A time-displaced alternate Thor: Love and Thunder. Villains have this habit of dying in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and depending on the likability of the character, that can be a good or bad thing. With Loki (Tom Hiddleston), it was clear from the start he wouldn't be just another one-off character, as he exuded charisma and charm, despite his evil ways.
Loki rapidly became one of the most popular characters in all of the MCU, regardless of whose side he was on at any given movement. After finally completing his redemption arc in 2017's Avengers: Infinity War, beating down the Hulk, and crushing Loki's throat, ultimately killing him. It was a great, memorable moment in the blockbuster team-up movie, but served to royally squash fan hopes of seeing Loki fight alongside Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
Now, thanks to Avengers: Endgame's time travel shenanigans, the 2012 villain version of Loki from The Avengers is loose with the Tesseract, and that's probably not good for anyone. However, it's highly unlikely Loki 2012 stays confined to Disney+. He'll be back in MCU movies sooner or later, and Thor: Love and Thunder would be the most logical place to insert him into the mix. It could also well begin his second cinematic journey to redemption.
The Loki In His Disney+ Show Is Still A Villain
While it might feel odd for many MCU fans after all the character development Loki experienced in Thor: The Dark World, Thor: Ragnarok, and Avengers: Infinity War, it's important to that the Loki starring on Disney+ is very much not that person. As briefly glimpsed in Avengers: Endgame, this Loki is still a villain, and while he should now be free from the Mind Stone's malevolent influence, he's still not going to be a great guy.
Not only is he still a bad guy, but this 2012 Loki won't have been defeated by The Avengers and locked away in Asgard, and the time spent reflecting on his actions while imprisoned does seem to have spurred along some of the changes in attitude the trickster god would eventually start showing as Thor: The Dark World developed. Loki may well have still stolen Odin's identity at the end of that film, but it only took one more for him to exhibit actual heroism. Avengers: Infinity War capped things off with Loki's selfless sacrifice to try and protect Thor.
Loki Can Make It So He Has To Return For Thor 4
Michael Waldron, the showrunner for Loki's Disney+ show, has stated that it will focus on Loki's struggle to find his true identity. This is a question the original flavor Loki also battled, especially once he found out he was a Frost Giant in the first Thor. Was he an Asgardian or a Frost Giant? Should he have allegiance to his biological family or his adopted clan? Was he truly a villain, or was that just brought on by jealousy of Odin favoring Thor since their childhoods? These were all questions Loki dealt with over the course of his first MCU journey, ultimately deciding that he did love his Asgardian family, and that he wasn't truly evil.
Of course, as mentioned previously, the Disney+ show's 2012 Loki is still far away from having these same revelations, if he ever would, as the same sequence of events obviously won't happen to him this time out. It's possible, though, that Loki is destined to realize he needs Thor and Asgard in each and every timeline, as the character himself is just destined to have that tie forever. If so, he'll need to be in Thor: Love and Thunder.
How Loki Can Return In Thor 4
While Loki on the Disney+ show is starting out in an alternate timeline to the main MCU, it's already been established he'll be moving through different periods in history, possibly creating lots of new offshoot timelines via the chaos he creates. He also appears to end up in time travel jail, so there's that too. With Avengers: Endgame already having old Captain America somehow cross back to the original timeline at the end, there's no real reason Loki couldn't get to the main timeline too, especially boosted by the power of the Tesseract.
What's more, the WandaVision show, set to launch prior to Loki's premiere, is set to explore the Multiverse fully for the first time, and there are also lots of hints that the MCU's Spider-Man 3 will in fact be a live-action Spider-Verse film. With an entire multiverse of possibilities at his finger tips, Loki might seem unlikely to end up back in the standard MCU timeline for Thor 4, but he'll no doubt be curious about why his timeline was meddled with in the first place, which might spur his arrival.
Loki's Thor 4 Return Can Give Him Redemption (Again)
As much fun as it'll be to watch Loki act like a jerk again on Disney+, at the end of the day, fans will want something close to the old Loki back. To do anything less would be a betrayal of all the character development he went through on his way to becoming a potential hero. While the Loki show probably won't see him return to the side of good, it could light that fuse, and his role in Thor: Love and Thunder could cement his second redemption.
The Thor from the main timeline will likely be surprised and confused to see an alternate Loki appear, and will rightly be distrustful at first, but he'll how his brother ended up, and know full well a good person is in there waiting to be set free. Thor will want to help this Loki be more like the one he knew, and there's no real reason his goal couldn't be accomplished. They may be going down different paths to get there, but the sun will shine on Loki Odinson again.
