LOKI 602: The Secret History of PRESIDENT LOKI
In the penultimate episode of Loki, “Journey Into Mystery,” we met a plethora of Loki Variants. Among them was President Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston. You may not realize it yet, but this Variant has an especially complicated history, and he’s based on a series pitch by Tom King! This revelation was revealed thanks to a brand-new interview conducted by Chris Arrant over at GamesRadar.
How Batman killed a Loki series by Tom King and Tradd Moore and prevented the Asgardian god of mischief from becoming the next US President https://t.co/qDAWEEiU5P
— Chris Arrant #C2E2 (@chrisarrant) July 20, 2021
Journey Into Mystery
The credits for the episode “Journey Into Mystery” included many Marvel Comics creators, but while it made tons of sense to include King in the WandaVision credits (Sparky the late dog is right out of the 2015 run of Vision), even the most devoted Marvel Blog Untrue Believers may have been perplexed by his appearance in the Loki credits.
From Loki Episode 5, “Journey into Mystery.” Photo: Marvel Studios
As it turns out, as King was coming off of that run of Vision for Marvel Comics, he pitched a series called Loki for America. This series would have seen Loki being elected President of the United States.
Vote Loki sketches. Photo: Tradd Moore (Marvel Comics) via GamesRadar
However, that was just around the time that DC Comics approached King and engaged him in an exclusive contract (in the interview, King says he almost turned it down because Vision was a near-perfect creative team… but DC offered him the Batman reboot).
With King leaving Marvel Comics, the Loki for America concept was purchased by the publisher for $300.
Vote Loki #2. Photo: Marvel
If you’re wondering, “Did they then offer the gig to Chip Zdarsky?” Then you’re wondering correctly!
https://twitter.com/zdarsky/status/1417523062031798273?s=20
However, Zdarsky didn’t end up working on the title. Instead, something of a Variant issue was eventually published!
In 2016, Vote Loki was published. This comic by Christopher Hastings, Langdon Foss, Paul McCaffrey, Chris Chuckry, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Travis Lanham does see Loki running for POTUS, but instead of mounting a successful campaign, Candidate Loki splits the vote between the two major parties, allowing for an unpredictable and chaotic election outcome (too real, Vote Loki, too real).
Vote Loki. Photo: Marvel Comics
President Loki
Between the secret origin of President Loki and the secret origin of the Thanos Copter, there were no shortage of revelations in the wake of “Journey Into Mystery.” What was your favorite part of the episode, Marvel Blog Untrue Believers? This is Loki Academy, after all… there will be a test!
