Disney+'s Loki Show Should Adapt Journey Into Mystery's Kid Loki

Disney+'s upcoming Loki limited series should take a more youthful approach. The series, which was confirmed to be in development in November, will bring Marvel Cinematic Universe star Tom Hiddleston back to the eponymous role -- but maybe not in the way fans expect. According to a new rumor, Hiddleston will only provide voice-over narration. However, that may be exactly what both the series and the character needs.

As fans of the MCU know, dead doesn't always mean dead, and so it is in Marvel Comics as well. Like the cinematic version of the character, the Marvel Universe's Loki has flirted with death on numerous occasions. His most recent demise, though, has been particularly long-lasting. Loki Laufeyson -- as both movie and comics fans are familiar with him -- died in Brian Michael Bendis and Olivier Coipel's Siege #4 all the way back in 2010, and he has never since been the same.

Loki's Siege death led to his rebirth almost immediately. The character returned in January 2011's Thor #617 by Matt Fraction and Pasqual Ferry, but he wasn't the decrepit shell of a Frost Giant-turned-Asgardian that fans knew and loved. Instead, he was reincarnated as a young boy, mischievous but certainly not evil. Indeed, this young version of Loki -- dubbed Kid Loki by fans -- had no recollection of his past life and, thus, no memory of all the evil he had wrought on the Nine Realms.

Soon, Kid Loki ended up the star of his own series. Starting with issue #622, he took the helm of Journey Into Mystery by Kieron Gillen and a number of artists, including Stephanie Hans, Richard Elson and Doug Braithwaite. He quickly discovered a secret room within Asgard, where he found a spirit of his older self -- a contingency plan put in place by the original Loki, for the event of his death. Though this shadow of Loki encouraged Kid Loki to embrace his evil tendencies, the boy wanted no part of it. Instead, he transformed the shade into a talking magpie, which he subsequently named Ikol. Ikol became his companion for the duration of the series.

Throughout Journey Into Mystery, Kid Loki went on quite a few adventures of his very own, out of sight from his older brother Thor. He constantly struggled to overcome other people's preconceived notions of him and solved problems in his own unconventional, mischievous way, which often landed him in hot water with authority figures like the All-Mother. In addition to Ikol, he picked up a few companions along the way, like Thori the Hell Hound and Leah, Handmaiden of Hela.

Without giving too much away, Kid Loki's time as lead of the series came to a close in Journey Into Mystery #645, which brought his story full circle. Of course, his story didn't end there -- he went on to feature in Gillen and Jaime McKelvie's Young Avengers before becoming Teen Loki and headlining Loki: Agent of Asgard -- but his Journey Into Mystery tenure encapsulated a powerful arc with a deep understanding of his history and characterization.

NEXT PAGE: How Disney+'s Loki Series Could Adapt Journey Into Mystery

Disney+'s as-yet untitled Loki series could learn a lot from Kid Loki's Journey Into Mystery run. For one, if the rumor mentioned previously is to be believed, the Journey Into Mystery formula would give Hiddleston a role much more powerful than "narrator." He could lend his voice to the devious Ikol, Kid Loki's troublesome magpie sidekick; this could allow him to inject a lot more personality into the part, with more room for him to have some fun along the way. Additionally, this framework would allow Hiddleston to appear in a cameo role, thus giving him his due, before handing the reins over to whatever newcomer fills that horned helmet of his.

What's more, the Journey Into Mystery has its supporting cast built in without relying on major characters like Thor, Odin, Sif and the Warriors Three. Sure, there's space for these beloved characters to appear in the series, but they aren't crucial to the story. Instead, the spotlight would fall on Kid Loki and Leah; it would also pave the way for some other Marvel characters to join the MCU proper, like Daimon Hellstrom and Nightmare. Plus, who wouldn't want to see a fresh-faced Loki accompanied by an adorable hell hound puppy?

While the Loki series likely wouldn't be a faithful adaptation of Journey Into Mystery, the comic book series provides a story with a definitive beginning and end -- a rarity for a character with such a long history. For example, Loki's death as it exists in the comics lays the groundwork for his return as Kid Loki in the MCU; while the MCU series would have to tweak some things about it, the blueprints have been established. If the untitled Loki series is truly limited and does not receive another season, the story would have an ending built in that brings it to a thorough, fan-tested conclusion that leaves open a world of possibility. It's also important for a serialized story to know what it is working towards, so the Journey Into Mystery framework fights half that battle.

However, if the series does continue past its inaugural season, the Kid Loki storyline provides an allowance for a real-world problem, in that it would allow its child protagonist to grow without impacting the plot. It didn't take long for Loki to transition from "Kid" to "Teen" in the comics, but a young actor playing the character would get there naturally sooner or later. Additional seasons could deal with Teen Loki's new problems as the actor grew into the role.

Indeed, the untitled Loki series could take more than inspiration from Journey Into Mystery. Disney+ could easily snag the comics' title and turn it into an anthology series, much like the source material. The Journey Into Mystery comic series -- which debuted Thor back in 1962 -- has long acted as more of an ensemble piece, especially in recent years. In fact, after Gillen's time on the title concluded, Kathryn Immonen and Valerio Schiti took over for a criminally underrated run that revolved around Sif instead of Loki. This would also be the perfect place to introduce Beta Ray Bill, something Avengers: Infinity War directors Joe and Anthony Russo have been trying to do for quite some time now.

When it comes to building a Loki series, there's plenty of inspiration to be found in Marvel Comics. After all, the character has existed since 1962, as introduced alongside his brother Thor. However, the Disney+ Loki series would do well to draw from Gillen's Journey Into Mystery run in particular. If the series were to pull from Journey Into Mystery, it would give Hiddleston a way to pass the torch, while introducing a host of other interesting characters and ideas.

While Disney+ is targeted to launch this year, no release date has been announced for the as-yet untitled Loki series.

CBR

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