The MCU Is Setting Up Loki To Be Its Lucifer (But Not Satan)

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Loki episode 1, “Glorious Purpose.”

In the newest Disney+ series, it’s become clear that Loki is the MCU’s equivalent of Lucifer–but not Satan. The new series is off to a fantastic start, with its premiere episode being by far the most-watched premiere of Marvel’s three Disney+ shows so far. Audiences were eager to dive into the first in-depth story about Loki, who has remained one of Marvel’s most enigmatic characters despite having been around for a decade. The series is set up in the first episode, both thematically and literally, as a fight between predeterminism and free will.

The story finds the 2012 Loki “variant” in a completely unfamiliar situation. He’s out of the timeline in which he’s supposed to exist, he’s been humbled by the introduction of a body far more powerful than anything he could previously have imagined (as well as the added insult of never having heard of the TVA), and grappling with his place in the universe–or rather, the multiverse. To the trickster god’s credit, however, he quickly regains his equilibrium. No matter where or when he is, he’s still Loki, after all. And if there’s one thing that defines Loki, more than the lies and deception, more than the magic, more than the desire to rule, it’s his hatred of being controlled.

Because of this, Loki is the MCU’s Lucifer and always has been–not the counterpart to the DC character, but the actual biblical Lucifer. In Loki episode 1, “Glorious Purpose,” as Loki’s fate is seemingly determined and he’s being hauled off by TVA agents, he yells, “You ridiculous bureaucrats will not dictate how my story ends!” That single line sums up the essence of what drives him. From the moment Odin took him as a baby from Jotunheim and decided to conceal the truth from him, Loki’s fate was set, his purpose predetermined before he even had a say. After learning in the first Thor movie that his life had been a lie, the option of choice a mere illusion, Loki rebelled against Odin, the All-Father, just as Lucifer did with God, and has continued to rebel against any authority figure that seeks to take away his free will and ability to define who he is and what he will accomplish. Loki professes to hate Midgardians, but what he really hates is their autonomy.

While Loki is the MCU’s Lucifer, however, he is not the MCU’s Satan; Loki has yet to fall so far he can’t be redeemed. As he explains to Mobius later in the episode, he doesn’t actually enjoy hurting people. Loki and Satan are both vain, arrogant, envious, and have a selfish ambition and desire to rule over humans. But Loki isn’t evil and never was. He is the God of Mischief, not the Prince of Darkness, and his desire to subjugate humanity stems not from any true hatred, but from insecurity. Unlike Satan, Loki has the potential to become a better god and a better man. They’re both made of rebellion, but Loki still has the chance to aim his defiance at the right beings and for the right reasons.

As the MCU’s great contrarian, Loki being smack in the midst of the Time Variance Authority presents him with an opportunity. Loki is now aware of the omnipotent Time-Keepers, whose creation of a predetermined timeline dictates not only how his life will unfold, but how all lives will unfold. He wasn’t wrong when he spoke of the injustice and absurdity of all of existence being set in stone by three “space lizards.” Now Loki is off the leash and his recalcitrant nature isn’t likely to lie dormant for long. For the first time ever, he’s actually operating with complete free will–and the knowledge of the Time-Keepers’ complete control is already sticking in his craw. Loki Silvertongue is right in the midst of the greatest authoritarian body in the multiverse, with hundreds of TVA workers primed to be influenced. If anyone can foment a rebellion and bring down the TVA in a coup of free will, it’s Loki, the biggest rebel of the MCU.

Loki releases new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.

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