'Thor: Ragnarok': Loki Stealing [SPOILER] Could Have Very Bad Consequences

Warning: SPOILERS for Thor: Ragnarok.

With the film now having hit theatres in the US, reviews for the latest MCU adventure Thor: Ragnarok are flowing in. Thankfully for The God of Thunder's fans, the news so far is mostly good. The film has been praised for both its humour and darker moments. Events occur in this film that genuinely raise the stakes for the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, leaving fans with burning questions as to how things will go moving forward.

One of those questions relates to the future plans of a certain lovable God of Mischief.

Loki Redeemed?

For many fans, one of the best parts of Ragnarok was the continued redemption arc of Thor's adopted brother, Loki. Starting off as a sympathetic villain in the first Thor, Loki kicked up a gear of evil for The Avengers, then returned as a sort of anti-hero for Thor: The Dark World.

It seemed that Loki was continuing on this path in Thor: Ragnarok. While he does make a few questionable decisions throughout the film, ultimately he chooses to do the right thing for the realm he called home.

Old Tricks?

There is one moment, quite late in the film, which hints that Loki may not have entirely renounced his mischievous ways just yet. Sent by Thor to retrieve Surtur's crown from Odin's Vault, Loki spots the Tesseract and briefly pauses. As long time fans will know, the Tesseract holds an Infinity Stone—The Space Stone—and has long been an important object in the MCU. In The Avengers, Loki has the mind-controlled Erik Selvig steal the Tesseract so it could be used to open the portal that brought the Chitauri to Earth. Loki was eventually supposed to deliver it to Thanos, but his defeat by the Avengers put a stop to these plans. The Tesseract was then transported by Thor to Odin's vault, where it has remained ever since.

While we do not see Loki take the Tesseract in Ragnarok, we can safely assume that he must have done so. With Avengers: Infinity War so close, the MCU cannot let an Infinity Stone disappear into oblivion. The question now is, what exactly does he plan to do with it? Will he betray his brother again once they reach Earth? Did he simply take it for safe keeping? Following through on his earlier plan to take the Tesseract to Thanos? Or maybe, Loki just wanted an Infinity Stone for his own.

Whatever Loki's plans are, his stealing of the Tesseract could cause he and Thor's efforts to save the people of Asgard from Hela's evil to be for naught.

Headed for Trouble

According to Kevin Feige, the Ship that appears in Ragnarok's first post-credits sequence is The Sanctuary II, which belongs to Thanos. This suggests that The Mad Titan may have been tracking the Space Stone within the Tesseract, which we assume to be in Loki's possession after his trip to the Vault in the final act of the film. With Infinity War so close, Thanos will be growing rather desperate to secure the Infinity Stones himself and strengthen his position of power in the universe. Then, we have the fact that while the Avengers: Infinity War trailer leaked at San Diego Comic-con does show Thor, the new King of Asgard no longer appears to be on a ship with his friends and surviving subjects. Instead, he is floating in space before crashing into the windshield of a ship carrying the Guardians Of The Galaxy. So, things are looking rather grim for Loki, Valkyrie, and everyone else on the ship of Asgardian survivors.

Exactly how bad it is we probably won't know until Avengers: Infinity War hits theatres on May 4, 2018.