I don't want it to center around Loki. I'm thinking it eventually centers around Immortus... + other versions of Kang, and the doubles of Loki are foreshadowing. More so about Immortus vs Thanos when it gets to the end. In fact I didn't really want Loki to be the only villain in Avengers and he wasn't. I was saying the whole time it would be Thanos before the release. Thanos and Nebula to be exact.
But I had heard some things early on that there were two people behind Loki, and that Nebula may be involved further down the road. At the time I put 2 and 2 together the wrong way. And need to get my blu-ray to see some things again. I don't think the Other is Nebula in disguise. But the other is someone who's been twisted beyond recognition by Nebula's tech, plucked up in the past, and will be revealed to be someone. Just as someone we've already seen will be revealed to be Nebula after her shape-shifting, future m.o. and tech gets introduced in GoTG
I'm a huge Loki fan of course, but wasn't really theorizing that he would really be a main villain. It's just my love for Loki showing through and not putting in my full thoughts about Kang/Immortus/Ant Man varying incarnations yet. More like a major player in the overall story of heroes and villains teaming up against Thanos. A behind the scenes manipulator who thinks he's doing bad things for a good purpose, taking it too far. I think Loki will continue to be in the series, I'm just not sure in which way. I think it will eventually turn into Loki/Kang/Immortus/The Avengers/ The Guardians/Nebula/Surfer/Adam Warlock/Dr. Strange vs. Thanos and his gems that Loki/kang's manipulation allowed him to get because there are now two sets. Dr. Strange has a role in making sure the present copy never leaves Asgard, but Loki loses control of the gems he's attempted to hide from Odin until his death. I could be way off but i'm working under the assumption that the Other is actually someone else who plays a semi-big role when Thanos comes in and may be seen in another form in GoTG along with Nebula.
They're gonna do something further with Loki, and it'll be a subtler form of manipulation that has significant impact. I can feel it. You forget Loki is no stranger to manipulating people, this is just a much harder target. I personally believe we've seen, but not seen, the heights of Loki's manipulation. He wanted to be caught in all cases, because it affects things to get him where he is and everything else in their places.
However, what if he knows Thanos is coming for the gauntlet after Odin dies + a makeshift masters of evil fight the Avengers in the sequel. Will attempt to bring about Ragnarok early. And is making a preemptive strike that he thinks will save Asgard, maybe even the universe, and help him in Ragnarok. He's seen how it plays out, and with Thanos claiming the gauntlet afterwards... But he's only attempting it all because he sees a way, and time/place when Thanos is weakened, and it ensures that he would play the hero, have use of the gems, and then be worshiped as ruler of Asgard and possibly the universe if he makes Ragnarok occur differently.
After his escape Loki *tries* a lot of things that seem unrelated, but it all builds into a Kang/Immortus/Loki/The Avengers/The Guardians/Nebula/The Other/Strange/Miss Marvel/Warlock/Hela/Beyonder/Reprogrammed Ultron VS Thanos and the gems storyline. Loki wants Ragnarok to come about early and keep the Asgardians busy, because Odin will put a stop to Thanos if left alive, and needed to alter the timeline in the past to have a shot at getting Thor out of the way when Loki initiates Ragnarok mixed with IG, and speeds along Thanos' arrival in Asgard--using Odin to weaken him b4 Odin dies.
Loki won't just sit there being punished by Odin forever, I think Hiddleston has proven too popular and shown his willingness to jump back in. And lets say Kang comes into it. I think there's a way to make it so that changes in the timeline have already happened in the past, for the most part. Seeing them both using the power of time travel in diff ways, separately at first, and then Kang and Loki return together from the future at a certain point in Avengers 3, but Loki (and Immortus) realizes Thanos can't be allowed to destroy half the universe.
Only because Loki thinks he should rule everyone in the universe and knows what Thanos will do with the universe afterwards via Kang. Loki dies, and gets taken out of the battle, but someone else ends up with the gauntlet because of Loki's plans, and ends up recreating the half of the universe that was destroyed. Marvel probably knows not to make Loki have a major starring role again until the last Avengers, but you could move along the overall plot with alternating Thanos/ Loki & Kang after credits scenes if he and Kang can go anywhere/anytime.
How many more movies is Tom on contract for? Has it been revealed? I don't think we'll see much of him in Thor 2. However, I think we'll see him planning his escape, or having it already planned out, and showing up again free after the credits, or at the end, with Kang being teased. And again in GotG which will explain a little bit more about what Kang is up to across time, and introduces Nebula as a side-villain to the main villain who has her own issues with Thanos.
If this is somehow miraculously true it probably won't play out exactly like I'm saying. (i'm just trying to account for why Kang and soldiers from multiple times/places with alien weaponry might be involved in Thor 2, trying to tie that to a possible Loki escape and who the Other truly is). And can Kang enter other realms like Asgard without some assistance if he shows up as being the cause of the soldiers from multiple time periods in Thor 2, seen in pictures and in the casting calls? At first it seemed Asgard was just a place in the stars in this movie series, but now I believe it is actually in the stars and yet separate from other realms/worlds that may be accessible to Thanos and Kang. So I think Kang and Thanos can't get into Asgard without Loki's help, like how he sneaks the frost giants in through doors between dimensions. Loki is a dimensional hopper of sorts, and Thanos has one on his side up until a certain point.
I've thought of this before. I don't think they'll toss Loki away. The only way I see Loki taking a backseat, while remaining involved in the struggle against Thanos, is by a long drawn out plan. And Loki almost getting the upper hand/attempting to redeem himself *temporarily* near the end of the overall series. It might only occur if:
A) Loki has the gems at some point in the future, or another powerful advantage/item, going to great lengths to plan things in advance after Thor
B) Thanos is worried about Odin, has things in mind for Loki--thinks he's playing him because he can't immediately see Loki's manipulation in the past + future. Loki can block out peoples' view of him temporarily by creating psychic barriers + actual doubles of himself and the gems with time travel. He has the power to choose when to change his physical doubles into shadow copies, invisible to those not of another timeline/dimension, which Kang does not, and sets up Immortus.
C)Loki needs time travel to hide his motives from Thanos semi-effectively, creating an actual physical double by returning to an earlier point in the story. Not merging the versions of himself but turning them into physical manageable copies. He has another version of himself doing all the dirty work so far, but when we see him free his double from imprisonment to shadow copy him; at first we don't understand why, and it looks like an illusory double shouldn't be able to be free of Odin's punishment. Until it's revealed Kang had a hand in it. And there's more to Loki's shadow copy trick.
Many of Loki's actions become foreshadowing, with people now falling for the extended double trick, and bringing into it doubles of Kang&Pym. With things recurring on a massive scale. The characters don't know they were dealing with the present version Loki who was visited by future Loki after finding out he was a frost giant. And was influenced severely. Told just enough to not alert Thanos yet... If it didn't work future Loki (with Kang) repeated the process until it did. We had no way of knowing that Loki had already begun his trek across time because things had to work out this way for him to even get this far with Thanos. And Thanos is fooled up until a certain point. For the rest of it Thanos will bring about Loki's chance to get the upper hand on his own and it becomes a waiting game, manipulating things that seem small at first.
D) Kang and Thanos have to be at odds in a future timeline for a major reason set-up in GoTG for Loki to take advantage of Kang and vice versa
E)A major focus would be put on Kang with Loki in the background, and others Loki has visited until he loses some of them in a more personal masters of evil type movie, where it's revealed Loki helped assemble them, and by the end takes a major back seat to Kang again only showing up post-credits with him + has enlisted others as pawns(though they don't know it). Him and Kang grab one of the villains introduced, but not used in Thor 2: Enchantress
It becomes a little bit of a mystery as to what Loki is still doing there, hopping across timelines, showing up in the future again, when we think he's dimension hopping, but really it's a combo of both and he's returning from a future he escaped to. Setting up villains to be on his side, making strikes with them against the Avengers to get the scepter back.
Basically Kang thinks it's him vs Thanos & the other, with Loki as his pawn (but the Other has intentions separate from Kang & Loki to work against Thanos). Kang sets up masters of evil, bringing back Red Skull, and Loki is only seen as having helped them get across dimensions at the end. While Kang covers getting them across time.
But Loki is using Kang until the very end, and knew he had to help set off Kang's/Immortus' plans against Thanos to have a chance. And to even give Kang, and therefore him, a chance to try to take the universe from Thanos in the future.
F) they would know Thanos' moves in advance. Having prior knowledge of the shape of the chessboard after their moves have been made.
G) If Kang comes in I think most changes to the timeline will be reflected by flashbacks to things Loki has already done, because this is the timeline where everything works out for future Kang and Loki up until the point Kang decides to use Earth as a base against Thanos within the timeline.
That doesn't mean Loki's going to be a main villain again, or the single villain ever again in the series. And I even think we'll have to see him become an ally against Thanos before all is said and done. Loki finally recognizes his mistakes will destroy the universe and the multiverse; also because he wanted to rule the universe, and not see Thanos destroy it. So he, Immortus, and Beyonder end up helping the Avengers/GoTG and the others defeat Thanos at the very end. And Nebula even helps recreate the universe by being forced to give up the gauntlet to Adam Warlock. She's allowed to live and goes on to live with Rocket Raccoon and the Guardians, and in a humorous bit rounding out everything for their characters she could like to use her tech to shape-shift into his species after he's been ridiculed this whole time for looking like an earth raccoon. While she looks slightly like Thanos in her true form. Because she's kind of like mystique, in that she doesn't wanna look like herself, or look like Thanos. At the same time she used to use her connection to Thanos to get ahead.
Along with Loki having a major character change by sacrificing himself; Nebula also has a major character change from her role in GoTG by giving up the Gauntlet after Thanos is prevented from using it further due to the combined efforts of everyone. One of Kang's forms switched sides and this is a major problem preventing them from erasing Thanos from the timeline at an earlier point. When the remaining heroes (and villains) find a way to erase Thanos from the timeline Nebula is left next to the gauntlet as he disappears. She willingly gives it up after witnessing all the destruction. Because she was only after the greatest treasures in the universe. And that's what she's been doing, in a way, while posing as Maria Hill at Shield... collecting treasure and steering a ship. I don't think we'll see a Skrull invasion, but Hill might still not be who we think she is.
Edit: Oh and to add to that I've been considering Extremis partially coming from a collection of alien tech in GoTG instead of anything from Avengers. A collection that includes a type of Nebula's shape shifting tech that actually alters the structure of the users body slightly, yet in more permanent ways, and changes the person completely allowing them to do things with the other tech she offers up to Mandarin's company in exchange for trying to get Stark out of Shield (she only wants Shield to create a buffer zone for her plans against Thanos and Stark brings bad things to Shield). She's commandeered shield and it becomes her ship. Hill/Nebula may have given Mandarin portions of her technology to set him up for something too, before her plans cross with Kang and Loki's. She makes a secret deal with the Mandarin for it, telling him to take out Stark, because she's working against shield and using shield at the same time like the Skrull Queen in secret invasion.
Nebula/Hill (and corrupt politicians) set Mandarin and AIM against Iron man, tries to seduce and kill iron man, and acts like the Skrull queen in a way. But we prob won't see a full Skrull invasion because she's not the skrull queen and only kinda takes her place. Who knows? She could have skrulls with her in the final battle that are pissed off at Thanos for what he made her do to one of their outpost worlds. Nebula uses Mandarin because he has a technological edge she likes and he also steals from Stark, who she grows to hate. And she identifies with people who steal what they want, and want to rule the world through causing some death, but not worshiping it. She's less willing to inflict violence than Loki, and will be more of a true anti-hero because of her piracy and deception being mild but effective due to the tech she has acquired and has access to. Which forms a loose alliance between her and Leader after Kang and Ultron betray Loki, Abomination and Mandarin. I think Avengers 2 will be a personal movie, but small only in the way it doesn't contain an army and each character will face a personal foe set up by Kang and Loki before we see Ultron kick Loki out of Kang's future. When we first meet Ultron he comes from the future, but Old Pym knows what has happened to the prototype he developed years ago and marches into Shield.
Loki controls the past, while Kang has lost control of his half of the universe in the future: To Thanos and the gauntlet. Kang has an interest in Ant Man because Ant Man keeps thwarting his plans to set the stage for his invasion of the present in other timelines. This is why Ant Man could still take place in the 60's. Ant Man's/Pym's story will be the most tied to Kang's alteration of the timeline and creation of alternate realities that mainly Pym/Old Pym is aware of. Accounting for differing versions of Pym we'll see in his own movies, and a literal battle against himself. Selvig could be Pym operating under a false name and fled shield once before when they took the research he was working on. Running away from his mistake creating Ultron allowed something terrible to happen in the past and other timelines, resulting in Ultron being acquired by Kang. Thus he was speaking about his "friend" aka himself never being heard from again in Thor, after Shield got a hold of him and what he was doing with Stark senior, and he changed his identity to Selvig, but will be revealed to have been needed this way in this timeline. Also why Selvig is reluctant to join up with Shield and thinks he can't trust Fury while Loki influences him from another dimension. He's part of the key to the multi-verse and is himself a doorway into the timeline and other timelines. While the young Pym had to be transferred from the 60's into the current timeline to do battle with Ultron, which they both created and let Kang get a hold of. Whenever the Ant Man movie gets made it doesn't matter if it's mainly in the 60's still, because young Pym crosses over and meets Old scientist Pym in Avengers 2. And the elder Pym/Selvig helps him look further into the timeline problems and revisit the problem of Ultron. Scott Lang is set up in this timeline but doesn't fight in Avengers 2. Lang helps fight Ultron in the not as distant past in Ant Man 2 with Strange and Janet. Janet joins them in their own adventures while they reset part of the timeline. Young Pym teams with Selvig/Old Pym & Janet in the Avengers. And Young Pym gets sent by old Pym to fight alongside Lang and Janet in his sequels in other times/time-lines, becoming Giant Man in Avengers 2. Possibly before even being introduced to Ant Man, before Lang dies and before he adopts the name of Ant Man once more in Ant Man 2(but retains the growing abilities).
This still works if young Pym shows up, seemingly, out of nowhere in Avengers and Ant Man isn't released until afterwards. Shield got a hold of some of Pym's research in the 80's and Lang was set-up but is incompetent compared to Pym and still only has the shrinking abilities. Pym unlocked the growth abilities in the past before becoming Selvig and running away from his past identity, or potential new ones in various timelines affected by Kang and Ultron... The Ant Man movie would still occur mainly in the 60's explaining what just happened and why a young Ant Man becomes another man out of time and joins the battle, becoming Giant-Man. In Ant Man 2 Hank, Janet, Lang and old Pym can do more timeline correcting and face other versions of Pym and travel to when he first fights Ultron and when Kang came into that timeline to set some of it right. Now with his Giant Man abilities fully realized he can attempt to stop Ultron from being created before Kang has a chance to use him again. Kang has other plans and the results of Hank handing over Ultron to Shield in the 80's are seen fully, and proves to be a match for even multiple Pyms. They don't stop Ultron completely because Kang has already been there and done this dance before with Shield and something strange happens where Ultron still shows up at the time of Avengers 2. But Ant Man manages to offset Kang's plans to return past that point or try to relive his acquisition of Ultron again by destroying that version of Ultron and closing it off to one of Kang's forms of time-travel. Ant Man and the Old version of himself work with Janet, Lang, and occasionally others like Dr. Strange to attempt to maintain or change the timeline for the good side.
