'Avengers 4: Endgame' Spoilers: Time Travel Theory Explains How Loki Lives

Loki is definitely dead in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but with confirmed plans for a Loki-focused series on Disney’s streaming service, his death can’t be permanent, can it? We still don’t know how Marvel plans to bring the Nordic God of Mischief back to life (assuming the show isn’t just set in the past), but a new fan theory uses one of the most popular Avengers: Endgame rumors around to come up with a very convincing explanation.

In a post to Reddit’s “Fan Theories” community, redditor u/DangerAinger explains how Endgame’s alleged time travel plot could allow Loki to bring himself back to life.

“I’ve seen plenty of Loki isn’t dead posts and have got pretty sick of them myself,” they write, “but what if Loki did, in fact, die on the ship at the beginning of Infinity War and will come back in a different way?”

Thanks to leaked set photos, we already know that Avengers will return to the Battle of New York where Loki was present. So what if during that time he uses his powers to “invade” another character’s mind (like, say, Bruce Banner), finds out Thanos will eventually kill him, and then uses that information to change the course of MCU history?

It wouldn’t be the first time Loki accessed someone else’s memories. He did the same thing to Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok. The only difference is that this time, thanks to some time travel shenanigans, he’d be able to see into the future and potentially avoid his own death at the start of Infinity War.

After learning how he dies, Loki would almost surely turn on Thanos (that’s his whole personality, after all) which could lead to even more changes to the timeline. This could be the “greater threat” alluded to in that previous Endgame leak. It might also explain the official synopsis released by Marvel (emphasis added):

A culmination of 22 interconnected films the fourth installment of the Avengers saga will draw audiences to witness the turning point of this epic journey. Our beloved heroes will truly understand how fragile this reality is and the sacrifices that must be made to uphold it.

Perhaps most important of all, the return of Tom Hiddleston’s Loki would give the upcoming Avengers movie a bit of comic relief, which, based on the first trailer, seems to be seriously lacking in Endgame.

Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26, 2019.