MCU Makes Loki’s US Election Parody Canon

Loki will make his triumphant return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Disney+’s show of the same name, and a costume piece shown in the trailer suggests that he’ll be more satirical than usual. Culled from Norse mythology, the Marvel version of Loki Laufeyson is the often-antagonistic adoptive brother of Thor Odinson, both having been raised together in the royal family of Asgard. As a result of these supernatural roots, and the general approach of the Thor films, Loki has generally remained distant from the modern, earthbound world, such as it exists in the MCU.

Tom Hiddleston’s performance established Loki as a fan-favorite character who, throughout his multiple appearances, evolves from villainous origins into more of an anti-hero, his ambiguous redemption arc culminating in Thor: Ragnarok before being cut short by his death at the hands of Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. However, the character was resurrected, after a fashion, in Avengers: Endgame, when a past version escapes the aftermath of the Battle of New York by stealing the Space Stone.

In the rush of fantastical images and mustachioed Owen Wilsons, one could easily have missed a brief glimpse given by the Loki trailer of the title character wearing a red, white, and blue political button bearing his name. This concept is lifted directly from the Vote Loki comics which were released in 2016 as a direct parody of the truly hellish United States presidential race that resulted in the election of Donald Trump. In the miniseries, the names of real people are omitted, but the plot pointedly sees Loki run as a candidate, his campaign gaining great popularity among the American people by being overt about his bold-faced lying and violent, evil tendencies.

All art will naturally lag behind current events to some degree, and high-budget productions like those in the MCU in particular have lengthy production cycles that generally preclude timeliness. With that in mind, choosing source material that is so tied to a specific moment in time seems to run the risk of feeling dated. Granted, because the surviving version of Loki canonically escaped with the Space Stone in 2012, and what’s more will be working with the Time Variance Authority, any Vote Loki elements in the series could easily still be applied to the 2016 election. But a more relevant tactic might be to recalibrate and reincorporate the storyline, bringing its still-very-relevant themes of duplicity and social division to bear on the more recent state of the world, which has coincidentally included another torturous, borderline-comical election cycle that was, once again, eminently mockable.

The wry, satirical wit of the God of Mischief has been his most attractive feature since his precursor was first causing strife among the figures of Norse mythology. While it is unclear how biting Disney is willing to let that aspect be, the past few years have seen no shortage of political fiascos ripe for commentary, and the inclusion of elements from the Vote Loki storyline suggests that Loki may cast an eye upon current events that is more critical and sardonic than we have come to expect from the MCU.