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MCU Movies You NEED To Watch Before Seeing Loki on Disney Plus


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Loki arrives in a month and there are a lot of films one would need to watch before the God of Mischief ventures into his very own titular series as he messed with the time stream prompting the Time Variance Authority to call his attention and ask his help to fix it. The MCU is known to be interwoven with each other that one has to carefully see the movies in preparation for the Disney Plus series.

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The canon series of Loki will take us to a whole new perspective of time itself as Loki alters the timestream and makes a branched timeline when his 2012-self had escaped with the Tesseract during the Avengers: Endgame when the Avengers took a journey through time in pursuit of the stones to bring back half of the universe into existence.

Presumably set in various timelines as time in itself is in question, Loki will be given a chance to either fix the time stream or have his face deleted from existence by the Time Variance Authority which certainly has trust issues with him because of his mischief and mastery of deception. Despite his demise in Avengers: Infinity War, Loki, the God of Mischief, once again, found a way to live and survive.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe branching out through the small screen in limited series under Disney+ paves way for its expansion which, much to the excitement of the fans, allows MCU itself to have open more doors and tackle more story arcs beyond the big screen in theaters.

To prepare for the upcoming series, here is the FULL LIST of all the movies you need to watch before seeing Loki.

Thor (2011)

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Thor is the debut film of not only the titular character but also of Loki, his brother. As his first MCU appearance, Loki proved how he is a formidable fighter and mastermind in one film where he executes his plan in absence of Thor who was banished to Midgard/ Earth to claim the throne of their father, Odin. Upon the return of Thor, he arrives in Asgard with Loki pulling the strings.

It introduced Asgard as well wherein the realms were explained and how the Bifrost bridge allows the Asgardians to travel from one realm to another. By the end of the film, the bridge was destroyed in order not to exonerate the whole Jotunheim realm which Loki chose to target. Loki and Thor shared a scene where Loki hangs on the edge of the bridge, about to fall on the vast emptiness of space. Loki decided to let go making Thor believe he lost his brother.

YOU SHOULD WATCH THIS because this explained the true nature and identity of Loki. In this film, it was explained how Loki was adopted by Odin when he was abandoned after the Battle of Jotunheim between the Frost Giants and the Asgardians lead by Odin. This film also showed the prowess of Loki and the extent of what can he do. This sets up his future appearances as well.

The Avengers (2012)

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Loki turned into a full-on villain in The Avengers as he sends to Earth one of the most notable battles in the MCU, the first of many, the Battle of New York where Loki was offered by The Other the scepter which houses an infinity stone, one which Thanos has the command, making Loki his pawn to conquer Earth through the Chitauri army.

For the first time, the Avengers fought side by side in hopes of eliminating the Chitauri army led by Loki. This is also the first time two stones went together as the scepter was the key to the Tesseract opening a way for the Chitauri to enter. Iron Man guided a missile launched and almost didn't make it, giving him trauma which he would almost never recover from.

In the end, the Avengers prevailed. Loki was cornered by all 6 and was taken by Thor back to Asgard as a prisoner for his crimes on Midgard/ Earth. He was condemned by Odin in the Asgardian Dungeons where he supposedly would be for the rest of his life.

YOU SHOULD WATCH THIS because this showed how much Loki could do when he is determined. Also, it's has a funny scene where Loki was thrown from side to side repeatedly by Hulk calling him a Puny God, a pun used later in another film. It also introduced Loki as a villain where he would go to extreme ends just to be recognized as a god and as a leader, one he wanted since the beginning of his MCU tenure.

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

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The second film about Loki's brother introduces yet another important stone, the Aether, which would, later on, be the Reality stone. It was possessed by the Dark Elves so Thor had no other choice but to seek help from Loki. He was hesitant at first but upon knowing that Frigga, their mother, was killed in an attack, he was motivated enough to kill Malekith and the Dark Elves to avenge his beloved mother.

During the battle in Svartalfheim against the Dark Elves, Loki seemed to have died in the hands of his weeping brother, Thor and made Thor even more determined to finish off the Dark Elves and whatever they planned on doing in Midgard/ Earth during the convergence.

YOU SHOULD WATCH THIS because this showed a different side of Loki where he could be trusted as well given proper motivation. This film also showed how much Loki loved his mother, Frigga, despite being adopted, a side of Loki so soft that it was only seen for the first time in the MCU. This film also sets up the third installment of Thor films.

Ant-Man (2015) and Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018)

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YOU SHOULD WATCH THIS and yes, they go together as it explains the quantum realm in a broader perspective. In various portions of the trailers of Loki, some are set in the 70s where, around that time, Hank Pym was just studying the Pym particles which allows time travel. This is also the time when Janet Van Dyne made a sacrifice that will forever alter the course of the MCU as she encounters the time vortex.

This film also explores more about time and space in a different level which could be helpful as a preliminary to learn about how time works given that in Loki, it is time that is in play.

Doctor Strange (2016)

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YOU SHOULD WATCH THIS as it is another film about how time works in the MCU and how much could be manipulated. With the Time Stone in the Eye of Agamotto, Strange went to various lengths in order to protect Earth against Dormammu. Although the film is not entirely connected to Loki, like Ant-Man, it opens an explanation as to how time works.

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

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Arguably the best Thor film in the three films under his name, this film has been set up by all the previous appearances of Loki. Thor: Ragnarok is about the prophecy of Ragnarok, the destruction of Asgard itself, a prophecy told long before.

This film also gave us where Loki was all the time when Thor thought he died. He posed himself as Odin on Asgard and even made various efforts for him that there was a statue of him and a play dedicated about how he was a hero all this time. Thor managed to pull Loki out of his tricks and they went to Earth to find Odin who was left by Loki in a care home.

When they found Odin through the help of Doctor Strange, he was on his final moments in life. Upon his death comes the release of their sister, a secret hidden by Odin to them, Hela, who was so powerful, she managed to destroy the Mjolnir with one hand. Loki called on Asgard to return, a mistake he made which threw them off to Sakaar, and allowed Hela to be back on Asgard where she draws her powers.

In Sakaar, Loki was spectacular and in the ranks beside the Grandmaster while Thor was considered a prisoner off to fight the champion who was later revealed to be Hulk. Loki was left behind by Thor on Sakaar when he returned to Asgard as he told Loki his tricks grew old.

Back in Asgard, Thor faced Hela and Loki managed to get back with the help of the revolution by Korg, where Loki took the ship to evacuate Asgardians and led the team to Asgard. Upon facing Hela, it was Loki who summoned Surtur and completes the prophecy of Ragnarok. With this, he finally became the hero of Asgard, a dream he was able to fulfill after long years of trying.

YOU SHOULD WATCH THIS because this sets up Loki finally being the good guy despite still having a few mischiefs on the way. This is also where Thor and Loki bonded as brothers and even showed the funny scene of "Get help" where Thor had to throw Loki as a weapon. Also, a callback to the Puny God scene was when Thor was in the same position in the hands of Hulk and Loki shouted that's what it felt like.

More than all these funny scenes, Loki proved to be a hero to Asgard. He was able to finally make good of all the things as he saved Asgard along with his brother. Still, he took the Tesseract from Odin's vault. This is also in preparation for the next film on the list.

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

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In the opening scene, it was shown that Thanos found the ship of the Asgardians as he has enough reason to believe that the Tesseract or the Space Stone was in the ship. We see half of the Asgardians killed and Thor was in a bad shape in the hands of Thanos. Loki tried to deceive Thanos saying they could use a tour guide on Earth, only to draw a dagger Thanos was able to stop.

In the painful scene, Thor had to watch Loki's demise as he was crushed by Thanos. His words to Thor were they would see the sunrise again and that Thanos will never be god. In the same film, Thanos successfully collected all the stones and erased the existence of half of the universe to ashes.

YOU SHOULD WATCH THIS because this is where we all thought Loki's stint in the MCU would end. His death was so painful that you can feel it to your bones. And this film also sets up the next on the list.

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

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The film that ended the reign of Thanos, Endgame is the same film that gave Loki the chance to exist again in the MCU. During the heist of the Avengers for the stones, they traveled to 2012 where the Tesseract is following the Battle of New York. They were successful in retrieving the Scepter which houses the mind stone and the time stone from Ancient One, but not the Tesseract as Loki went away with it.

YOU SHOULD WATCH THIS because this is where the Loki series picks up where the Time Variance Authority went in pursuit of Loki because his action messed the time stream and created a branched timeline. In order to correct such, Loki would have to fix the timeline whatever it takes, or have his face deleted forever.

Excited about the new Disney+ series of Loki? Make sure you're prepared and watch all these films before the premiere on June 11, 2021.

Related: Is Black Widow in Loki Series on Disney Plus Explained

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