In Avengers: Infinity War, we see Thanos brutally strangle our favorite God Of Mischief to death. To add insult to injury, it almost appears that Thanos is breaking the fourth wall when he says "No resurrections this time".
Loki's Army mourned for over a year but in Avengers: Endgame, we see that Loki steals the tesseract and vanishes into thin air. And we know for a fact that the Loki TV show is happening and it will continue his adventures from that point.
So does that mean the God of Mischief is dead in one timeline and alive in another, just like Gamora? Or has Loki been faking it all this time? Here are some of the likeliest and unlikeliest theories we could find.
10 Likeliest Theory: By Stealing The Tesseract He Created An Alternate Timeline
This is the most likely theory, that's also somewhat confirmed by Marvel. In Infinity War, Loki does die but when the Avengers time travel back to the Battle of New York in 2012, their goof-up ensures that Loki actually escapes with the Tesseract.
By doing so, he didn't mess up that timeline but instead created a split and introduced a new timeline. In this timeline, he's probably still on the run from Thanos and he never returns to be imprisoned in Asgard and many of the events after Avengers either do not happen or happen differently.
9 Unlikeliest Theory: Loki's Stealing Of The Tesseract Messes Up All Timelines
By the end of Endgame, Captain America has time-traveled to return the Stones to their proper places and thereby restore all the timelines. Except he can't return the Space Stone to the 2012 Battle of New York, because Loki has disappeared with it.
This means that because Loki's little act of mischief was completely unaccounted for, there is a chance that it messes up the timeline completely and the TV show could focus on what different versions of him have been up to.
8 Likeliest Theory: Loki Can Fake His Death Because The Tesseract Can Show Him Visions Of The Future
The Tesseract is more than just a magic cube. As one of the Infinity Stones, it is tremendously powerful and allows its users to warp the very fabric of space, creating wormholes anywhere. It can also supposedly show visions of the future to the user.
And what do we see Loki do in nearly every film? Steal the tesseract, of course. Loki may be aware of the Space Stone's other powers and the reason he can fake his death so well is that he knows what the future has in store.
7 Unlikeliest Theory: Loki Stole The Tesseract And Hooked Up With The Ancient One
This is more of a joke, but we know for a fact that the Ancient One (played by Tilda Swinton) was present in the Battle of New York in 2012, where Loki and his Chitauri Army was facing off the Avengers.
And in 2013, Jim Jarsmuch released an indie vampire film, Only Lovers Left Alive, starring Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton as immortal lovers, and yes Swinton's character is way older than Tom's. For all we know, Loki may have wanted a quiet life in the shadows after the whole Thanos fiasco.
6 Likeliest Theory: Loki May Warn His Alternate Self About Thanos By Time Travelling
We know, thanks to Endgame, that time travel is legit in the MCU and given how Loki is also a sorcerer like Doctor Strange (who by the way, also wields and controls the Time Stone) it may imply that Loki is familiar with the mechanics of time travel.
After all, he knew ways out of Asgard that even Heimdall and Odin had no clue about, and with the Space Stone, he can now travel anywhere in the Nine Realms. Maybe he can stumble upon the Time Stone or a time-traveling device or some stray Pym particles and explore what happened to him in other timelines. And once he finds out what Thanos has done, he may even warn alternate versions of himself about it.
5 Unlikeliest Theory: Loki Was Faking It When Thanos Strangled Him
Thanos may have said "No resurrections this time" but that doesn't mean fans have to believe him. Loki's far more skilled at magic than he is with knives and it makes no sense for him to attack Thanos with a tiny dagger, especially because he has faced Thanos before and knows what kind of a threat he is.
Yes, he may have sacrificed himself for Thor, but Thor nearly died in that encounter and would have died if the Guardians hadn't found his body floating in space by sheer luck and saved him. And given how Loki has a huge history of faking his death in tense situations, it is very plausible that Loki had faked his death again. Plus, Thor isn't entirely convinced his brother his dead and Loki had promised that the sun would shine on them, again.
4 Likeliest Theory: Loki's Frost Giant Physiology Lets Him Fake His Death In Ways We Don't Know Yet
In Thor, we are sure that Loki has committed suicide by falling off the Bifrost, but it turns out he was sucked into a wormhole and ended up in a place with Thanos. In Thor: The Dark World, we're convinced that Loki was stabbed to death by Kurse yet by the end of the film, he has deposed Odin and usurped the throne of Asgard.
Perhaps he creates an illusion of himself as he dies or perhaps it may have something to do with his Frost Giant physiology that makes him immune to physical attacks or perhaps a combination of both. Maybe the TV show can delve on that.
3 Unlikeliest Theory: Loki Has Been To Hel And Back
In the original Norse myths, Loki has a daughter who presides over Hel. And just before he sort of fakes his death in Thor: The Dark World, he tells Kurse, "See you in Hel, monster."
Perhaps Loki, who has traveled the whole of Nine Realms and knows all the secret passageways, also knows a way in and out of Hel. So even if he dies and ends up in Hel, he knows his way back.
And maybe the TV show will show him pull off something similar to this.
2 Likeliest Theory: Every Plan Of Loki Is A Xanatos Gambit
Loki plans his moves in such a way, that no matter what happens, he ends up winning. For instance, in Avengers all he wanted was a throne. It didn't matter if the throne was on Earth or Asgard.
So when he failed to conquer Earth, Thor took him back to Asgard where Odin's powers kept him safe from other threats including Thanos' wrath. Then when the opportunity presented itself, he got out of prison, faked his death and took over the throne of Asgard, pretending to be Odin.
In Thor: Ragnarok, he had planned to sell Thor out to the Grandmaster but when that didn't work, he took a spaceship and helped save Asgard instead.
So perhaps Loki has a master plan that we haven't figured out yet.
1 Unlikeliest Theory: Loki Is Hard To Kill And Even Thanos Knows That
Do you remember that scene in Avengers, when The Other tells Loki of Thanos' real power?
The Other tells Loki this: If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he can not find you. You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain.
This suggests that Thanos instead of simply killing him would like to endlessly torture him. And it may sound far-fetched but perhaps that is because he is aware of how Loki is insanely difficult to kill, so he would settle for torture instead.
And maybe the new show will face him off with Thanos, again.