While Loki is all juiced up in the second season of his Disney Plus series and flaunting some very new powers out of the blue, one remained the same — his ability to astral project multiple replicas of himself.
We have seen him use this specific trick in the past, but every time, I could never figure out who the real Loki was until the real God of Mischief remained standing while his copied projections disappeared. And yet when the Asgardian prince played the same trick in Loki season 2’s second episode and left Mobius to personify our constant confusion by addressing the wrong Loki, I was a step ahead — I had cracked the code. I already knew which one was the real one.
As I would never have an Asgard to rule or Kang the Conqueror to beat, I made solving the mystery of pointing out the real Loki from his projections my “glorious purpose.” I know, I know, for some of you it is a futile practice — why find out when the mirage is eventually broken? So, here I am expectantly looking at those who were disappointed every time they were wrong in working out the true Loki before the mere afterimages of the Marvel character disappeared.
Look at their hands! Yep, it’s that simple.
Loki might not be a lot like his mother, Frigga, but he did inherit her nervous tic — picking at her hands when she is nervous or upset.
He even exhibited this personality trait while he was impersonating Odin in Thor: Ragnarok.
And lo and behold, the real Loki can be seen doing just that in this scene from the Marvel series.
Now, Loki using astral projections is not always going to get so much screen time — in Thor, his copies barely blinked into existence before Thor blasted them away. But as we are destined to get only more of Loki in the time to come, if more such elaborate scenes of the master trickster using the sneaky powers up his sleeve do make it to our screens, you know what to look for and where to direct your attention. Just stray your eyes from his hair for one hot second, come on!
