Loki: What’s hidden in plain sight in episode 5
By Mike McNulty
President Loki
Ever since the first teaser, we wondered just what the context was behind Loki all dressed up in a three-piece business suit accompanied by what looked like leftovers from the Mad Max franchise. Well, “Journey Into Mystery” finally gave us that context. This was another Loki variant (also played by Tom Hiddleston) who leads a ragtag group of other Loki variants to take control of the other Lokis’ underground bunker – before all the Lokis betray one another as Lokis are known to do. But as indicated by his campaign button to “Vote Loki,” this particular Loki variant comes from a very specific comic book miniseries called Vote Loki.
Written by Christopher Hastings, the premise of this four-issue series is that during the 2016 Election, the God of Mischief stops a group of Hydra agents from attacking the first Presidential debate. During the aftermath, when asked who he plans to vote for, Loki says neither as he thinks both candidates are nothing more than your typical lying Washington Beltway politicians. Then he brags that, unlike the other two candidates, he’s at least more upfront and honest about being a liar than they are. And from there, Loki announces his own candidacy for President of the United States.
Because he’s not affiliated with any major political party and “tells it like it is” (and because, let’s face it, the average citizen in the Marvel Universe isn’t all that bright), Loki surges in the polls. On the eve of the Election, he’s the clear frontrunner despite a surge in chaos caused by rapid pro-Loki and anti-Loki protestors. But then Loki decides to give an exclusive live television interview with a young Daily Bugle reporter who’s also his biggest critic. As the interview goes on, it becomes apparent that Loki not only doesn’t know the major issues, he doesn’t even have a political platform.
Of course, he loses the election. However, this was all part of Loki’s master plan to both help the reporter’s career (without her knowledge, of course) and to act as a spoiler candidate to pull votes away from one of the other candidates. And yes, if you haven’t already guessed, Vote Loki was unabashed political satire.
None of this appears to apply towards “President Loki,” however, as it seems this version is more or less the leader of a glorified gang of various gods and goddesses of mischief. But in terms of comic book accuracy, it sure does seem as though this Loki’s appearance was lifted right off of Valerio Schiti’s variant cover for Vote Loki #1. Shame about his hand, though.