Welcome to the Wellington Comic Lover’s Guide, where we take you through the Wellington City Libraries’ collection of a comic book character or series. This post is all about Marvel’s God of Mischief, Loki!
Who is Loki?
Born to the Frost Giants of the realm of Jotunheim and adopted by Odin, the King of Asgard, Loki is the Norse God of Mischief and sibling to Thor, the God of Thunder.
When Thor is banished to Earth and becomes a superhero, Loki follows to menace him as a supervillain. Using their magic powers and skills in deception, Loki has been a thorn in Thor’s side for years. Famously, they were also the first threat to ever assemble The Avengers, and they’ve kept a vested interest in the team ever since, even becoming a member of the Young Avengers.
After years of villainy and mischief, Loki now plays a more ambivalent role in the Marvel Universe; sometimes they’re a hero, sometimes they’re a villain, sometimes they’re working for higher powers, sometimes they’re working for themselves. But whatever they do for whatever reason, to those that know them, Loki will never be trusted.
Some Low-Key Notes Before We Begin 
Given Loki’s penchant for trickery, disguise, time travel, faking their death, and actually dying and being resurrected a couple of times, their timeline is incredibly complicated, weaving back and forth across the Marvel canon. I’ve done my best to put Loki’s appearances in chronological order of their personal timeline rather than the publishing date of the series they appear in.
In addition, Loki has three notable iterations (the original Norse god ‘Old Loki‘, the young anti-hero ‘Kid Loki‘, and the present incarnation Loki), the former two identifying as male with he/him pronouns and the third being genderfluid, able to change gender at a whim and identifying with the relevant pronoun depending on appearance. I’m going to default to ‘they/them’ for this incarnation, as current writers have done in Loki’s recent appearances.
Loki: God of Mischief
Following Thor to Earth, Loki uses his skill with magic and trickery to be a supervillain. In addition to continuing to menace his brother across Earth and Asgard, Loki also becomes the first threat that the Avengers ever assembled against. Loki’s iteration from his early appearances up to Siege is retroactively called ‘Old Loki’, though he will occasionally pop up via time travel to antagonise both Thor and his future self (see Agent of Asgard below).
‘Old Loki’ appearances
Thor : the mighty avenger / Langridge, Roger
The Avengers : Earth’s mightiest heroes. Volume 1, 1963-1965 / Lee, Stan
Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers Volume 1 (only on Libby)
Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers Volume 2 (only on Libby)
Loki (the Marvel-Verse collection)
The mighty Thor [3] / Simonson, Walter
Thor : Ragnaroks / Oeming, Michael Avon
Loki and the Siege of Asgard
When Norman Osborn (the Green Goblin) takes over the Avengers and SHIELD following Secret Invasion, he forms the Cabal (the villain equivalent of the Illuminati) and asks Loki to join. When Osborn begins to lose his grip on absolute power, Loki suggests he boost his status by leading a false flag attack on Asgard (which at this point in time hovered over a small town in Oklahoma), leading to the crossover story Siege.
Loki’s Journey to Siege
Secret invasion : Thor / Fraction, Matt
Siege : Mighty Avengers / Slott, Dan
Kid Loki
After Siege, Loki is reborn as ‘Kid Loki’, a preteen Asgardian looking to get a fresh start. This Loki is still a schemer, but also more of a team player, working with Thor, the Young Avengers, and a cosmic team of gods called ‘The Asgardians of the Galaxy’.
Kid Loki appearances
The mighty Thor : journey into mystery : everything burns / Fraction, Matt
Young Avengers [1] : style > substance / Gillen, Kieron
Young Avengers [2] : alternative cultures / Gillen, Kieron
Mic-drop at the edge of time and space / Gillen, Kieron
The three Young Avengers volumes are also collected together as Young Avengers : the complete collection / Gillen, Kieron
Asgardians of the Galaxy [1] : the Infinity Armada / Bunn, Cullen
Asgardians of the Galaxy. Vol. 2, The war of the realms / Bunn, Cullen
There’s also a prose novel of the adventures of a younger Loki in nineteenth-century London, written by The Gentlemen’s Guide author Mackenzi Lee.
Loki : where mischief lies / Lee, Mackenzi
Loki: Agent of Asgard
After their adventures with the Young Avengers, Loki becomes the Agent of Asgard, working behind the scenes to maintain their hallowed home’s place in the cosmic order. Along the way, Loki confronts their alternate selves, gains a greater awareness of their purpose, and later assists the Defenders in an adventure beyond the Multiverse.
Loki: Agent of Asgard reading order
Loki : agent of Asgard [1] : trust me / Ewing, Al
Original sin : Thor & Loki : the tenth realm / Aaron, Jason
Loki : agent of Asgard [2] : I cannot tell a lie / Ewing, Al
Loki : agent of Asgard [3] : last days / Ewing, Al
The entire Agent of Asgard series is also collected as Loki, agent of Asgard : the complete collection / Ewing, Al
Defenders : beyond / Ewing, Al
Loki: Schemer, Sorcerer… Politician?
When the multiverse resets following Secret Wars, Loki has a pretty full schedule of mischief: menacing the new Thor Jane Foster, running for president in Vote Loki, briefly becoming the Sorcerer Supreme, awakening a dead Celestial buried on Earth (which kicks off Jason Aaron’s long-running and recently concluded Avengers run), and leading a ragtag team of Avengers to gather the Infinity Stones.
Post-Secret Wars Loki appearances
The mighty Thor [1] : thunder in her veins / Aaron, Jason (also on Libby)
The mighty Thor [2] : Lords of Midgard / Aaron, Jason (also on Libby)
The mighty Thor [3] : the Asgard/Shi’ar war / Aaron, Jason
Doctor Strange. 1, God of magic / Cates, Donny (also collected in Doctor Strange / Cates, Donny)
The Avengers [1] : the final host / Aaron, Jason
War of the Lokis
Loki learns that their past self had a hand in starting The War of the Realms, a massive conflict between the Avengers and an invasion force of villains from across the Ten Realms. They also learn of a prophecy where a version of ‘Old Loki’ is fated to destroy Asgard, which is explored in the miniseries King Thor.
Loki in the War of the Realms reading order
Thor [1] : God of Thunder reborn / Aaron, Jason (also on Libby)
Thor [2] : road to war of the realms / Aaron, Jason (also on Libby)
The unbeatable Squirrel Girl. Vol. 11, Call your squirrelfriend / North, Ryan
The war of the realms / Aaron, Jason
Loki : the god who fell to Earth / Kibblesmith, Daniel (also on Libby)
Return of the God of Lies
In their most recent series, Loki must travel the universe to find the pieces of a cursed weapon he built back in ancient times to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.
Loki : the liar / Watters, Dan
Thor and Loki
Despite their differences over the centuries, the two Asgardian brothers make a great team, with Thor’s brash honesty and raw strength complimenting Loki’s trickery and magical deceptions. Here are a few series that feature their adventures together (and if you’re interested in more Thor books, I wrote a guide for them here!)
Thor and Loki adventures
Thor & Loki . Blood brothers / Rodi, Robert
The mighty Thor : journey into mystery : everything burns / Fraction, Matt
Original sin : Thor & Loki : the tenth realm / Aaron, Jason
Loki : agent of Asgard [2] : I cannot tell a lie / Ewing, Al
