Plenty of Characters Return in 'Thor: Love and Thunder' — Is Loki One of Them?

A storm is brewing in Thor: Love and Thunder. After the events of Avengers: Endgame, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is looking to find a new purpose in life. He is guided by the Guardians of the Galaxy on his existential quest, while Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) seeks to fill his shoes as "Mighty Thor." Meanwhile, Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) adjusts to her role as ruler of New Asgard. With even more classic Thor characters returning, such as Sif, does Loki (Tom Hiddleston) make a reappearance?

Loki has been featured in all three previous Thor films, as well as in several Avengers movies. The God of Mischief has served as both antagonist and duplicitous ally to his Norse god half-brother in the past, and his moral alignment has been known to shift at the drop of a hat.

Given recent developments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole, it's reasonable to think that Loki could appear in Love and Thunder. But there would be quite a few threads to untangle if that were to happen.

Before we get into whether he's in the film, let's rewind a bit...

Fans will certainly remember the tragic end that Loki met within the first minutes of Avengers: Infinity War. After Thanos (Josh Brolin) and the Black Order invade a ship full of Asgardian refugees in search of an Infinity Stone, they easily overpower Thor and Loki. Loki makes one last-ditch effort to defeat Thanos by pretending to offer him the Space Stone while secretly planning to kill him. But the Mad Titan sees right through this, and kills Loki on the spot.

While that's the end of Loki in Avengers: Infinity War, he still exists in other timelines. Using a bit of time travel, a Loki variant escapes captivity after being apprehended by the Avengers in Endgame. This sets off the events of the Loki series, in which this alternate Loki cooperates with the Time Variance Authority in exchange for his continued existence. Unfortunately, that Loki gets caught up in multiverse-shattering chaos by the end of Season 1.

Despite his supposed death in the "Sacred Timeline," Loki is still around, whether it be through an alternate version of the one played by Tom Hiddleston or the many other variants of Loki. There's precedence for Loki to appear to help his brother in Love and Thunder, but unfortunately, he doesn't make it back to Earth-616 just yet.

Although Tom Hiddleston's Loki doesn't make it to Thor: Love and Thunder, at least one Loki is set to return.

In a 2021 interview with SiriusXM, actor Matt Damon confirmed that he would return to portray a version of Loki in Love and Thunder. Matt previously appeared in a cameo in 2017's Thor: Ragnarok as an unnamed Asgardian thespian portraying Loki in a theatrical play. Matt played opposite Chris Hemsworth's brother Luke Hemsworth, who portrayed another Asgardian thespian playing Thor. Matt confirmed that he and Luke were on set for the new Thor film for similar purposes.

"We were kind of reprising a cameo that Luke Hemsworth and I did in the last one and we had a ball," Matt revealed. "So [director Taika Waititi] had us back again to kind of run that joke back and upgrade a little bit." Not only do Matt Damon and Luke Hemsworth return as actors playing Loki and Thor, respectively, but another famous actor, Melissa McCarthy, hilariously makes an appearance as Hela. Thor: Love and Thunder gets even goofier than its predecessor.

While a fake Loki distracting from the real Loki making a comeback to the MCU would definitely be on brand for the God of Mischief, Tom Hiddleston sadly doesn't make an appearance in the new Thor film, aside from in flashback clips already seen in the MCU.

Thor: Love and Thunder is now available in theaters across the globe.