MY FAVORITE BOYFRIEND IS…FULL OF MISCHIEF!

tessSometimes I surprise even myself.

If you look back at all my other Favorite Boyfriends, you’ll notice that I usually go for nice guys—Dr. John Watson, Charlie White the ice skater, Leo Fitz the adorable smarty-pants from SHIELD. I don’t usually go for the “bad boy.” And yet now, after recently watching our new DVD of Thor: The Dark World, I realize loki1something I think I’ve been trying to deny for a while: there’s something intrinsically appealing about the villain, Loki.

I think I knew this ever since I saw the first Thor movie (appropriately titled…Thor), and then I suspected it further upon viewing The Avengers. But seeing Thor: the Dark World, it’s been cemented, there’s no denying: Loki is, in some strange way, absolutely adorable.

Now, before I go any further, I must clarify. When I talk about Loki being adorable, I’m just talking about Loki as we see him in these movies, NOT about the Loki of the comics. First of all, I don’t actually know much about the Loki of the comics. Though Trixie’s enthusiasm for comics has spread to both me and Tillie, like an infectious disease, she’s very particular about how new readers come to her beloved comics and insists we read them in chronological order. Which means that so far, with everything else us Whimsies have to do in the way of reading books and watching movies, caring for our dinosaurs, hanging out with Mr. Squee and Miss Chrissy and The Man, enjoying the outdoors, exploring new looks in our extensive wardrobe, and using the computer to learn everything we can about this wonderful world, we are only left a very little time for reading comic books.

oldlokiI’ve only been able to read a few years worth of comics so far—just the tip of the iceberg, in a vast, vast history! And as far as I’ve gotten, Loki still looks like this fellow on the left. With his yellow tights and scaly underpants, he’s not very attractive, is he? And then, when you get a close up of his face….bleah!!!! Even less attractive!

Trixie assures me Loki will look better in comics as time goes on, that he will look more like the Loki we see in the movies…but she won’t let me take a look at those comics! She doesn’t want me to “spoil” myself. But…(and don’t snitch on me, please!)….I sneaked a peek on the computer and found out that Loki at some point may end up looking something like this:lokicomic2014

Now! That’s a little better! But still, he can’t hold a candle to the Loki I’ve come to know and love, the Loki of the movies. My Loki is a very handsome guy, as you can see by these pictures below. He’s got that long, dark hair. There’s something so attractive about long hair on a guy, don’t you think? It’s like he’s saying…I’m secure about being a guy, I don’t believe anyone could possibly mistake me for a girl. And—at least in Loki’s case—-if they do, I’ll just zap them with my magic wand, and that will be the end of THAT!

loki2Now let’s look at how Loki is dressed, because, as they say, “Clothes make the man.” Thank goodness the movie Loki has not opted to continue with those ridiculous scaly underpants! I mean…really? How can anyone take seriously a villain who wears his underpants on the outside of his outfit?. (This is a troubling practice among the villains I’m currently meeting in my comics reading, a trend I hope will very soon be turned around.)

No, my Loki knows a bit about fashion. If you want to be an effective villain, you’ve got to dress the part. Gone are the primary colors, and here we go in classic black, dark mossy green, and a rugged golden armor. And how about that headpiece? I don’t’ feel comfortable calling it a hat, because it’s so much more than a mere hat. It’s meant to inspire terror, with its long horns, evoking the image of the wearer as some sort of wild animal that would just as soon gore you as look at you. High collars, shoulder pads, leather, tall black boots. This guy knows how to “dress for success.”

It’s just a bit unfortunate that the success he’s dressing for is so…villainous. But I’ll get to that in a bit.

Loki’s look is, of course, partially the work of the moviemaker’s costuming department, and yes, they’ve done a wonderful job. But much of the credit still has to go to the actor inside that costumer, the wonderful Tom Hiddleston. What he brings to Loki are those piercing blue eyes, that crooked mischievous smile, and his deceptively smooth purring voice.

Oh. And did I happen to mention yet…his accent???

Us Whimsies have often sat around with Miss Chrissy and The Man and marveled at how Marvel movies always do so good at casting exactly the right actor in just about each and every role. Tom Hiddleston as Loki is one of their major triumphs, if you ask me. And while I’ve seen Tom Hiddleston in real life, and yes he looks like such a sweetie-pie, somehow he doesn’t have the same allure as the character he plays. You’ll notice that I name Loki as my new boyfriend, not Tom Hiddleston. Tom is okay, he’s great, suitactually, especially when he’s conversing with Cookie Monster. But Loki is FABULOUS. All the time.

Even when he’s “disguised as a normal person,” just wearing a suit and tie, just look at him!!! Absolutely fabulous.

But now let me move on to the crux of the matter, which is the fact that underneath all that beautiful hair and those eyes and the beautiful British accent and the great wardrobe, Loki is actually a bad boy, a villain.
So what’s so appealing about the bad boy? I know some girls (and some Whimsies, too, perhaps…) go for that kind of guy, but not me. Not usually. So this means that Loki is stepping over some line somehow, presenting himself as more than a simple bad boy. And I think I know how he’s doing it.

Let’s start first with his name, or what I really mean is the qualifier that comes after his name. I don’t recall if it’s mentioned as such in the movies, but in the comics we learn that Loki is “the God of Mischief.” Everyone knows that his brother Thor is “The God of Thunder,” and unfortunately, next to that, being “the God of Mischief” sounds so…unspectacular. Ha! Yeah, I know he can do a lot of damage no matter what you call him, but the word “mischief” just doesn’t pack the same punch as “thunder.” Thunder is what you get in a thunderstorm, where there can also be lightning, that can strike you and kill you, or wind and rain that can damage your house. But “mischief” is what the cat does when he jumps up on the table and accidentally knocks over all your jigsaw puzzle pieces. Yeah, it’s kind of annoying, but it’s not the end of the world.

goldBut I think Loki is actually trying to move past that cutesy qualifier. He is, indeed, trying to do some real damage. Or wait. Maybe not….maybe not exactly. I mean, let’s think about this. What is it that Loki is trying to after all? Sure, he wants to have absolute control in all the universe, but what good super villain doesn’t? That’s just par for the course, he’s complying with the rules of the Super Villains Union.

The best super villains, though (I’m beginning to understand, from all my movie watching and my little bit of comic reading) are those that somehow make you care about them, despite the fact that they’re super villains. There are certain villains that have such a deep and rich backstory about why they are the way they are, and when you hear that story, at the same time you’re despising them for being a villain, you also feel sorry for them.

That’s Loki all over. He’s the adopted son of Odin, brother to the marvelous Thor, who is like the best son a father could ever have. Thor is the guy who gets an A in every subject, plays quarterback on the football team, and gets all the girls. Thor always speaks respectfully to his father, saying “Yes, sir” and “No, sir.” Loki is just the other brother, the afterthought. He knows that no matter how hard he tries, dear old dad is never going to love him the same way he loves that lunk of a Thor. (Don’t tell Trixie I called Thor a “lunk”!)

Now, I may be wrong, but it seems to me that all Loki has ever really wanted was his father’s love. He wants to fit in, be accepted for who he is, be part of the family. And perhaps more than anything, he does NOT want to be overshadowed by his blonde bombshell Thor4 of a brother, the Mighty Thor. He just wants to be treated like an equal. What in the world is wrong with that?

Well…actually…it all becomes wrong when Loki gets so pissed off that he takes his inferiority complex one step further and decides that he’ll “show them!” He decides what he really wants is THE THRONE and that he’s willing to do anything he has to in order to get it, even if that includes mischief on the highest level that involves deception, destruction and death to everyone who might happen to get in his way.

There are moments when you feel so sorry for Loki, you could just weep. And there are also moments when, even though he’s being so terribly evil, you recognize what’s motivating him, and you just have to applaud his efforts to get himself out of his underdog position.

And then there are moments when, even though he’s being such a very bad boy, he’s simply doing it so well, and being so tricky and sly and inventive, that you just have to sort of laugh along with him at what a fantastic trickster he can be!

e6033705f71a80857937903b1b378bdeOkay. I know none of this justifies all the terrible things Loki does. I sort of wish he wasn’t actually so cute. Why couldn’t he look more like Mole Man from the Fantastic Four comics? Why couldn’t he look more like Thanos, from the end of The Avengers movie? Then it would be a lot easier to hate him.

But I can’t hate Loki. And I sort of like him enough to call him my new Favorite Boyfriend. When he’s around, things are never dull, and in a strange kind of way, they’re always fun.

I don’t know if Loki will ever find inner peace, and stop being so mischievous, but I’m hoping against hope that someday that will happen for him.

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