in issue #6.
  • Loophole Abuse:
    • No spell, hook or net can hold Andvari, so Old!Loki just shoots him with a rocket launcher.
    • Loki cannot avert being the God of Lies, but that way lies evil, so they decide to go around that by becoming the God of Stories instead, because that sounds a lot nicer while meaning basically the same, and it works.

    Tropes M-R 
  • Magically-Binding Contract: Mephisto tries to trick Sigurd to sign one in blood, but Loki switched it out with his own.
  • Make Wrong What Once Went Right: Apparently Old!Loki's mission – they deliberately tampered with Thor and Angela's first meeting to make it come out worse than it did in their history. Of course, now that they've changed one thing, other changes are happening too, some of which are better than the history they remember.
  • Malicious Misnaming: Verity dubs Amora the Enchantress Heteronormativa behind her back as an insult.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Old!Loki, in spades.
  • Master of Illusion: Loki uses their magic this way most. Like making Bruce Banner look like themself for distraction, or disguising themself as a middle aged man looking for love while Speed Dating.
  • Mathematician's Answer:
    • When asked if they're dressed for a con, Loki just responds with "There's always a con going on."
    • When the All-Mother asked Old!Loki what happens to Midgard in his future, he just responds "T'was governed most perfectly. By my reckoning." Issue #6 shows why they worded it this way: The future is a barren, desolate wasteland that they refer to as "The end of all things."
    • In issue #13 when Verity asked Loki on the phone if their evil future self was around, they answered "No", which was true. In the metaphorical space where she reached them, anyway, and there were the spirits of the evil original Loki and Kid Loki in listening distance.
  • Meaningful Echo: In the first issue, Loki states they'd rather get an arrow in the face rather than be the villain again. Come issue five, Old!Loki states they'd rather be the recurring villain rather than get an arrow in the face.
  • Meaningful Name:
    • Loki's new friend Verity who can see through any lie. Veritas = Latin for Truth. Also a Roman goddess of truth.
    • The name of the shapeshifter whom Old!Loki killed as part of the Batman Gambit behind Gram's creation is Otr. Because he turned into a giant otter. And that's mythologically accurate if we don't care for an Adaptation Species Change.
  • Medium Awareness: Old!Loki gets bored in their cell in issue #3 and walks off-panel. And in issue #12 jumps out of it and sits a bit around in the space between panels.
  • Meta Fiction: Carries on the tradition from Journey Into Mystery. Loki's struggles to avoid falling back into their old role as a villain is a commentary on the fact that characters in fiction, and comic books in particular, tend to return to a familiar status quo, and it is very rare and difficult for them to truly change in any meaningful way since fans and future writers will often want to revert the characters. The All-Mothers' desire for a known and familiar future for Asgard at the expense of Loki's new life underscores this theme. Loki will have to fight for their new characterization both in the story itself, and outside it, as fans of villainous Loki want them to go back to their old ways.
    Recap of issue #15: Warning: Your reading of the text affects the text. Use your power wisely.
  • Metaphorically True: According to story!Loki, everything depends on how you see it.
    Verity: Are you him? Is... is he dead?
    Loki: Dunno. Is Schrödinger's cat?
  • Mood Whiplash: Generally speaking Loki's most potent superpower is that their presence causes disruption in moods and patterns, in small scale this trope.
    • In a meta sense: the same month things went From Bad to Worse for Loki, they also appeared in Ms. Marvel (2014) to hand out hilariously bad romantic advice to teenagers.
    • Issue #13: Ghosts of the original Loki and Kid!Loki are talking to Loki, trying to convince them to give in to Old!Loki's demands. Then Loki's phone goes off.
  • Moral Event Horizon: An In-Universe one that Loki believes of themself. Technically, happened back in Journey Into Mystery, but a major element of Loki's characterisation: they cannot forget that they have committed a "crime that will not be forgiven."
  • Mr. Vice Guy: Young Loki is still Loki; a proud, thieving, manipulative, lazy etc. trickster but without most of the envy that characterized past Loki, with a Guilt Complex that acts as a (let's face it pretty screwed up) moral compass, and a less destructive outlet for their ambitions (screwing destiny not taking over the nine realms). In contrast our main villain Old!Loki is also pretty much all of this without any of the redeeming qualities except the lost envy, that they still seem to have.
  • Muggle Best Friend: Verity, as much as being a Living Lie Detector counts as muggle, to Loki. The comic even calls her a Possible BFF, and their Best and Only Friend even if many people mistake them for a couple. They aren't. As far as we know. But the He Is Not My Boyfriend reactions are certainly very suspicious.
  • Muggles Do It Better: In Issue #3 Old!Loki, as part of a Batman Gambit, goes to steal the horde of the giant fish Andvari, who is so strong and slippery that "neither hook nor net nor magic could land him". Old!Loki decides to instead use a rocket launcher and take his gold that way.
    Innkeeper: B-but where did you get such a gold-hoard, old one?
    Old!Loki: I shot a fish with a bazooka.
  • Mundane Utility: Issue #15 reveals how Verity affords that nice flat: using her ability to check census data (from home).
  • Mythology Gag:
    • While fetching the keys to Gram, when stealing one from S.H.I.E.L.D., Loki notes it's the one for "old ledgers, and the red gushing from them". This has nothing to do with Loki's story, but it does lead in to a short segment about the Black Widow.
    • When Lorelei uses magic to seduce an officer trying to arrest her, the resulting splash panel is drawn to mimic a typical cover off of the romance comics that Marvel did way back in the 1950s.
  • Naked People Are Funny: When Loki escapes from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody during their quest to attain the keys for Gram's container, they take the time to strip Agent Coulson while placing him in the cell Loki had just been put in. They also give him a safeword for no discernible reason, except to make the scene more of a Ho Yay fodder than it already is.
  • Named Weapon / Public Domain Artifact:
    • Gram the Sword of Truth / the Hero's Blade (most of its powers aren't myth accurate though.)
    • Laevateinn (Which is apparently Loki's Ancestral Weapon)
  • Narrator All Along: Issue #16's narrator is revealed to be Loki, God of Stories.
  • Nested Story:
    • Most of issue #2 consists of Loki telling the story of their current assignment to Verity.
    • Issue #12 of Old!Loki telling their story to Loki.
    • The parts of issue #15 taking place on Earth have Verity telling hers to Story!Loki.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
    • The aforementioned Thor/Angela fight went just according to plan. Until Teen!Loki brought Odin into it, so making them meet prematurely ultimately resulted in averting a bloody Angel-Asgardian war.
    • Also, Old!Loki's manipulations cause Odin to admit he does love Thor and Loki, changing history again.
    • Did you read about Old!Loki's gambit to create Gram? Turns out it also created a small mountain of truth cursed gold from which a golden ring ended up in the possession of Verity's father, which thanks to an accident gave Verity her Living Lie Detector power.
    • Old!Loki's meddling in the present trying to ruin Teen!Loki's life led to positive things, like them meeting Verity, and ultimately caused Teen!Loki to be reborn as Story!Loki.
    • Story!Loki's reconciliation with their old self's future self consists of them telling Old!Loki that their evil plan ultimately led to what they always wanted, to change.
      Loki: So you go back in time– 'cos you can– and think you know why. You want to be you sooner. But when you're here... You just smash it all. Tear down everything that made you you— all the support systems—.
      Verity: And hand out better ones.
  • Nothing Is Scarier / Fight Unscene: We don't get to see how Balder dies but it involved a golden sickle (which according to druidic (and not Norse) lore is used to gather mistletoe) and it resulted in him loosing his head.
  • Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Thor is reluctant to work with Amora, given their history. When Loki asks if that also applies to them, Thor says that's not the same thing, still believing Agent Loki to be an aged-up Kid Loki. Loki awkwardly changes the subject.
  • Oh, Crap!: Hawkeye aims for Loki, and manages to instead hit Bruce Banner. Things quickly escalate.
  • Old Flame: Lorelei, sister of Amora the Enhantress (they don't get along), former paramour of Thor (via sorcery) and Loki (sans sorcery).
  • One-Steve Limit: Averted, during the creation of Gram, for there is a man named Fafnir who turns into a giant dragon, but is not the same as the other Fafnir Thor has encountered, though his death does cause the origin of the other. "Fafnir is in many", as the narration states.
  • Only in It for the Money: The Angels believe in fair trade, which means honor and such things don't mean anything for them. They perceived it as a betrayal when Odin took issue with their, you know, doing the financially logical thing and changing sides to the highest bidder.
  • Orcus on His Throne: Old!Loki, who has Story-Breaker Power, and the benefits of foreknowledge, but no real inclination to use it for anything more than trolling. For the moment, they're quite content to kick back in their cell. An explanation for this could be that they are (allegedly) a time traveller, and when they actually mess with the present it could very well derail it into something different or even better than what they remember and potentially destroy them. They become more active in issue #11, which isn't a good thing.
  • Other Me Annoys Me: There are currently three versions of Loki in the story: Old!Loki or King Loki if you prefer, teen-Loki, and their conscience in the form of Kid!Loki. They don't get along. Later Teen!Loki changes to Loki the God(dess) of Stories, who we will call Story!Loki on this page. Are they the same person just without the baggage of the past? Or Teen!Loki died? Maybe regenerated? We don't know. Loki is strange.
  • Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Averted with Andvari, a dwarf who turned himself into a giant magic-proof pike to protect his gold.
  • Our Ghosts Are Different: Verity becomes a ghost in issue #15 thanks to magic and a friend with consent issues. She is visible but transparent to a degree and pretty much invulnerable thanks to intangibility. Technically the ghost body is just there so she can interact with her surroundings though and her actual story/being/soul is the gem on Story!Loki's bracelet.
  • Our Time Travel Is Different: And how. OK first things first: in the Marvel universe "gods don't have history, they have a story", so the way Old!Loki travels in time looks more or less Wormhole Time Travel done Medium Awareness style. They walk out of the panel into the "draft of the story" and then walk back in a different panel in a different part of the story... does this mean they are actually Intrepid Fictioneering their own tale?
  • Out-Gambitted: Mephisto tricks Sigurd into signing a contract that condemns Sigurd to an eternity of punishment (and bad puns), only to find he's been played by Loki.
  • Overly Long Gag: The Room Full of Incredibly Deadly Traps.
  • Pac Man Fever: The shooter Loki plays in issue #4 looks positively retro (16bit tops) despite the console looking current for the most part. But then again it gave them an opportunity to shoot the All-Mother in the face, when they chose to manifest through it.
    Loki: Well, this is certainly therapeutic.
  • Painted Tunnel, Real Train: How does Loki get out of the void at the end of everything? He draws a door with "next" written over it and walks out.
  • Pass the Popcorn: Old!Loki while watching Thor and Angela fight.
  • Play-Along Prisoner: Old!Loki is kept in a cell that has no doors and is stated to be the "most secure one in Asgardia", but they still can literally walk out any time they want, they just don't want to.
  • Pop-Cultured Badass: Young Loki very much; they are easily the most pop-cultured Asgardian, who are by definition badass. Actually this makes them the perfect agent for them on Midgard, as they would use information sources no other Asgardian would think of (or touch), like newspapers (yes, they are that out of the loop), TV or the internet.
  • Post-Modern Magik: Loki likes to mix magic and technology because magic is "telling a story the universe believes" and "technology is very gullible". So they boost their cell-reception, hacks the internet and whatnot by magic regularly. Other magically inclined characters aren't averse to technology either, the All-Mother even manifested through their videogame once.
  • The Power of Friendship and Trust: One of the reasons Loki takes the third option in issue #13 is that they've a friend who trusts them.
  • Production Foreshadowing: During issue #12, Old!Loki mentions that in their timeline they thwarted the Ultron Singularity, a reference to the Ultron Forever mini-series that began a few weeks after that issue was released.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: The Asgardians and the Angels, albeit their philosophies can't be more different. Except both are prone to Revenge Before Reason.
  • Pungeon Master: Many. Loki's sense of humor is very punny and others aren't so far behind. Some highlights:
    • 'The wheel of rein carnations', courtesy of Mephisto after tricking Sigurd into signing his contract. It's a wheel that whips you with horse bridles shaped into flowers.
      Mephisto: And consider that pun the first of your many tortures.
    • Old!Loki describing himself to Verity as her 'Best Friend's Forever'.
  • Questionable Consent: Not the sexual kind of consent but Story!Loki is very bad at it in general. It's one thing assuming that your best friend trusts you especially if you're trying to save her, and a very different one thinking she'll be okay with you turning her into magical jewellery without warning.
  • Redemption Quest: What Loki is aiming for.
  • Reformed, but Rejected: King!Loki claims that this is why they turned evil. Even after completing their atonement, the Asgardians still looked down on them as the God of Lies and refused to trust them. After ten years of this treatment, with Thor calling them the God of Lies once again as the final straw, Loki stabbed Thor and embraced villainy.
  • Refuge in Audacity: Surrounded by The Avengers and looking decidedly guilty of something, Loki takes their only remaining option: They tell the complete and unvarnished truth.
  • Rejected Apology: Throughout issue #10, Loki is trying to apologise to Thor for killing Kid!Loki and taking their body, with a literal inability to lie in the wake of AXIS and/or Valeria's truth ray. Thor refuses to listen.
  • Ret-Canon: Apparently the Hulk has told the Avengers that he's always angry.
  • Retroactive Preparation: Old!Loki travels back in time to create Gram after being impressed by it in the present.
  • Riddle Me This:
    • Old!Loki to Balder in issue #15. When he fails to answer the riddle they promptly dispatch of him.
      King!Loki: Answer my riddle and I'll be on my way. I'm best known for spreading kisses, and yet none dare to place their lips on menote , and I kill what I cling tight tonote . Who am I?
    • Story!Loki to Old!Loki. What makes them different from each other? Old!Loki thinks nothing, Story!Loki points out that Old!Loki's fall presupposes that they care about the Asgardians' opinion.
  • Rousing Speech: Loki starts one when leading the war-fleet of the Tenth Realm to Asgard, only to quickly turn it against them instead.
  • Running Gag: Loki's new Pretty Boy form is repeatedly compared to One Direction. In the first issue, Hawkeye says that they look a little "One Direction-y." In the next issue, Loki claims they've had to move their apartment because they keep getting mistaken for Harry Styles. And in the ninth, Sabretooth actually uses it as their callsign.

    Tropes S-Z 
  • Saved by Canon: A cross-title version, but worth noting. In the also Al Ewing-penned Ultron Forever mini-series, a Thor from some time after Secret Wars (2015) mentions Loki in the present tense, indicating their survival in on one way or another from whatever that event, and Old!Loki's machinations, may bring. That title also had a future version of Loki, who was a digital being and very much not Old!Loki.
  • Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: In issue #7, Valeria is trying to explain to Verity how she's going to save Loki from Doom's time trap. When she's asked to give it in Layman's Terms, she explains that her device will go "ping" and the trap will go "vwoorp". Sure enough, those are the exact sounds they make.
  • Screams Like a Little Girl: Loki, according to Lorelei.
  • Screw Destiny: The series encompasses Loki's attempt to do so, by erasing the myths of their villainy so they don't turn out like the pre-Siege Loki, in order to make their Heel–Face Turn stick. They seem to finally manage it in Issue #13 with a Heroic Sacrifice of their self as a God of Lies, renaming themself as a God of Stories instead.
  • Secret-Keeper: Mephisto knows exactly what happened to Kid!Loki. He's impressed.
  • Sense Freak: Loki is a pretty downplayed example, but it's still implied, or in the case of food outright stated, that they find Midgardian food/customs/media/etc. more varied and exciting. We don't know if this is a compliment to Earth or insult to Asgard.
  • Shame If Something Happened: How the All-Mother gets Loki to go after Sigurd, by threatening to rescind their own freedom of movement.
  • Shout-Out:
    • In the very first issue Loki sings a (decidedly self-referential) version of The Wizard and I in the shower:
      Loki: "No All-Father's not proud of you... no brother acts a-shamed... and all of Asgard will love you, when as wiz-ard you're ac-claimed..."
    • When Loki turns on the invisibility coat, you can still see his grin.
    • In the midst of a sword-fight, Loki and Sigurd (the Ever-Glorious) start quoting The Princess Bride.
    • Issue #5 has one to this very wiki, when a man is viewing "Movie Tropes dot com" on his tablet. The tropes?
    • Issue #7 has a few.
    • Doom's time trap goes "vwoorp", which was the onomatopoeia used for the noise the Doctor's time machine makes in the Doctor Who comics that used to be published by Marvel UK.
    • Issue #12. "What's up, Doc?", "Avengers Assemble!", "Actually It's About Ethics in Hammer-Wielding!". All courtesy of our meaner resident troll...um villain Old!Loki.
    • Loki has a Daft Punk ring tone according to issue #13.
    • Also in #13, historical flashbacks to "3000 years ago" reference several real ballads and stories from the Eddas.
    • Issue #14 has Loki do an extended reference to Doctor Who regeneration scenes, complete with a few digs straight from the show.
      Loki: Although... not sure about these ears. What d'you reckon? Good ears?
    • Freya dual-wielding M-16s is very reminiscent of Skurge's stand at Gjallerbru.
    • The mysterious arc words "That which is called ego-death is coming to you" are a famous quote from 1960s psychedelic drug guru Timothy Leary's The Psychedelic Experience,describing the allegedly mind-expanding and empathy-enhancing effects of tripping. The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows," which is heavily based on the same work, is subtly quoted elsewhere.
  • Shower Scene: In the first few pages, even! Female Gaze ensued.
  • Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: Old!Loki's interactions with Loki has this in spades, issue #12 being the crescendo of it all.
  • Sinister Surveillance: Old!Loki is watching the series very closely from his cell.
  • Slept Through the Apocalypse: Lorelei and Sigurd (the Ever-Glorious) weren't present for Ragnarok, which makes them impossible for Heimdall to find. One of Loki's tasks is to bring them back home, regardless of whatever opinions they have on the matter.
  • Smug Super: Loki's all new and heroic self after the Inversion in AXIS seen in issue #8. They are selfless in intention but fail at empathy, which makes them unthinkingly hurt the people who care for them; have no self-doubts which makes them unbearably arrogant and so on.
    • Old!Loki thinks it's hilarious, though. The narration points out that they didn't change one bit, which could foreshadow... Well, apparently that the inversion won't last long.
    • Odin even calls them out on this, with surprising results.
  • So Proud of You: The world must be truly ending as Odin himself said this to Story!Loki in issue #16. And also because this Loki doesn't care about what the old man or anybody in Asgard thinks rendering the trope a case of too little too late.
  • Speed Dating: Where they meet Verity. Emphasis on speed, being a Living Lie Detector means she "next"els everybody pretty much after one sentence. And in issue #15 we get a reason why she was there, she promised to her mother. We also get this bit of Call-Forward (considering Loki also kind of an understatement):
    Verity: Fine. I promise I'll try it. Once. But if I end up meeting some weirdo, I'm holding you responsible.
  • Spit Take: Verity as Funny Background Event in issue #8 when Amora mentions that Lorelei hasn't bathed since "her last rut"
  • Stable Time Loop: Old Loki goes back in time to create the Sword of Truth after seeing it in the present day.
  • Status Quo Is God:
    • Discussed in the first issue - Loki deletes the Avengers' computer files of their old self, as their stories have a metaphysical "weight" that could drag them back into being that person.
    • By contrast, this is exactly what Old!Loki wants out of life, though old habits die hard, and their meddling in the "Original Sin: Thor & Loki: The Tenth Realm" tie-ins to Original Sin make life better than what they remember, to their chagrin.
  • Stealth Pun:
    • Loki escapes from Dr Doom with Verity's aid. Or to put it another way, the truth set him free.
    • Story!Loki pocketed the (story of) the Ragnarök and so all of Asgard is in his pocket.
    • So Odin saying that he is proud of Loki is literally the end of the world, huh?
  • Story-Breaker Power: Loki's narration in the first issue discusses that Magic could be this if it weren't story powered, and just getting what you want does generally not good stories make, so they try to avoid that by focusing on the needs of the narrative (and trying not to cast themself as the villain).
  • Super Cell Reception: Loki explicitly uses magic to boost their smartphone's reception, allowing Verity to remotely help them through a room of traps and illusions.
    • It even works in Metaphorical Space, allowing Loki to talk with Verity and realise they can Screw Destiny in issue #13.
  • Super Registration Act: Turns out Verity lived through Civil War and she's a registered super (mostly because she heard Iron Man's "register or else..." speech and being what she is knew he meant it).
  • Take a Third Option: How Loki solves the Sadistic Choice presented to them in issue #13. Claim their power and become like past Loki, or die like the kid. They redefined what God of Lies meant and took the power, which seemingly killed them, but actually didn't. They just changed. Again.
  • Take That!:
    • Read carefully the conversation in the metaphor space between Lokis. It has something to say about Nostalgia Filter, people betting on Status Quo Is God while hypocritically praising the new, and people calling the 3rd Loki just a copy / not the real Loki.
    • In the final battle, Odin calls his bazooka a god of Midgard, that the people of Midgard worshipped more than justice.
  • Talking the Monster to Death: Story!Loki in issue #17 twice.
  • Tastes Like Friendship: After Loki moves, well, moves their apartment by magic, to the building where Verity lives they invite her over for a self-made dinner. Let's that sink in: the God of Mischief can cook. Also Verity has to ask if there is an ulterior motive to this. It's Loki. Of course there is!
  • Temporal Mutability: This work seems to engage in "Temporal Balancing Act" at least. The villain intends to change history, and actually considers the possibility that they could have accidentally unmade their already established future by changing things in the series. There are obviously things that didn't happennote , or have analogues but went differentlynote  in Old!Loki's timeline. At issue #13 Loki breaks the timeline which leaves Old!Loki time displaced.
  • Temporal Paradox: Old!Loki insists that they made only small changes, and it shouldn't have changed things as much as it did. However, on the one hand, they inadvertently gave Verity her power when they, in their own words, "saw Loki stab Thor with Gram and went back in time to cause the sword to exist" in the first place, and their friendship with Verity changed everything. On the other hand, where did the sword come from before they caused its existence? Moreover, what was Thor possessed by the first time around, when old!Loki was still young and on their first mission that required him to be stabbed with Gram?
    • Not to mention that in the original timeline, Earth 616 never crashed with the Ultimate universe, at least as far as old!Loki remembers.
  • Theory of Narrative Causality:
    • As long as the records and stories exist of what Past!Loki got up to, Loki will be defined by them. Since they're determined to have this Heel–Face Turn stick, they're out to erase those stories from existence. It didn't work.
    • And as it turns out, Doctor Doom subscribes to this theory as well, in his own fashion. As Doom puts it, if his story shall one day end, then it is a better story than Loki's.
  • Thicker Than Water:
    • In the Tenth Realm mini Angela is accepted immediately by her old family after her parentage came out and the Angels turned on her. And remember Odin and his children only knew she even existed/was alive for some days at that point!
    • Even after everyone else has turned on them, after what happened to Kid!Loki is revealed, Odin still cares for Loki, and tries to help them rather than blaming or attacking them. Whatever else they are they are still his son and daughter.
    • In issue #13 when Loki claims their power one of the things they decide to hold on to is that they have a brother they love.
  • This Cannot Be!: The Asgardians' first reaction to King Loki's attacking forces. We don't know how they heard it but they yelled back:
    King Loki: Oh yes it can!
  • Time Skip: The end of issue #13 jumps a whole eight months, just in time for the start of Secret Wars (2015).
  • Timey-Wimey Ball: The origins of Gram involve no small amount of time-travel.
  • Title Drop:
    • In All-New Marvel Now! Point One Teen!Loki calls themself Agent of Asgard.
    • In issue #5 Old!Loki announces themself as the Agent of Asgard, not Loki.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Thor in issue #1, but only temporarily. Because he's been infected by the essence of Old!Loki.
  • Toxic Friend Influence: Inverted!Amora to Heroic!Loki. If she wasn't there they would question themself sooner and wouldn't give up two of their friends to Asgardian justice. She is just so utterly convinced of her own righteousness it's hard to say no to her.
  • Tradesnark™: Sigurd is wearing clothes from Cortex Sportif™ and Lightbender® tech from A.I.M.
  • Trash Landing: A fight between Loki and Sigurd (the Ever-Glorious) winds up with them beating each other up in a dumpster. Or not, as it turns out. Loki was just trying to fool the All-Mother.
  • Trauma Conga Line: If this isn't what Issues #10-#12 are, I don't know what is.
    • Loki, god of lies, loses their ability to lie, Thor breaks their arm, one of their horns, and knocks out one of their teeth. They lose the respect of Asgard, their mother disowns them, their only friend in the world leaves them after she realizes just what they've done in their past, and this isn't mentioning everything King Loki does to them. No matter how you feel about what happened to kidLoki, the whole three issues just devoted to this are pretty severe.
  • Troll:
    • Loki waves to a man who's looking at an article about that episode of The Twilight Zone (1959), while they're sitting on the wing of a plane.
    • The admittedly most terrible slashes on the internet generally also have roots in trollish tendencies.
    • Old!Loki as well, but in a far more mean-spirited sense.
  • A True Story in My Universe: That Villain Episode mentioned? That's (one of) the inspiration(s) for the Saga of the Volsungs in the Marvel universe.
  • Try Not to Die:
    Verity:...and try very, very hard not to die. Pretty please.
  • Unicorn: Heroic!Loki shapeshifts into one in issue #8, complete with sparkles and rainbows.
  • Un-person: What the Asgardians decide Loki is after the reveal about Kid Loki
  • Unreliable Narrator: Everything Old!Loki claims about the future should be taken not with a grain of salt but enough to cause hypernatremia.
  • Unsound Effect: During the fencing scene in the fourth issue. 'SWAPP' and 'ALSO SWAPP' indeed.
  • Unstoppable Rage: Thor after Loki confesses the murder of Kid!Loki.
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Story!Loki's general attitude towards the Incursion. They get repeatedly sidetracked for example by their new self and the prospect of hearing Verity's story.
  • Utopia Justifies the Means: The All-Mother is perfectly fine with what Old!Loki is planning, so long as Asgard's future is assured.
  • Vanishing Village: Well, apartment anyway. Loki's is unfindable in the eight months they propel it forward when breaking the time stream. Verity even checked the building plans – it was apparently never there.
  • Villain Ball: During the Original Sin tie-ins in the Tenth Realm, Old!Loki can't help but interfere in their typical trickster ways, and ends up causing the second Heven-Asgard war to be averted by their actions, to their irritation.
  • Villain Episode: The 3rd and 12th issues mostly focus on Old Loki.
  • Villain: Exit, Stage Left: King Loki when The Cavalry arrives, leaving a person shaped hole in the panel.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: An old Loki staple, although it doesn't come as easily as it used to. Everything they turn into has to be somehow "them" – for instance, them can become more femme-presenting or a fox, but not shrink down to a fly, since they're not that kind of person. (But if they were, the door would have fried them anyway.)
  • Walking Spoiler:
  • Was It Really Worth It?: Freyja after Loki's Calling the Old Man Out:
    Freyja: "King Loki." When you came to this time, you promised a golden future for Asgard. Now I find I question the price of gold.
  • We Can Rule Together: Both Odin and Hela's side offer this to Story!Loki and they refuse both.
  • We Gotta Stop Meeting Like This: Said by Loki to the Avengers in issue #1.
  • We Want Our Jerk Back!:
    • The All-Mother want the properly evil Loki back, because this new chaotic one is too unpredictable for their tastes. and they don't know that Teen!Loki isn't Kid!Loki who is and was for all intents and purposes an innocent.
    • The sentiment of Loki's friends towards their new heroic personality, especially Verity's. She gets her wish... things go downhill from there.
  • Wham Episode:
    • Issue #5. As it turns out, Old Loki was actually from the future, showing that no matter how hard they try to change, Loki will always return to their old ways. Worse is that the All-Mother knew all along, but tried to keep it that way to ensure the future of Asgard. Loki quit being their agent when they found out.
    • Issue #10. Loki, now unable to lie, comes clean to Thor and Verity about what happened to Kid!Loki. Thor promptly goes berserk, refuses to listen to Loki's apologies and very nearly beats them to death. When he realises that, because of what he said to Kid!Loki, he can't, no matter how much most of him wants to, he drags Loki to Asgard and reveals the truth. Loki is left beaten, bleeding and begging for Thor to come back.
    • Issue #11. Loki is ostracised by all of Asgard, with only Sif, of all people, prepared to consider that they might not be the Loki of old. The All-Mother banishes them (after a blazing row), while a hallucinatory Odin both assures them that they are still loved and warns them that they will have to answer for the blood on their hands. Then they end up in back in their apartment with Verity - only for King Loki to show up and reveal—in the most damning and contextless way possible—how they manipulated and betrayed the Young Avengers, a crime that was entirely theirs. Unable to handle all this, Verity makes a break for it - leaving Loki alone with their evil future self.
  • What the Hell, Hero?:
    • Verity calls Loki out for withholding information from her in issue #6.
    • And in issue #9 Odin calls Heroic!Loki out on, well, being a self-important, self-righteous, arrogant jackass.
    • Issues #10 and #11 are basically a crescendo of "what the hells". It starts with the truth about Kid Loki being revealed, to the disgust of all Asgard; the only one Loki can actually argue back to is the All Mother. Then King Loki drops by to tell Verity everything they did during Gillen's Young Avengers run, which included letting Mother into our reality and nearly driving Billy to kill himself. After she leaves, King Loki even notes that Loki never questioned how she doesn't seem to have any other friends.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: The Big Bad of the series, by the end of it, which is to be expected, given its Loki's future self. In the last issue, Story!Loki unmasks King!Loki to show that, behind the sadism and Card Carrying Villainy, he's still the same Loki we were following the adventures of, who wanted to change the same as this Loki did, but eventually broke thanks to the Reformed, but Rejected treatment they got.
  • The World Is Always Doomed: A member of the council of worlds expresses this notion which only irritates the already grumpy Odin further.
  • Would Hurt a Child: The Angels of the Tenth Realm would kill a child. And when Loki brings it up in her rousing speech, they just keep cheering, until it becomes apparent Loki's not endorsing the idea.
  • Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Loki. We don't see to what extent but they are at least strictly against child murder. That's a standard they have for everybody else too; if you would kill a child they will not hesitate to kill you. Which is all sorts of ironic given Kid!Loki's fate... but goes back to Young Avengers where they didn't have the heart to let Wiccan commit suicide, despite this being their idea in the first place. Apparently when it comes to morality Loki is not a fast learner.
  • Wrecked Weapon: Thor breaks Gram in issue #10
  • Yank the Dog's Chain: Issue #9. The inversion spell ends at the end of the issue. No more heroism, guilt back, unworthy of Mjölnir again, and now they have a story nobody will believe ever. Oh, and they still lost two of their friends and insulted the third. Continues in issues #10 and #11.
  • Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Sigurd (the Ever-Glorious) briefly speaks like this when he first shows up. Mercifully, it's just an affectation.
    Sigurd the Ever-Glorious: "Everyone loves the oldie-worldie talk when Thor does it..."
  • You Already Changed the Past: Teen Loki's efforts to change their past enabled (or at least made it easier for) Old!Loki to make the past the way it was.
  • You Know I'm Black, Right?: In Issue #14, Odin, in full-on grumpy old man mode, loudly complains about those Vanir. Freyja pointedly interject that she's a Vanir. Odin chuckles that he was complimenting them, since they are at war and the Vanirmen's supposed bad qualities would come in extremely handy.
  • You Fight Like a Cow: Issue #4, Sigurd vs. Loki fencing scene.
  • You Owe Me: Thor is reluctant to go behind the All-Mothers' back on Loki's behalf, and only agrees to help after Loki reminds him of the first issue. As he fulfils his end of the bargain, Thor notes that Loki now owes him.
  • Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: All over Loki's face when Mephisto praises them for what happened in Journey into Mystery.
  • Your Soul Is Mine!: Story!Loki's idea of saving Verity is taking her story (being) and Soul Jarring it into their bracelet. All this with the best intentions but pretty much for her utmost horror. Next issue they pull the same with all of Asgard complete with their allies and enemies. And in the one after that with King!Loki.

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