Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame pulled off a feat unlike anything ever seen on screen before by culminating the previous ten years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and bringing nearly every MCU superhero together on screen. The movies are widely liked by fans and critics, and were incredibly successful, but there's one change they could have made to the opening of Infinity War that would have made both movies much better.
This change wouldn't just affect Infinity War, it would affect the way both movies played out in small ways, and would add a lot more thematic significance, as well as some additional comedic moments. This change is simply that, in the opening of Infinity War, Loki is not killed by Thanos.
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In general, the way that he dies feels like an unsatisfying culmination to his character arc (of course, the character is back for the Loki Disney Plus show, but that Loki is coming straight from The Avengers, and therefore doesn't have the character development of the Loki in Infinity War) and it doesn't really make sense. Loki would know that an attempt to stab Thanos would never work, and it just seems out of character for Loki to make a decision like that when he's supposed to be really clever and a master of trickery.
In general, it just felt like the decision to kill him was made for shock value rather than to actually complete his character arc in any way. It was also just a disappointing choice for the fans to watch, because Loki is such a fan-favorite character, and it didn't feel respectful to the character to have him killed off in such an unceremonious way. If the point was to show how powerful Thanos is, the audience has already seen that because of how quickly he took down the Hulk, who up until this point has been one of the most powerful Avengers. There was no need to kill Loki off just to make that same point a second time.
But what if Loki hadn't died? What if he hadn't tried to pull a knife on Thanos and had lived through the rest of the movie? Here's what the two films could have looked like with a living Loki.
He and Thor would both be found floating in space amongst the debris of their ship by the Guardians of the Galaxy. This situation has high comedic potential, because while Thor interacting with the Guardians was funny enough on its own, Loki trying to have a conversation with Starlord or Drax would have been pure comedy gold. His demeanor is so different from that of most of the Guardians that it would have lent itself to a lot of situational comedy, and his (presumable) utter disdain for most of the team would be hilarious to watch.
After this point, Loki would accompany Thor to Nidavellir, and the events there basically occur the same way that they do in Infinity War, just with Loki there as well. Thor still has that motivation to want to kill Thanos because Thanos still killed a lot of his people. When Stormbreaker is forged and Thor, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot make their way to Wakanda to join in the battle, in this version Loki would come with them. The Avengers would, of course, be confused and distrustful of him at first, until Thor reassures them that he's on their side in this fight. Loki then fights with the Avengers against Thanos's army.
This would be a great full-circle moment for his character arc, because if Infinity War and Endgame are supposed to be culminating the stories that the MCU has been telling up to this point, it would be satisfying to see the villain of the first Avengers movie have enough character development that he's now fighting alongside them against a much greater enemy.
The events of the end of Infinity War would transpire in a similar way, with Thor wounding Thanos with Stormbreaker, but not instantly killing him, and Thanos still able to snap and create the blip. Thor would watch as Loki is one of the people who is blipped and dissolves into dust, which is really the final straw for him, as his last remaining family member (who he just rekindled a positive relationship with) disappears because of a failure that Thor himself made.
This would make his anger and subsequent depression spiral in Endgame feel a lot more realistic. The way the movie is now, it makes sense that he would be upset and feel that half of the world disappeared directly because of his personal failure, but it would make that feeling a lot more potent if he actually had a personal, familial connection to the tragedy of the blip. It would be a good source of motivation for his character throughout the movie if he felt that by trying to retrieve the stones, there was a chance that he could get his brother back and reverse that mistake he made.
The events of Endgame would play out essentially the same way that they do now, except that at the final battle against Thanos in the wreckage of the Avengers compound, Loki would be one of the heroes who came back when the blip was reversed and fights with them once again. It would be that final, cumulative full-circle moment for his character, much like the battle of Wakanda, to not only be fighting with the very people he tried to destroy in the first Avengers team-up movie, but that he is fighting against the person who had ordered him to initiate the attack on New York in the first place.
In this version of events, Loki would also survive the final battle (because any other major character dying at this battle would take away from Tony Stark's final sacrifice), which would leave the door open for future adventures, either in Thor: Love and Thunder or simply on his own.
Though Infinity War and Endgame both work well the way that they currently exist, it's interesting to think about how much better they could have been if a path like this, where Loki lives, had been followed, especially for those who are big Loki fans. For now, fans will simply have to wait until Loki releases on Disney Plus to find out what happens to everyone's favorite trickster god next, even if it's not the version with the character development that they've come to know and love.