Yes, Loki can transform into animals. He may have not done it yet explicitly on the big screen (we’re not sure if we should count Alligator Loki). But Marvel comics pages may provide evidence that the God of Mischief is indeed capable of shape-shifting into animals.
In this post, we’ll look into Loki’s shape-shifting abilities, as well as examine his other powers. Does he possess skills that aren’t widely known, even by Marvel comics fans? Can he do magic? Let’s get some answers!
What Is the Full Extent of Loki's Powers?
Before we dive deep into Loki’s superpowers, it pays to get to know his background. He doesn’t always look like it, but he is actually a frost giant of Jotunheim. In the Marvel comics, frost giants are long-time enemies of Asgard. They are born with super strength and resistance to injury. In fact, their physiology is many times denser than that of a human.
Physiology aside, frost giants, or at least some of them, possess the ability to create illusions. Sure, the level of mastery may vary per frost giant individual, depending on natural ability and training. But some, like the frost giant king Utgard-Loki, are considered extremely powerful sorcerers in their own right.
Loki has, no doubt, inherited these abilities through his frost giant lineage. He’s not a frost giant in appearance, but he’s got their strength, durability, speed, and immunity to poisons, sickness, and aging.
Regarding his strength, he won’t be able to beat his brother Thor in an arm-wrestling match. But he can lift up to 50 tons. For added context, remember that the God of Thunder can easily lift more than a hundred tons. But you can also argue that being the crafty fellow he is, Loki can actually use some of his other abilities (we’ll get to that soon enough) to augment his strength.
Apart from his natural frost giant powers, Loki has acquired other abilities by virtue of being trained in Asgardian fighting and magical arts. For the latter, he gained further training in the black arts thanks to Eldred, a dark sorcerer imprisoned in Odin’s dungeons.
With his frost giant abilities and Asgardian training, plus his own genius-level intelligence, Loki boasts a plethora of powers that make him one of the strongest sorcerers not only in Asgard but in any realm. These abilities include shape-shifting (we’ll go into this in detail later), astral projection, teleportation, energy projection (including force field casting), illusion generation, hypnosis, telepathy, and telekinesis.
So Can Loki Turn Into Animals?
Yes, Loki most definitely can turn into animals.
Due to the popularity of the character’s live-action version (thanks in large part to Tom Hiddleston’s masterful and memorable portrayal on the big screen and small screen), practically everyone is familiar with Loki’s fondness for shape-shifting into other people.
But in the comics, everyone’s favorite Asgardian anti-hero actually has shape-shifted into animals as well.
One of the most amusing uses of this ability is when he turned into a snake to battle a dragon. You heard it right.
That actually happened in 2021’s Thor & Loki: Double Trouble, the glorious four-issue miniseries written by Mariko Tamaki and drawn by the amazing Team Gurihiru ladies (Naoko Kawano and Chifuyu Sasaki).
In this series, the Asgardian brothers find themselves up against a giant dragon about to terrorize their homeland. At first, the God of Mischief tries to be the gentleman of charm by wooing the behemoth.
Plan A fails, of course, so he has to go with Plan B. And it involves turning himself into a snake to distract the dragon. If you want to know if the plan succeeded, you’re gonna have to read the comics.
Not content with transforming into a serpent, Loki does it again in the series, this time around he turned into a horse. Interesting bit of trivia: In Norse mythology, Loki transforms into a mare (female horse) that later gives birth to a gray eight-legged horse called Sleipnir.
The jury’s still out if Marvel’s version of Loki has done such mythically epic deeds in comics pages.
Can Loki Teleport?
In the MCU movies, Loki needs the Bifrost from place to place or from realm to realm. But in the comics, he can manage teleportation completely on his own.
Moreover, Loki has been shown in the comics to be capable of taking another person with him while teleporting.
There's plenty of proof that Loki is a teleporter in comics pages. But we’re betting that if somebody asks you which characters in Marvel can teleport, you’d probably answer Doctor Strange, Cloak (with his partner Dagger), or Nightcrawler instead.
Can Loki Fly?
Technically, he can fly by using his magical abilities. On several occasions, he has been depicted on comics pages as a character who is able to levitate.
But when you possess the ability to teleport, flying is just like going out for a ride using roller skates instead of that Ducati you own, sitting there in your garage.
But if the objective is theatrics or deception, then you can expect Loki to “fly” just to gain an advantage over somebody.
Does Loki Have Telekinesis?
Yes, Loki possesses the power of telekinesis. But being fond of vulgar displays of power, Loki doesn’t always use his telekinetic powers in the comics because he considers them a minor ability.
But he sometimes wields this power in interesting ways. Instead of just moving objects with his mind, he can actually harness this ability to produce a psychic bolt.
He once directed one at Jane Foster. Fortunately for the astrophysicist and one-time Thor, she was saved by a mystic force field.
Bonus fact: Apart from telekinesis, Loki also has telepathic abilities. He can send telepathic messages across distances and even through dimensions. He often pairs this power with his hypnotic expertise. Quite handy when keeping his victims in check.
Can Loki Die?
Yes, he can die, and technically, he has in the comics. Allow us to explain.
The start of the 2010s saw Marvel publish the Siege saga. In this storyline, Loki has manipulated Norman Osborn (who’s in charge of American defense forces in this saga) into attacking Asgard (which in this arc, was located in the United States).
But then Loki has a sudden change of heart. As the Avengers are fighting the Void (the Sentry completely possessed by his dark side), Loki begs Odin to allow him to use the Norn Stones to empower the Avengers. As the tide begins to turn, the Void realizes that Loki is helping the superheroes. So he kills the God of Mischief. But Loki’s sacrifice inspires the Avengers to save the day.
Because we’re talking about comics here, Loki doesn’t stay dead for long. He gets resurrected. But there’s a twist -- he now exists in a child’s body. This version is known as Kid Loki.
But things get even more complicated. There’s another copy of Loki called Ikol (his original name spelled backward). Ikol contains pieces of the dead Loki’s original soul. In the future, this version would become the malevolent King Loki.
Ikol would eventually erase Kid Loki from existence. After Odin found out about what Ikol did, the Asgardian king threw him in a dungeon. For good measure, Ikol is also banished from Asgard, Earth, and other realms.
The God of Mischief is set to hit the small screen again through the release of Season 2 of the MCU series Loki in 2023. For more information about the second season of MCU's Loki, feel free to check out our complete guide to know the possible release date, cast, plot predictions, trailers, and just about everything there is to know about the Disney+ show.
