WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Asgardians of the Galaxy #2 by Cullen Bunn, Matteo Lolli, Federico Blee and VC's Cory Petit, out now.
It’s not unusual to find comic book characters in more adventures than you could realistically fit into one regular lifetime, but it only adds to the confusion when there are multiple versions of heroes and villains in the universe. Characters like Wolverine have got old future versions, alternate dimension versions and more besides. Now, Asgardians of the Galaxy has brought us the return of Kid Loki, even though the regular, adult Loki is currently in Infinity Wars. This week’s Asgardians #2, however, resolves that particular mystery fairly quickly.
Loki’s identity has been complex, to say the least. Technically, the original version of Loki that was tormenting his brother Thor throughout the long history of Marvel comics was killed in 2004’s Siege event. He sacrificed his life to protect Earth from the twisted evil known as the Void, and that version of Loki died. As is the ways of the God of Mischief though, Loki always had a plan to return to life. He manipulated Hela into erasing his name from the Book of Hel, allowing him to be reborn. Thor, restoring Asgard to life following its destruction, found the spirit of Loki in a young child, who’d henceforth be known as Kid Loki.
As this Kid Loki debated just why his older self would make the ultimate sacrifice in the way that he did, he came across a hidden chamber that contained an echo of his older self. This version of Loki, dubbed Ikol, was trapped in the form of a magpie by Kid Loki, who was determined to become a different being than his former self, going so far as to become a hero alongside Thor. After a time though, it was revealed that not only did Ikol only exist in Kid Loki’s mind, but that Kid Loki had to cease to exist if there was any hope of saving the world from Mephisto’s evil schemes.
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Thus, Kid Loki’s consciousness was overwritten by that of Ikol, and a new version of Loki arose. Despite having killed the young, good version of himself, this new Loki -- still in the body of a child -- did some good, saving the lives of his friends on the Young Avengers and even aging himself to that of an older teen in order to better protect his teammates. Eventually, this version of Loki went on to work as an Agent of Asgard until his past came back to haunt him.
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Constantly wracked with guilt over killing his younger self, Loki admitted his crimes and was cast out by his fellow Asgardians. This act unlocked a series of events in which an evil future version of himself, named King Loki, returned to the past to destroy this version of himself and rule Asgard as his own. He returned Loki to the moment when he killed his ‘kid’ self, giving him two options: Accept his nature as a villain or die a hero. Loki chose a third path, one in which he burst into flames and seemingly disappeared, only to be born again as the God of Stories.
It wasn’t long, however, until Loki returned to his nature as the God of Mischief, and lately he has been engaged in acts that some would consider downright villainous. He has chased after the Infinity Stones, ousted Doctor Strange as the new Sorcerer Supreme and called upon the Dark Celestials to bring about the Final Host and purge the planet of the disease called Man. There’s always an edge to him though, and even though he threatened humanity with the return of the Celestials, there was a big smile on his face as he saw that his actions had brought the Avengers back together.
Most recently, Loki has been chasing after Gamora, as she is the current wielder of the Infinity Stones. He claims that he needs answers from the stones about his identity and place in the universe, which would certainly make sense. His motivations have always been his own, but recently they seem particularly erratic. Now, with Kid Loki seemingly returned to the land of the living, there’s a further wrinkle in his life. In Asgardians of the Galaxy #2, however, Kid Loki describes his origin.
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Gathering a team of Asgardians to fight against Nebula, Angela -- Thor and Loki’s long-lost sister from the Tenth Realm -- brought along a mysterious being piloting the Destroyer armor. That being was revealed at the end of the last issue as Kid Loki, and here he tells Angela that he is indeed her brother, or rather, a shadow of her brother. He acknowledges that the adult Loki chasing Gamora is his "true form," but that he himself is "a Fetch, a Figment."
While the specifics of how this version of Kid Loki has come into being isn’t entirely revealed, it’s clear that he’s here to put right a mistake committed by his former self. The weapon wielded by Nebula -- the Naglfar Beacon, that returns dead gods to life under her command -- was created by his older self in preparation for the coming War of the Realms. Now that it’s in the wrong hands, this echo of Kid Loki is here to work with Angela to thwart Nebula’s plans. It will be interesting to see whether Loki and Kid Loki will meet, and if, after that meeting, both versions of Loki survive.