Lady Sif (Jamie Alexander) could appear alongside Loki (Tom Hiddleston) in Thor: Love and Thunder. The Asgardian warrior, which missed out on Thor: Ragnarok, could end her MCU hiatus with a role in the fourth Thor film.
So far, Sif has appeared in the first two Thor movies and two episodes of Agents of SHIELD. In the early years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, she was counted as one of the God of Thunder’s four most reliable allies, with the others being the Warrior Three. Hogun (Tadanobu Asano), Fandral (Zachary Levi), and Volstagg (Ray Stevenson) were all killed when Hela (Cate Blanchett) mercilessly slaughtered the forces of Asgard in Thor: Ragnarok, but Sif was nowhere to be found. As for why one of Asgard’s most important defenders wasn’t around for a fight that put their entire homeland on the line, the reason can be explained by Jamie Alexander’s TV commitments. At the time, she was playing the main character in the ABC series, Blindspot.
Blindspot kept Sif from joining Thor, Loki, Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) in the final battle against Hela, but the series is now over, which means that depending on what the story is for Thor’s next movie, it’s now possible for her to return. Since not much is left of Thor’s original supporting cast from the first two films, it would make sense for Thor: Love and Thunder to bring her back into her fold. Of course, one issue with her being gone from Thor’s life for so many years is that if she does appear in Thor 4, Marvel will be tasked with explaining what she’s been doing with her time. It could be that the explanation that the movie offers will be directly connected to the alternate timeline Loki from Avengers: Endgame, potentially bringing them into Thor: Love and Thunder together.
Many have wondered if Lady Sif’s potential MCU return will happen sooner than Thor: Love and Thunder in 2022. One way for that to happen would be through an appearance in Loki, an upcoming Disney+ series that centers on what happened to the version of Thor’s brother who escaped from SHIELD custody with the Space Stone during the Avengers’ trip back to 2012. Some believe that Loki will reunite with fellow Asgardian Sif based on a recent Instagram post from Jamie Alexander that revealed she was traveling to Atlanta, which is also the location Loki is being filmed in. That, combined with the notion that Sif makes sense for the show, is strengthening theories that she’ll be involved in some way with Loki’s solo MCU adventure on Disney+.
Loki could be where viewers are finally told about what Sif has been up to in recent years. It’s already been said by Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige that she was “probably banished” by Loki when he was masquerading as Odin (Anthony Hopkins) in the time gap between Thor: The Dark World and Ragnarok. What happened to her after that is unclear. With her ties to Asgard being severed, she could have traveled far away in search of a new purpose. One possibility is that she went on an adventure in outer space and encountered Beta Ray Bill, but it could be that she met the Time Variance Authority (TVA) instead. In Marvel Comics, the TVA is an organization whose members are committed to policing the time stream and making sure that it isn’t being abused by people like Kang the Conqueror. As someone with no home of her own anymore, Lady Sif could become an agent of the TVA who they can send out on important missions to other timelines. With her skills, she’d be a useful asset to the group against any time-traveling threats.
It’s known from what’s been revealed about Loki that the God of Mischief will find himself in the crosshairs of Sif and Beta Ray Bill. It would seem that the 2012 Loki will cause trouble in the timestream, and for that reason, the TVA will try to apprehend him. Footage of him in a TVA prison uniform indicates that he’ll indeed be enemies with them. It’s possible that this plotline is how fans will see Sif again. She could capture him herself, or meet him after he’s already been imprisoned. Through their scenes together, Marvel can also reveal why she never tried to come back after being exiled. It could be that her activities with the TVA have taken her so far from Asgard (and perhaps the timeline as a whole) that she’s been far-removed from the events of the MCU.
With the main version of Loki being dead, Marvel may move on from him in terms of how he relates to Thor’s story, or it could pull the 2012 Loki into his orbit in Thor: Love and Thunder. The problem is that while a handful of movies and shows in Phase 4 may deal heavily with time travel and the multiverse, Thor 4 may not be one of them. Getting him into the present and back into Thor’s life could be problematic unless he’s dragged there by a certain character. It could be that whatever plays out in Loki could involve Sif having to run out on the TVA. If Loki tags along with her – either as her prisoner so that she can keep an eye on him or for some other reason – he could have an interesting reunion with his brother in Thor 4. Thor could be happy to see him, but that doesn’t mean they’ll get along. He could have developed as a character over the course of his Disney+ show, but he’s unlikely to be in the same place that he was when the original version’s arc ended in Avengers: Infinity War.
Thor: Love and Thunder could properly tie up Sif’s story – and Loki could help with that. First of all, her next MCU arc could be built around her dynamic with Loki. She has an understandable animosity for Loki, which would only be magnified when she finds out that he banished her, but this could allow for the pair to go from enemies to allies Phase 4. The trickster god has already proved that he’s capable of being a better person, so a second redemption story for Loki in the MCU does feel plausible. Thor helped him down that road the first time, but since he won’t be around for Loki’s run-in with the TVA, it may be Sif who pushes him in the right direction. Sif always felt like a character who has been underutilized in the MCU, so giving her a role in Loki’s redemption could fix that, which would be especially crucial since using Sif again in what may be Thor’s last solo film would seem pointless if Marvel doesn’t give her something important to do.
Regardless of the exact minutia, one thing is sure: if Marvel allows the character her due place in the spotlight, Thor: Love and Thunder could serve as a strong, final chapter for the MCU’s Lady Sif.
