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What If... Loki Was Worthy?

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The Watcher watched over the Multiverse and looked at the world tree Yggdrasill, while doing so, she suddenly felt the timeline split. She had no idea as to why but sensed it had something to do with Loki, she decided to check out this split and looked at the timeline.

On Asgard, Loki stood in front of Odin's bed as he lay down due to the Odin sleep, Loki had planned another of his mischievous tricks and just waited for his assistant, Kvisa to get there. Kvisa held a crystal that was important to Loki's plan but was hesitant on giving it to him for fear she could get in trouble, Loki proceeded to show her that nothing was going to happen to them by stomping on Odin's face repeatedly. When he saw that she was still nervous he began to hype himself up and had her join in as he continued to stomp on Odin's sleeping face. This convinced her to hand over the crystal, the two then left the room down the hall they overheard a conversation between Thor and Frigga in which Frigga feeling bad for Loki wanted Thor to take Loki with him on the next adventure. Thor was hesitant but decided it couldn't hurt and agreed to it, Loki and Kvisa passed by and activated their plan by pouring some poison into Thor's porridge and messing around a bit with the Destroyer armor.

Thor had his porridge and then him and the Warriors Three left to Jotunheim with the Destroyer Armor, Loki flashbacked to a time when Thor and his friends had pranked Loki with a supposed "invisible octopus". Loki considered this revenge for that and stated that when Thor came back home, he would be so embarrassed he wouldn't be able to show his face anymore.

Thor went down to Jotunheim and on the way he felt a bit drunk, he assumed he had possibly just had some bad mead and ignored it before crashing into Midgard causing a giant crater into the ground. Thor was confused as he was supposed to be going to Jotunheim rather than Midgard and wondered if Heimdall had perhaps made a mistake. Whichever the case, this caused all the humans around him to fear him upon seeing him and it didn't help that the Destroyer Armor bent a bus in half upon landing causing even more fear amongst the humans. Then earth's military arrived and threatened Thor and the others with their weapons, Thor attempted to make peace and tried to make it clear that the Asgardians came in peace. Sif then arrived and tried to help when for some reason the Destroyer armor activated, Thor and Sif tried to order the armor to stand down but it did not listen, the armor then proceeded to vaporize an armored truck full of humans. Thor and Sif proceeded to battle the armor and eventually Thor seemingly froze it in ice, unfortunately a human who had been deafened by the battle aimed his gun at the armor, Thor tried to signal that he shouldn't do what he was about to but the human did not listen and blasted the armor freeing it. Thor defended the human and fought the armor but unfortunately the armor's beam was too strong and killed both of them before shutting off, Odin then woke up in Asgard desperately wondering why he could no longer sense Thor.

Tony Stark looked out over the city from his tower, he saw smoke and heard screaming but didn't know what to make of it, he was also on a business call with Warren Worthington. Tony attempted to convince Warren to buy stock from Stark Industries but Warren having heard rumors about Tony was unsure of it, Tony told him they were just rumors, Warren informed him that there were also sources to which Tony pointed out there were no pictures. Warren was also unsure as he heard Tony had a secret project referred to as the "I.M. Mark One", Tony told him as he got into the elevator the armor was for protection and no one to worry about. Tony reminded Warren that his father Howard was also a Stark who Warren's family had trusted at which point Tony got a brief stomach ache causing Warren to tell him the answer was a no. Tony proceeded to arrive at the bottom floor and walked out while Pepper Potts waited to talk to him, Tony's bodyguards followed him as he tried once more to continue to the conversation but Warren told him that "No" was his final answer and left. This left Tony disgruntled but he allowed Pepper to speak now, Pepper asked Tony if Happy Hogan had spoken to him, Tony realized Happy hadn't and listened to his voice mails as he and Pepper got into the car. As he listened in horror the voice mails he came to the realization that Happy was dead but refused to believe it until he saw for himself and brutally ordered the driver to go faster.

Loki relaxed, drinking wine as he thought about his prank, he had redirected the Bifrost to send Thor to Midgard and with the crystal he had sent Kvisa had sabotaged the Destroyer armor. The armor would now attack Midgard and Thor and the others would be forced to destroy it with Thor being embarrassed and possibly being exiled, Loki unaware of what had actually happened found it hilarious. However, when the mood got dark Loki became afraid and wondering what was going on when he was grabbed by Valkyrie and the Warriors Three who informed him that Thor had been killed by his prank. Loki didn't believe them and thought that this was Thor's way of getting back at him, however when he saw that all of Asgard was seemingly joining in on what he thought was a prank he began to believe it, especially when he saw Odin awake. Odin scolded Loki for what he did and asked if Loki had any co-conspirators, Loki's first thought was to rat out Kvisa but for some reason his mouth would not say her name. Loki was then given his punishment: banishment, Loki asked how long he was too be banished to which Odin basically told him forever and that his powers would be taken away before proceeding to do so. Frigga then stated that the worst part was that they still loved him despite all this, Loki then flash backed to the reveal of his parentage in which a snowball hit him in the face and afterward everyone began to watch him more closely as if he was a ticking time bomb. Loki before he was exiled proceeded to ask Frigga and Odin what he was supposed to do with this supposed "love" Odin then did as he said he would and banished Loki.

Tony soon arrived on the scene, he pushed FBI agents out of the way and they aimed their guns at him and he gave them full permission to shoot them in a passive aggressive manner. Pepper showed the agents that they had the legal right to be there, Tony looked over the scene as memories of him being sarcastic and mean to Happy came back, ones he now regretted. Eventually he found the place where Happy's body lay, Tony took off the sheet covering it and saw the corpse making him almost sick to his stomach, he then looked around the scene and saw the Destroyer Armor. He saw the evidence of how it killed Happy but thought that some certain things didn't add up, for example Happy seemed to be the pain target yet the mark of another man having been there was also present. He tried to walk to the armor only for part of his clothing to get caught by Mjolnir, he tried to grab Mjolnir in an attempt to destroy the armor for what it did to Happy but the hammer didn't budge. Suddenly lightning struck and took the hammer to Tony's shock, he asked Pepper about it before himself having a heart attack at which point Pepper called the EMTs. While in his limbo state of being both alive and dead Tony came to the following conclusions:

  1. Happy had been killed
  2. It was done by a machine
  3. Tony needed to take revenge
  4. He needed to take the armor

When Tony awake he was in a hospital room and Pepper was talking to Doctor Donald Blake, Pepper noticed that Tony was awake and quickly went to his side. Pepper informed Tony that due to his heart attack he'd been out for nearly 24 hours, she also informed him that the government had recovered Happy's body and thanks to Rhodey they'd get to at least perform a ceremony. Tony attempted to get up but Pepper stopped him and they had a brief romantic moment with it clear there was romantic tension between the two but they were unsure of what it was, with Tony calmed he was now ready to get out of the hospital.

Rūna visited Thor in Valhalla to walk him down to the afterlife, Thor gifted her, her lost axe Jarnbjorn, the axe she lost when she went to Valhalla as punishment at one point in time. There Thor asked a favor of her, to prove Loki's innocence, she refused and told Thor that Loki was the one that killed him and that was the only truth. Thor told her he sensed this wasn't the case as he didn't feel Loki's treachery when murdered, Rūna promised him she'd investigate the death but to not be surprised when it revealed that Loki was guilty for Thor's death. Thor understood and walked off into Valhalla while Rūna began her journey in the library.

The Watcher who was spectating this branched reality noticed a leaf falling off the branches of Yggdrasill, it perplexed her, she suddenly saw in her palms a court jester falling off a ledge and a female warrior. She then noticed a comet zooming past her she followed it and despite being a being who is supposed to be neutral and not feel anything, she felt herself wanting to grab the comet.

Six months later, Loki had begun working for a woman named Donna and would walk her dogs, Loki walked them to his other friend an elderly woman named Stella's house. Stella proceeded to give Loki a cup of coffee when suddenly a light from Asgard shown down to his mobile home, Loki in a panic lied and claimed that it must be aliens. Given Loki's neighbors were the superstitious type a rumor like aliens was enough to get them to panic and go into their homes, Loki quickly escorted the dogs back to Donna's house before walking to his own mobile home where he was met by Rūna. Trying to not cause a panic he acted like Rūna was his sister and walked her into his mobile home, Rūna belittled and mocked Loki for living such a low life much to his annoyance an anger. Loki would then flashback to how he'd gotten to live here, six months ago when Odin revoked his powers and banished him to earth he found a cave which he decided to turn into a tavern called "Joker's" due to Loki's own mischief. He then met Donna who taught him much of earth culture and besides Loki's gecko became his only friend, Loki becoming sick of Rūna's mocking demanded to know why she was here. Rūna explained that she'd been put in charge of proving Loki innocent by Thor, Loki believing himself to be guilty denied such claims of innocence and tried multiple times to prevent Rūna from finding a note that revealed his accomplice but she found it anyway.

Rūna demanded to know who Kvisa was but Loki refused to tell her, Rūna still not giving up on her mission told Loki the riddle Thor had informed her of. Loki took his tablet and solved the riddle finding that Doctor Jane Foster was the one Thor was referring to in the riddle, Loki then told Rūna he freed her of what Thor had told her, had solved her riddle, and now it was time for her to get out of his house.

Tony went to Happy's funeral feeling over-dressed it was low expense and there was no showing of the body, which there couldn't have been anyway as no mortician could work with Happy's burnt corpse. Tony was also partly stalling as he didn't want to have to deal with what this therapist Gabriel had told him, Gabriel told him it was normal for someone like him who had trauma from funerals (such as his parents' death) to fear going through another one. At the funeral Tony witnessed people trying to support Happy's mother and others socializing with him, Tony didn't like it, he felt it was improper at a funeral and so told Pepper what he would prefer for his funeral which Pepper understood. Tony then got up to the stage and began to speak when suddenly a conspiracy theorist named William arrived, he had covered himself in gasoline meaning Pepper couldn't use her taser on him without risking burning the place down. Tony briefly managed to talk the man down, however when William decided Tony was just like "them" (the U.S. Government) Pepper took the moment to knock the man out as Happy's wrestler buddies held him down. Tony decided to pay for a lawyer for William as he didn't want the man to end up in prison, he looked at the man's sign and snapped a photo and decided things would have to be changed.

Jane, who has been trying to live a quiet life with her daughter Quinn and had not been in touch with Thor for 29 days, is surprisingly visited by Stark and Potts, with the former wanting her astrological knowledge. Meanwhile, Rūna visits the Dwarves' realm of Nidavellir, where she adn Eitri find answers about Thor's riddle and Kvisa, learning that someone else was involved with Loki's plan with the Destroyer, and to have orchestrated the deaths of other heroes and villains across the Multiverse. A mysterious hooded individual attacks Rūna and Eitri before disappearing; learning of this, Loki is made to suspect that Kvisa might have betrayed him. Loki and Rūna reluctantly work together to find answers about Jane, while needing to lay low on New York.

Jane visits Stark's laboratory, becoming horrified by the news of the incident in New York, and learning that he plans to use her astrological knowledge to build the Iron Destroyer armor. Loki and Rūna seek after Jane in an event she is supposed to attend, and unexpectedly meet Quinn, whom Loki regards as Thor's secret daughter. They also encounter Jane, who resents from Loki over his reputation as a God of Mischief, before Rūna explains what happened. Regardless, Jane refuses to allow herself and Quinn to be involved with the upcoming conflict, and her role in Thor's riddle. Feeling defeated, Loki returns to Buffalo, leaving Rūna to solve the situation by herself. Rūna arrives in Asgard to tell Odin and Frigga of her discoveries.

Although a still grief-stricken Odin does not take the news lightly, Frigga (believing that Loki can still be redeemed) sends Mjolnir to Earth, inadvertently alerting Stark when the hammer lands on Loki's trailer. As Loki finds himself forced to tell Donna the truth about himself and how he got in New York with Rūna trying to back him up, Jane arrives with Quinn to warn Loki of Stark's plan. Having learned of Jane's betrayal of him, Stark confronts Loki and activates the semi-finished Iron Destroyer. Despite regaining some of his powers, Loki and Rūna are both overwhelmed by Stark in a fight with ends with Loki's trailer being destroyed, and Brian dying, as Quinn (who manages to lift Mjolnir) is captured by Stark, and taken to Stark Tower. There, Quinn is kept captive as Stark tries to convince her of the aftermath of Thor's battle with the Destroyer. Stark also plans to find a way to harness Mjolnir's energies to access Asgard, and commence his war.

Rūna takes Jane to Asgard, where Odin (aware of Stark's plan) has gathered an army to fight back so they can retrieve Quinn and Mjolnir, although Rūna attempts to convince him that the impending war will cause more casualties to both Earth and Asgard. When Rūna's warnings fall from the vengeful Allfather's deaf ears, Frigga holds Odin back, while Rūna and her steed fly back to Earth. Meanwhile, as he mourns Bryan, Loki is confronted by what initially appears to be Kvisa, only to be revealed as the mysterious individual Rūna fought in Nidavellir earlier, before disappearing. Loki and Rūna are then contacted by Potts, who also believes that Stark is pushing his desire for revenge too far, and offers to help stop him.

Stark (once again donning the Iron Destroyer) anticipates Potts's betrayal, and tries to take measures about it, until Loki and Rūna arrive to rescue her and Quinn. In the middle of the chaos, Mjolnir triggers a Bifrost Bridge which engulfs Loki, Rūna, Quinn and Stark. As Rūna and her steed secure Quinn, Loki uses his last enchantment on Mjolnir, which deems him worthy to wield it, and revitalizes him. Loki defeats Stark, who crashlands in New York with the critically damaged Iron Destroyer.

Solicit Synopsis

Loki and Valkyrie seek redemption in the first adventure of an epic new multiversal series that reimagines the origins of iconic Marvel heroes.

So many worlds, so little time. Infinite possibilities, creating infinite realities. Long have I watched the trickster god sow chaos. But . . . what if Loki saved Asgard from Tony Stark’s revenge?

Thor—Son of Odin, God of Thunder, wielder of the hammer Mjolnir—is dead. And Loki is responsible.

It was only meant to be a joke—tampering with the Destroyer, changing Thor’s course to Midgard—a bit of mischief with a chance of maiming. But Loki’s harmless prank spiraled out of control, unleashing death and destruction on New York City and the heroes sworn to protect it. The city was saved, but at the cost of Thor’s life.

Furious and heartbroken, the All-Father banishes Loki to Earth for his crime. Loki finds himself in a realm of boxed wine, instant noodles, and some sort of regional performance troupe known as the “Buffalo Bills.” It’s a meager existence, far from Asgard’s grand courts, but he finds his new friend, Brian the Gecko, a much more engaging companion than the sycophants back home. A true meeting of the minds. Loki is the God of Mischief—but he knows, deep down, that he never truly deserved to stand next to their father’s golden child Thor, as two true sons of Odin.

Yet, he cannot even endure his exile in peaceful isolation. A Valkyrie—Hel-bent on carrying out her oath to Thor—barges into his trailer-home with his brother’s final words from the beyond: a plea to find a certain Dr. Jane Foster and pass on Mjolnir to its rightful heir.

While Loki struggles to fulfil his brother’s last request, the far-reaching consequences of his fatal prank return to haunt him. Blinded by grief from those he lost in the chaos wrought by Asgard, Iron Man vows revenge on those who consider themselves gods. Determined to protect the Earth from the might of this unpredictable alien power, he forges Asgard’s own weaponry into a lethal suit of armor, set on eradicating any tether between their worlds. Consequences be damned. When Asgard looks to Loki for salvation, he must answer the question: Am I truly worthy?

Notes

  • Part of the What If . . . ? line of novels.

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