Thor Admits the Real Reason He'll Never Trust Loki (& He's Totally Wrong)
Warning: Contains spoilers for Thor #24
In a touching Thor story, the God of Thunder reflects on the immutable, unchanging nature of gods, but in doing so he also proves he will never understand his brother Loki. The Trickster, in fact, is the only one of the Asgardian gods who really tried to change his own nature, and succeeded, proving he alone controls his own journey.
When Marvel introduced Thor as a character he came with a supporting cast straight out of Norse myth. The status of the Asgardians - and of the many other pantheons that were introduced after them - as actual gods in the Marvel Universe has been the subject of debate for decades. The current consensus is that the so-called "gods" are extra-dimensional beings, who may or may not be descendants of the primeval Earth goddess Gaea who was thought to be Thor's mother until recently. She resides in pocket dimensions adjacent to Earth, such as Asgard or Olympus, and came to be worshipped by humans at different points in history. While their origins are shrouded in legend, what is certain is that all gods are immortals, immune to the effects of age, and very hard to hurt or kill. In fact, Marvel stories have often speculated that the gods cannot truly die, but are locked in an eternal cycle of destruction and rebirth.
Thor #24 is a special celebratory issue that contains a number of stories from different creative teams that left their mark on the history of the God of Thunder. Benedictions, by J. Michael Straczynski, Olivier Coipel, and Alejandro Sànchez, is set in the past when, after surviving the latest iteration of Ragnarok, Thor had just resurrected his fellow gods. The King of Asgard calls a barrister to dictate his will and ensure there will be no struggles for the succession if he dies. In the process, he also leaves a message of hope for the people of Midgard, which urges them to cherish their own mortality and short life spans. Being mortal means there is the possibility to change, to grow and learn, something that the immortal gods are unable to do: "We are fixed points," says Thor, "immutable and unchanging. What I was, I am forever. What Odin and Loki were, they were and are forever."
While Thor's praise for the fleeting nature of human life is touching, referencing Loki proves that he missed what is most important about his brother. The whole Siege event, with the attack on Asgard and the death of Loki at the hands of Sentry, was orchestrated by the Trickster so that he could be reborn in a different form, free from the shackles that Thor described. Tired of being the "God of Evil", Loki came back in a new, juvenile form, shown in the critically-acclaimed Journey into Mystery series, written by Kieron Gillen. Even that version of Loki, however, was destined to change, as a remnant of his older self took over his body, creating the current Loki, who is the God of Stories. In that capacity, Loki stands above all other Asgardians, as he fully understands the nature of the gods as tales, stories that have an immutable element to them but can also be woven in new and different ways.
Loki is the one god who escaped the unchanging aspect of being immortal because he refused to accept his fixed role. That Thor thinks this is impossible for immortals shows he'll never truly believe that Loki is different, that he is no longer the "God of Evil", but he's wrong. After centuries of trickery and betrayal, Thor feels justified in not trusting Loki but he's actually basing his assumptions on a pessimistic belief about the nature of the gods that doesn't hold true.