In what must be the top contender for punniest comic book title of the year, this week sees Marvel launch Asgardians of the Galaxy, a new superhero team consisting of heroes and anti-heroes from Thor’s home world who’ve united to save the cosmos from Thanos’ daughter Nebula, following on from the recent Infinity Wars event.
The group consists of Angela (Thor’s sister), Valkyrie, Skurge the Executioner, Kevin Masterson AKA Thunderstrike, Throg the Frog of Thunder and robot guardian the Destroyer. However, the final page of Asgardians of the Galaxy #1 unveils the inclusion of a secret extra member who’s operating the Destroyer from the inside and is apparently manipulating the team for his own gain. Last chance to avoid spoilers…
This secret member is none other than Kid Loki, the alternate child version of the God of Mischief who retains the memories of the adult anti-villain. First appearing in 2010’s Siege, Kid Loki has a complicated history but the most important point that’s relevant here is that he shouldn’t exist anymore as he was merged with the regular Loki in 2014’s Journey to Mystery. It’s currently unclear, then, how he’s his own separate being again.
The final page (see above) reveals that Angela’s the only one on the team who knows of Kid Loki’s existence, and it seems she’s doing his bidding as he has some sort of leverage over her. It’s worth remembering that, though his appearance here is pretty sinister, Kid Loki was actually on the side of the heroes. The same seems to be the case this time as well, as he says he wants to “save the galaxy.” However, his methods of going about it definitely resemble the adult Loki’s cunning ways.
Marvel’s Asgardians of the Galaxy #1 by Cullen Bunn, Matteo Lolli and Federico Blee is out on September 5th.
