Spoiler Warning for Disney+'s Loki
If there’s something that’s certain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s that Loki will definitely be betraying someone whenever he has a role to play. It's to the point that this has even led to Loki memes poking fun at the character, as his many betrayals have become a running gag.
That doesn’t mean that they were always meant to elicit laughs or didn’t hurt though, as Loki is responsible for such treachery that earned him the position of being in the topmost category of MCU villains. So with that in mind, what are Loki's greatest betrayals?
Updated on July 29th, 2021 by Colin McCormick: In his own hugely successful Disney+ show, the audience was able to see different sides of Loki. He was more sympathetic, more remorseful, and even heroic at times. But in the end, he is still the God of Mischief after all so Loki does still feature some more of his classic betrayals. Like the other great backstabbing schemes of Loki, some work out better than others, but failure has never stopped Loki from being a trickster.
Cutting Sif's Hair (Loki)
After another of Loki's treacherous turns, he faces an unusually cruel punishment from the TVA where he is placed in a time loop back on Asgard. The loop replays a moment over and over where his old Asgardian ally Lady Sif confronts Loki about cutting her hair before punching him.
While the context of this betrayal of his fellow Asgardian is unclear, Sif's anger is unequivocal. Loki is faced with the result of his mean trick so many times that he actually develops remorse about doing it.
Stabbing Thor On Stark Tower (The Avengers)
The relationship between Thor and Loki has always been complicated but this was a particularly nasty move on Loki's part. Near the climax of The Avengers, Thor attempted to appeal to Loki that his invasion had gone too far, to which Loki feigned acceptance.
He seemed to realize the magnitude of his actions, even briefly wishing to be redeemed. This turned out to be a ruse, as when Thor lowered his guard and promised Loki they could change the situation, Loki took out a concealed weapon to stab Thor, even mocking his brother’s sentiment toward him as he did it.
Pretending To Be The Innocent Little Brother To Attack Thor (Thor)
The quickness with which Loki betrays is something perhaps only his true fans will understand. During the finale of Thor, Loki and his brother fought on the Bifrost and Thor was the one with the advantage, as Loki hung precariously from the edge of the bridge.
Thor decided to save him when he saw Loki reverting to his baby brother mannerisms, pleading “brother, please” and making Thor believe he’d changed his mind. The next second, Loki had already betrayed Thor, as he revealed it to be an illusion and attacked Thor from behind.
Squirming His Way Into The Grandmaster's Good Books With The Intention Of Killing Him (Thor: Ragnarok)
No matter what villains Phase Four of the MCU brings, no one will have the duplicity skills that Loki has. In Thor: Ragnarok, after landing on Sakaar, Loki instantly used his skills to win the Grandmaster’s favor. Later, he revealed to Thor that he’d already decided on betraying him.
Upon visiting Thor when he was in captivity, Loki proposed the idea of convincing the Grandmaster to release Thor and for the two of them to then take over Sakaar themselves. It turned out he had this plan all along and had been waiting for the right time to take down the Grandmaster.
Escaping TVA Interrogation (Loki)
When Loki is brought to the TVA, it is one of the few times when the God of Mischief looks intimidated. When Mobius takes him into an interrogation room, he is further subjected to the overwhelming control of this organization.
So it's pretty impressive that, despite the situation he finds himself in, Loki is still able to plan an escape. When Mobius leaves the room for a moment, he realizes Loki stole his device allowing Loki to escape. Even in the midst of an all-knowing organization like the TVA, Loki knows how to cause some trouble.
Attempting To Stab Thanos After Just Pledging His Loyalty (Avengers: Infinity War)
Choosing to send Loki to Earth in the first place was a nonsensical decision by Thanos, although he wasn’t going to fall for Loki’s tricks again. In Avengers: Infinity War, Loki pulled off a betrayal twice in the span of a couple of minutes.
He first made it seem as if he was handing the Tesseract to Thanos, only to sic the Hulk on him. When that didn’t work, Loki pledged his loyalty to come close enough to stab Thanos but failed. Maybe he should’ve tried stabbing in the back as literally as he did figuratively.
Faking His Death And Banishing Odin (Thor: The Dark World)
The reveal of Odin actually being Loki in disguise was something of a letdown, as Thor: Ragnarok didn’t build on this point. Still, that doesn’t hide the fact that Loki faked his death in order to escape from Thor and bewitched his father to banish him from Asgard.
Loki had agreed to assist Thor to beat Malekith and promised to return to his cell, only to make it appear as if he had died trying to save Thor. This meant he had exploited Thor’s emotions to not only orchestrate his departure from Asgard -- he pretended to give him his blessing as Odin -- but to overthrow his father to get the throne.
Tricking Malekith Into Believing He Was Betraying Thor (Thor: The Dark World)
This was for the benefit of the good guys, as it allowed Thor to ultimately defeat Malekith. Still, a betrayal is a betrayal, and Loki did make Malekith believe that he was turning on Thor by seemingly slicing off his brother’s arm.
Just when Malekith was convinced of Loki’s loyalties, the latter betrayed him when Malekith drew the Aether out of Jane to sic Thor on him. Although the overall attempt failed, Loki was successful in making Malekith one of the people who fell for his schemes.
Trying To Trick His Way Into Meeting The Time Keepers (Loki)
Mobius seems to be an intelligent person which is why it is so surprising that he chooses to trust Loki with his investigation. But while everyone warns him about Loki's deceptive ways, Mobius seems confident he can handle him.
Sure enough, Loki almost immediately tries to convince Mobius he's cracked the case and that he needs to speak to the Time Keepers immediately. Interesting, Mobius just as easily sees through Loki's scheme. It is a moment in which Loki seems to realize that perhaps his nature of being untrustworthy has not created a very good reputation for himself.
Turning On Thor Before Boarding The Commodore (Thor: Ragnarok)
After Loki realized that Valkyrie's capture of him meant the Grandmaster thought he had betrayed him, he decided to get back into the Grandmaster’s good books by handing him Thor. It played out after Loki agreed to use the “Get Help!” maneuver to reach the area containing the space ships.
He attempted to convince Thor that he was fully on board with the plan to steal the Commodore ship, only to betray him again by sounding off the alarms, with the intention to bargain with Thor’s capture to regain his position by the Grandmaster’s side. Of course, Thor was too aware of Loki’s schemes to fall for it by this point.
Manipulating Thor Into Attacking The Frost Giants (Thor)
Loki was the one who let the Frost Giants into Asgard in the first Thor movie, as they foiled his coronation to delay Thor’s ascent as king. He then convinced Thor that it was a good idea to attack Jotunheim, knowing well that this would escalate things into war.
Thor ended up falling for it, with the result being his banishment from Asgard and Odin disowning him. Even for Loki, this was probably too big of a betrayal, as he used his influence to make Thor start a war.
Killing Laufey After Offering Him Odin's Life (Thor)
Loki doesn’t care who he’s betraying, so long as it meets his needs. In order to impress his adoptive father, he plotted to deceive his biological father. Loki approached Laufey in Jotunheim and cut a deal for the latter to kill Odin in exchange for him becoming the king of Asgard.
After leading Laufey into Odin’s chambers, Loki let him get as far as holding a blade right above Odin’s heart before blasting Laufey from behind with the lethal energy beam from Gungnir. His plan worked to perfection, as Loki stabbed his biological father in the back in the literal sense.
Abandoning Mobius To Follow Sylvie (Loki)
The introduction of Sylvie is a very interesting moment for Loki. Upon meeting this variant of himself, he is faced with the option to bring her into the TVA and hopefully help himself in the eyes of the Time Keepers.
But instead of keeping his word to Mobius, Loki goes for the more chaotic choice of running with Sylvie. Of course, Loki was always one to take the more dangerous choice, especially if there was more power to be had. But the move might have also proven the connection between Loki and Sylvie from the start.
Making Thor Believe Odin Was Dead And That He Was Banished By Frigga (Thor)
This didn’t involve any fighting or attempts to kill, but is easily the most dastardly betrayal done by Loki. Approaching Thor during his captivity by S.H.I.E.L.D., Loki lied that Odin had passed away due to the trauma caused by Thor’s actions in Jotunheim and claimed Frigga had banished him from Asgard forever.
Effectively killing Thor’s spirit entirely, Loki basked in this betrayal, as Thor believed that he was responsible for his father’s death and had lost his mother’s love while putting on the facade of sympathizing with him. To add insult to injury, Loki then tried to lift Mjolnir in the hopes that he would also steal Thor’s weapon from him.