This is silly, but: one of the reasons I love this shot so much is because, just a moment ago, Loki was watching his brother to see exactly what it was Thor was going to do next – to Loki. Thor was blaming Loki for Odin’s death (not Loki’s fault, in any way, I’m quite sure of this; but given that Loki DID put their father through some crap, I find Thor’s anger understandable to a degree). Thor had not made any overtly threatening moves towards Loki, and Loki was not exactly scared of him; it was more a wariness, with Loki watching him, waiting for Thor to decide what he was going to do. Would there be an attack? How much pain is Thor in, and what is he going to do with it??
And this is like eleven seconds later, and because there’s a new threat to face, they put all that aside and turn to face it together; and the agreement to do so is reached wordlessly, it’s all with a look. And Thor – who has just lost his father and is only about an hour into understanding that his brother made him think he had died and so has made Thor have to mourn him and miss him for the last four years, and so was maybe contemplating at least punching Loki in the face a couple of times – Thor summons a bolt of lightning that just harmlessly washes over his brother directly beside him. And Loki doesn’t start, doesn’t flinch, doesn’t react at all, because he can trust in his brother implicitly, absolutely – even when lightning is crashing over him. Because the lightning is not for him. Because he knows there’s nothing to hurt him from his brother. Because all other considerations have been put aside for now, and they are in this moment together.
And that’s one of the reasons why I love this shot so much.
Modern Life is Rubbish 