Loki is one of the more beloved characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After losing his life at the hands of the Mad Titan, Thanos, he gets a second chance at life during the events of the Disney+ series, Loki. His journey has all kinds of twists and turns, but he ends up saving the multiverse by sitting on the throne at the End of Time and holding the whole thing together. That heroic feat makes it easy to forget that, at one point, Loki was a villain hellbent on ruling the Earth. Fortunately, the Avengers came together and made quick work of him, and it turns out they weren’t the only ones up for the task.
It’s hard to argue that the God of Mischief is at his strongest during the events of The Avengers. He doesn’t use his illusion manipulation or shapeshifting to the best of his ability, choosing to make other characters do most of the dirty work. However, he does have a formidable army behind him in the Chitauri, and that makes him quite the challenge.
No one gets under Loki’s skin more than his adoptive father, Odin. They have a major falling out in Thor, which pushes Loki into the hands of Thanos. While Odin probably didn’t want to work things out with his troubled son at the time, had he known he was raising an army to invade one of the Nine Realms, there’s a good chance that the Allfather would have taken the fight to him. Odin would have little trouble dispatching the Chitauri with his unparalleled strength; after all, he barely breaks a sweat against the Frost Giants, and they’re stronger in every way. Without his minions to back him up, Loki would be at the mercy of his father, which usually ends with the God of Mischief running away with his tail between his legs.
While Classic Loki likely wouldn’t call himself a hero, his sacrifice at the end of Loki Season 1 certainly makes him one. His journey is tragic, with him surviving the events of Infinity War and isolating himself to avoid hurting anyone else. But it’s his failures that make him the perfect candidate to defeat his variant. Classic Loki went through everything Loki in The Avengers did, so he’d be able to reason with him and get him to give up his quest for power. And even if that doesn’t work, his magic abilities are far superior to his counterpart’s, meaning he’d be able to best him and his army.
On paper, Rocket doesn’t seem like the type of character that could defeat a god. However, his intelligence shouldn’t be underestimated, and it just so happens that he’s an expert on the Chitauri. In a deleted scene for Avengers: Endgame, Rocket calls the Chitauri “the suckiest army in the galaxy” and makes fun of the Avengers for taking so long to defeat them. If he’s confident that he could take out the Chitauri mothership without issue, he surely could come up with a way to at least capture Loki. It also doesn’t hurt his case that his buddy, Groot, is always by his side and ready for a fight.
Loki’s magic leaves a lot to be desired in the MCU, which means he wants to avoid fights with more proficient users. Scarlet Witch is definitely someone he doesn’t want to cross paths with, as her strength is even too much for the Mad Titan to handle. Loki might be able to buy some time by putting up illusions, but Wanda Maximoff knows how to see through those better than anyone. The Asgardian is honestly very lucky that Wanda didn’t make her MCU debut until the second Avengers movie because if she were present in the first, his reign of terror would’ve been much shorter.
Doctor Strange’s case is similar to Scarlet Witch’s. He’s a Master of the Mystic Arts and has experience wielding an Infinity Stone. Stephen Strange has a bit of an edge on Wanda, though, because he already has experience with Loki in the MCU. He puts the God of Mischief in a blender during the events of Thor: Ragnarok, forcing him to fall in a different dimension for thirty minutes. Loki has no answer for Doctor Strange’s magic, and if they came to blows during The Avengers, the result would likely be the same.
Another Marvel hero who has plenty of experience with Infinity Stones is Captain Marvel, who got her powers from the Tesseract in the MCU. There are very few characters who can hold their own against Carol Danvers’ cosmic abilities, as they give her superhuman strength, speed, and durability, among other things. She even gets the best of Thanos for a brief moment before he hits her with the Power Stone out of desperation. If Captain Marvel got her hands on Loki from The Avengers, he’d get a worse beating than the Hulk gave him.
Yes, Hulk already got the best of Loki in The Avengers. He beats him so bad, in fact, that the God of Mischief still holds a grudge in Thor: Ragnarok. But the Hulk from that team-up movie couldn’t do the job alone, needing all of his allies to get the chance to beat Loki to a pulp. Smart Hulk, on the other hand, could’ve done it all on his own. Not only does he still have unbelievable strength, but he also has the smarts to come up with a plan to finish off Loki and his goons once and for all. There’s a reason so many Marvel characters covet brains over brawn.
While Sentry isn’t a mainstay of the MCU just yet, his history in Marvel Comics makes it clear that he has what it takes to beat Loki. He’s one of the strongest characters in the Marvel Universe, and his dark alter-ego, The Void, is a ruthless killer capable of killing gods. In fact, during the Siege storyline, The Void kills the God of Mischief before turning his attention to Ares, the God of War, ripping him in half. Marvel wouldn’t have been able to get away with a PG-13 rating for The Avengers if Sentry was part of the team.
Beta Ray Bill is essentially another version of Thor in the pages of Marvel Comics, being able to wield the god’s weapons. However, when it comes to facing off against Loki, Beta Ray Bill has a major advantage because he won’t let his personal feelings get in the way. Thor always beats Loki in a test of strength, but he lets his brother trick him at every opportunity. Beta Ray Bill would see right through Loki’s tricks and let his fists do the talking as he saves the Earth from his invasion.
The Asgardian gods are strong, no doubt, but some of the cosmic Marvel heroes play in a different league. The Silver Surfer is one of them, wielding the Power Cosmic and being able to absorb energy at will. His speed, strength, and endurance would give Loki fits on his best day, and it’s not like the Chitauri would be much help in the fight. Loki would have to bend the knee to the Silver Surfer and hope the hero isn’t working for Galactus at the moment.
Do you think these Marvel heroes could defeat Loki in The Avengers? Who else do you believe belongs on this list? Let us know in the comments below!
Loki and his army are nothing to scoff at in The Avengers, but there are several Marvel heroes who would have made quick work of him. Read More