Me: I don’t think Loki really thought he was going to kill Thanos in IW. I think it was a hail mary preceding a deliberate sacrifice. Thanos kills half of everything. He’s already killed half of Asgard, and he’s standing in front of the two members of the Asgardian royal family. A neat set that can be split in half with a single action. It’s one of the fundamental principles of Thanos’ philosophy that it doesn’t matter who dies, it’s random. He’s going to kill whoever is a convenient target, and Thor is literally right in front of him. If Loki had stayed out of Thanos line of sight, if he hadn’t approached him, if he hadn’t directly confronted him, Thanos would not have sought him out. Loki put himself in front of Thanos. He made himself a more enticing target than his brother. He pulled that knife because it was guaranteed to draw Thanos' metaphorical executioner's axe. He walked up to one of the most powerful beings in the universe with nothing more than a dagger in hand because it was the only thing he could do to stack the odds in his brother’s favor. Loki isn't an idiot. He didn’t really think he’d win. He knew he probably couldn't kill Thanos with a dagger. He also knew that if he tried something else, he would still probably fail, and the ensuing fight would leave both him and Thor dead. He knew they were outnumbered, he knew they were beat, and he knew Thanos had so much worse in mind for the future. Loki knew only one Asgardian was going to make it off this ship alive and he made sure it was Thor. Where are you going, come back, no, I am NOT done.
