Loki Laufeyson is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. While the character first appeared in Venus #6 (Aug. 1949), the characterization that has persisted to the modern day, created by writer Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller Jack Kirby, first appeared in Journey into Mystery #85 (Oct. 1962). The character, which is based on the Norse deity of the same name, is the Asgardian “God of Mischief”, the adopted son of Odin and the adopted brother of the superhero Thor. Loki has been portrayed as both a supervillain and antihero.
Loki has appeared in several ongoing series, limited series and alternate reality series, including the 4-issue series Loki in 2004 and 2006, being the main character of Journey into Mystery from issues 622 to 645, appearing in new issues of Young Avengers in 2013 and receiving three more solo series, Loki: Agent of Asgard in 2013, Vote Loki in 2016 and Loki in 2019. The character has also appeared in associated Marvel merchandise including animated television series, films, video games, clothing, and toys.
Tom Hiddleston plays the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Thor (2011), The Avengers (2012), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and portraying alternate timeline versions of the character in Avengers: Endgame (2019) and the series Loki (2021) and What If…? (2021).
In 2009, Loki was ranked as IGN‘s eighth-greatest comic book villain of all time[1] and in 2014 was ranked again by IGN, this time as the fourth-greatest comic book villain of all time