Alright, we are heading down the rabbit hole in our recap of Loki: episode 2 this week, the latest series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Spoilers ahead!
First, a quick recap. In episode 1, we got our quick backstory of how a version of Loki from 2012, was able to escape from custody after the events of the battle for New York in the first Avengers movie because the heroes from Avengers: Endgame went back in time to retrieve the Infinity Stone to defeat Thanos. This created a new branch in the timeline, with 2012 Loki becoming a Variant who was quickly scooped up by the Time Variance Authority and scheduled for erasure from the universe (allowing the correct Loki to continue on his character arc that MCU fans have come to know through the movies). 2012 Loki is spared from erasure by one industrious TVA Agent (Mobius). Mobius wants Loki to help hunt down a dangerous Variant who is attacking various TVA Police teams across the timeline, for reasons, as yet unknown. The surprise at the end of episode 1 - this dangerous Variant is another version of Loki.
In episode 2, we see a bit of Loki being Loki (lying, manipulating, and generally trying to have his way with the TVA) as he goes out on his first assignment with a TVA team to investigate the latest Variant attack on a TVA team in 1985. We also learn that Loki’s are among the most common Variants as they seem set on unknowingly changing the Sacred Timeline at every turn. Loki does offer some useful info later in the episode, as he figures out where the Variant is likely to be hiding. This leads to a team of TVA Police, Mobius, and our Loki visiting 2050 and coming into contact with the Variant before both the Variant and 2012 Loki use a time door to escape.
About those Different Versions of Loki...
We got the big reveal of Variant Loki and, following the clue spotted many eagle-eyed viewers in Loki’s TVA file, we meet Lady Loki. (This is actually very helpful for writing these articles as I can now switch to calling them Loki and Lady Loki. Much easier.) In their confrontation, Lady Loki doesn’t seem all that interested in what Loki has to say. They banter a bit, and Loki invites her to join him in a plot to overthrow the Time Keepers. She pretends to consider it, but pretty clearly she has plans of her own - even if we don’t know exactly what they are at this point.
In fact, we really don’t know anything about Lady Loki and that might be a smart thing to consider. We are making a lot of assumptions about her, based on what we know of our Loki’s character. What if there is more to Lady Loki than just another villain? We do learn that she has uncovered the location of the Time Keepers. Hmmm…
The Time Keepers are Going to be a Thing
So, about those Time Keepers. We know from episode 1 that these three powerful beings were involved with resolving the Multiverse War sometime in the distant past, creating the Sacred Timeline and then the TVA to police the timeline. But, this information comes from TVA propaganda videos and the TVA themselves. Should we really trust what they have to say? Are the Time Keepers really all-powerful, benevolent masters of the universe?
One possible easter egg that some deep MCU thinkers have been kicking around online is that one of the Time Keepers looks a lot like MCU villain Kang the Conquerer, based on the video images and the big statues of the trio in the TVA. Kang has already been set as an upcoming MCU villain, and likely the next major bad guy for the next phase of MCU movies. So, is Loki going to give us the initial introduction to the newest major villain in the MCU? However it plays out, we can expect to learn a lot more about the Time Keepers and I have a feeling they will be something different than their propaganda videos suggest.
The TVA Police aren’t Impressive
As an offshoot of this idea that the Time Keepers may not be the altruistic wardens of the one and only true timeline, let’s talk about the TVA police. Other than Mobius, they seem remarkably uninterested in the well-being of the beings who inhabit the timeline. They are shown in episode 2 as being dismissive and pretty callous about the humans they interact with when they enter the timeline to prune a variant branch. They certainly don’t seem to embody the idea of being good shepherds of the timeline.
They also seem somewhat poorly trained. Why is it that Lady Loki can take them down so easily? Shouldn’t they be some kind of elite tactical force, with training and abilities far beyond most beings in the universe? This also brings back the question of why they all appear to be human. Is it just that they take on the appearance of the places/times they visit or perhaps since Loki is human-ish (being Asgardian) and therefore he sees them in familiar forms? It hasn’t been addressed in the show and it seems odd.
A New Multiverse is Born
As the episode concludes, Lady Loki has sent some unknown number of reset charges taken from all those TVA agents she killed to various points along the timeline, setting them off and creating a huge number of branches in the timeline. We see workers in the TVA panicking as they see massive branches appearing all over the timeline.
Is this just to create chaos for the TVA while Lady Loki moves toward her real goal of finding the Time Keepers? It’s unclear, but it makes sense to assume that any version of Loki will be playing games and have plots within plots all working together.
Taking from some of those eagle-eyed viewers again, several of those new timeline branches were identifiable and they include:
- 1001 Xander (the HQ of the Nova Corps - as seen in Guardians of the Galaxy)
- 1382 Ego (That is Peter Quill’s Celestial father - as seen in Guardians of the Galaxy 2)
- 1982 Titan (Thanos’ homeworld)
- 1984 Sakaar (referenced in Thor: Ragnarok)
- 2004 Asgaard
- 2301 Vormir (the home of the Soul Stone and where both Gamora and Black Widow died)
On to episode 3!
