What happened to Loki’s scepter in the MCU and Marvel Comics?

❘ Published: 2023-10-05T16:52:43

Marvel Comics/Marvel Studios

Loki’s scepter was a powerful weapon, but it’s ultimate fate is never entirely clear.

One of the more eye-catching items to show up in the MCU is Loki’s brilliant gold scepter, but the actual timeline of the scepter in the movies and comics has more than a few twists and turns.

When Loki made his grand debut in the MCU, the trickster god wielded little more than knives and wit. But his return as a villain in The Avengers saw him carry a very notable accessory: a gold scepter with a glowing blue gem.

Loki’s scepter would become one of the most important MCU artifacts over the next few years, but its timeline is pretty interesting. What’s more is that its timeline is bisected by the events of Avengers Endgame, resulting in two very different outcomes for it.

There is a comic iteration of the scepter, but its background and properties are vastly different. Still, its design is unmistakably meant to replicate that of Loki’s scepter from the MCU.

What happened to Loki’s scepter after the Avengers?

In the MCU, Loki received the scepter from Thanos. It was used to house the Mind Stone, with which Loki was able to mind-control individuals such as Hawkeye and Dr. Erik Selvig. A later retcon implies the Mind Stone also had an effect on Loki, explaining his much darker nature during the events of 2012’s The Avengers.

The scepter would eventually be taken into possession by The Avengers. They would use it to shut down the Tesseract and end the Chitauri invasion. It would later go missing when Hydra sleeper agents stole it, but the scepter would be recovered from Baron Strucker’s laboratory.

The scepter is kept by the Avengers but eventually winds up in the hands of Ultron. Ultron would disassemble Loki’s scepter to harvest the Mind Stone. He used the mind stone to power his synthezoid creation, which became The Vision. As the scepter itself had no actual power, it was presumably discarded.

What happened to Loki’s scepter after Avengers Endgame?

A surprising twist on the plot of Loki’s scepter comes in Avengers Endgame. Captain America intercepts the Hydra sleeper agents who are stealing the scepter, taking it to 2023 with him.

Captain America returns the Infinity Stones and Mjolnir to the past.

The Mind Stone is harvested from the scepter to complete the new Nanotech Gauntlet and returned to its place in the past in the film’s conclusion. However, Captain America does not have the scepter with him when he journeys back in time. Instead, the Mind Stone is placed alongside the other stones inside the briefcase he carries.

Given Captain America never went back in time with it, a version of Loki’s scepter from the other timeline likely still exists somewhere in 2023 following Avengers Endgame. However, without the Mind Stone to power it, it would be little more than a metal staff.

What happened to Loki’s scepter in Marvel Comics?

King Loki stole Freya’s staff after defeating her, shifting it to his own design and wielding it to cement his place as ruler of Asgard. However, it was a trick. A younger Loki, who had redeemed himself as an agent of Asgard and God of Stories, tricked King Loki by using Freyja’s staff as a symbol for his desires.

Saving the essence of Asgard and King Loki’s stories inside the staff’s sphere, Loki stepped outside reality with it. He managed to essentially sidestep the end of the universe in Secret Wars and found himself allied with a new group of Defenders assembled by a deceased Stephen Strange and led by Blue Marvel.

Loki planned to exit reality, hopeful to forge a new future where he could not lapse into his evil ways again. Instead, Blue Marvel convinced him to live up to his promise to be better. Loki merged with his older self but chose to obscure his memories of the adventure until much later. The Loki of the reborn universe would get his memories back, but seemingly never had the scepter. It may have simply ceased to exist when the previous Loki merged with him.

Loki Season 2 Episode 1 hits Disney Plus on October 5 in the US and October 6 in the UK, which you can sign up for here. You can check out our other coverage below: