Loki | |
---|---|
Biography | |
Gender |
Male |
Occupation |
God of Mischief,Chaos and Halloween the creator of the Mask |
Portrayer(s) | |
First appearance |
The Mask (mentioned) |
Loki is the Norse God of Mischief, Chaos and Halloween and the creator of the Mask. He is played by the Scottish actor Alan Cumming. He is the unseen overarching antagonist of the 1994 film, The Mask and the main antagonist of its 2005 stand-alone sequel, Son of the Mask.
History[]
As the youngest child and also their family's "black sheep", Loki was both a failure in the eye(s) of his father Odin and general embarassment to their Aesir clan of Nordic deities due to being an unending source of grief because of his mischievous nature along with the constant pranks and shenanigans he constantly pulls throughout their pantheon. But Loki's unruliness would not be contented with nor limited to the divine alone; acknowledging humanity's vulnerabilities to supernatural forces from day one but knowing that Odin would never permit him to actively meddle with humans unsupervised, or even head over to their world without fair cause, Loki instead crafted a special and powerful Mask imbued with his power and sent it to Earth for the item to incite his own brand of chaos there.
Wearing the Mask as night essentially turns the wearer into an avatar of the said Norse trickster god, bestowing the recipient with the same powers as Loki to actually stand on par with the Mischief deity himself. And from Asgard, Loki watched in amusement as wearers of the Mask incurred intermittent mayhem upon the mortal realm, generation after generation, with some humans even fighting themselves for the item and over the power it promises to whomever dons it to the face.
Needless to say, this only visited his father's displeasure unto Loki--leading to Odin effectively banishing his youngest son who, then may only return on the condition that Loki neutralizes the disorder periodically caused by the Mask by bringing it back to Asgard and away from the humans. Of course, this was a task easier said than done, for Loki apparently has no way of tracking the object of power short of monitoring the human world from his Asgardian home from where he was banned from, or actually observing one who donned the Mask and is benefiting from its power. As such, with Odin incessantly insisting that Loki retireves the Mask no matter the cost, the latter was forced to wander the earth seeking out his prize in ways akin to how mere mortals usually do and how they fare when they sought something that tis otherwise beyond their reach which, in Loki's case, would be the Mask. As such Loki has been seeking his Mask for what is likely centuries--only to ultimately fail as all his leads only lead the god to fakes and artifices of the genuine artifact crafted to look convincingly as such.
Naturally, the omniscient Odin's All-Seeing Eye can just as easily point the trickster god to the right direction; but time and again, his father refused to assist Loki in that regard and only berated him to stay focused and get the job done. For the Mask was a disaster that Loki started and therefore should also be his responsibiity alone to absolve under his own power. Loki desperately seeks both the Mask and his father's approval, with neither outweighing the other in any way, but is constantly falling short due to his like of leisure and fun, having grown somewhat endeared with the world of mortals; and this was not helped by the fact that Odin himself favors Loki's more over-achieving and "proper" siblings, namely Balder and Thor, over their family's youngest so much that Odin would often compare Loki to them in a demeaning manner, to the latter's chagrin.
At a museum where Arthur Neuman works, he spots the Mask in a glass case, only to find that it's only a prop for the museum and causes chaos in the museum demanding for the location of his mask.
Later in the film he is told by his father that a baby has been conceived by the wearer of the Mask named Tim Avery. He was assigned to find the baby named Alvey Avery who has powers of the mask, however, he wasn't aware that his Mask was being inhabited by a dog named Otis who is using the mask to get rid of Alvey so he could be Tim's favorite only.
He later chases after and corners Tim and Alvey into an alley, demanding the former to give him his Mask, but Tim claims to not have it. Angered, Loki tries to kill him with a massive grenade, only for Alvey to form his hands into a shield to protect himself and Tim from getting blown up. Odin possesses Tim and, fed up with Loki's destructive approach, removes his powers.
Later, he is able to convince Odin to restore his powers by completing a summoning ritual and appealing to him, but Odin warns him that he only has one last chance to retrieve the Mask, giving him one hour to complete his mission before Loki loses his powers permanently. Loki then disguises himself as Tim's wife Tonya and manages to kidnap Alvey, but not before giving Tim an ultimatum; if he returns the Mask, then the baby will be returned to him. As they wait for Tim to arrive with the Mask in the alley where he had confronted them earlier, Loki gets to know Alvey by exploring what powers of the mask he has. Later, Tim and Tonya arrive with the mask in Tim's possession to get their son back from Loki, but chaos ensues when Loki lies about the trade, wanting both the mask and Alvey for himself, having grown attached to the child. Otis is angered and bites him in the crotch causing pain to Loki who accidentally throws the mask, allowing Tim to catch it and transform into his Mask persona again. Loki flees with Alvey in his car, and Tim (as the Mask) takes Tonya and Otis into a crazy-looking car chasing after Loki through the streets. Despite Loki's efforts to slow the family down with his powers, they eventually catch up to him in a stadium, where Loki and Masked Tim duke it out until Loki stops, realizing that he and Tim (wearing the mask) were evenly matched and suggests that they let Alvey to decide who he should be with; either his parents or Loki.
Tim agrees and stands by his wife waiting on Alvey's decision, but as Alvey was about to make the wrong choice which worried Tim, he calls out to his son unmasking himself to convince him to stay, which convinces Alvey to take their side.
Loki, angered by this, immediately tries to destroy the family, only for the time limit to expire and his powers to halt as Odin himself appears, this time in person, and once again berates Loki on his failure to retrieve the mask in time and talks down at him on how much he clearly despises him as his son. Accepting this, Loki remarks Odin always viewed him as a disappointment until Tim, feeling sympathy for Loki, intervenes in their argument. Tim reminds Odin that regardless of their problems, they are still father and son and that "the most important thing in life is a relationship with your family". Tim gives Loki the mask, to which he passes to his father, and allowing him to complete his mission.
Touched by Tim's heartfelt words, Odin embraces Loki as his son and accepts the mask from him as well. Loki is happy when Odin permits his return, and the two gods leave Earth with the artifact. As they return to Asgard, Loki tells his father that maybe he could help him reconcile with his wife, to which an annoyed Odin tells him not to push his luck.
Powers and Abilities[]
As a god, Loki is immortal and omnipotent, and can do anything he wants, even bending and breaking the rules of the universe, time and space and warping reality (much like a cartoon character). When angered, his face morphs into that of a green goblin-like creature, representing his Mask.
Appearances[]
- The Mask (film) (Mentioned only)
- The Mask: Official Movie Adaptation
- The Mask: Official Movie Adaptation #1 (Mentioned only)
- Son of the Mask
Trivia[]
- It's clearly unknown if Loki knows of who Stanley Ipkiss was, who was also a wearer of the mask himself.
Gallery[]
Extended Links[]
- Loki from Beast Wars Transformers Wikia