Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Starring Tom Hiddleston (Loki Variant L1130 / President Loki), Sophie Di Martino (Sylvie), Owen Wilson (Mobius), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Ravonna Renslayer), Wunmi Mosaku (Hunter B-15), Tara Strong (the voice of Miss Minutes), Sasha Lane (Hunter C-20), Jack Veal (Kid Loki), DeObia Oparei (Boastful Loki), and Richard E. Grant (Classic Loki), with Jonathan Majors as He Who Remains / the Voice of the Timekeepers and Chris Hemsworth as the voice of Throg / Thor Variant T365
LOKI: SEASON ONE
Directed by Kate Herron
A Kevin Feige Production
Produced with Victoria Alonso, Louis D’Esposito, Michael Waldron, Stephen Broussard, Kate Herron, and Tom Hiddleston
Music By Natalie Holt
Distributed by Disney Platform Distribution
Number of Episodes: 6
Initial Streaming: June 9, 2021 â July 14, 2021
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Fun Loki: Season One Facts
In August-2017, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige organized his latest Marvel Studios Creative Retreat in an effort to begin developing plans for Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The goal was to develop a blueprint for the next five-years of Marvel Studios projects post-The Infinity Saga. No public announcements were made, but Feige and his team first discussed their visions for future Marvel Studios projects such as Eternals, Black Widow, and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on this retreat. Some four-months later in December-2017, Bob Iger dropped the news on Feige that The Walt Disney Company was entering the Streaming Platform business, with a target launch date of 2019. Iger proposed the idea of a series of streaming television shows that would be set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and that more importantly, would be produced by Kevin Feige and his Marvel Studios team. Excited by the prospect, Feige encouraged his creative team to begin brainstorming ideas for potential shows, and the foundations for the shows that would eventually become Loki: Season One, WandaVision, and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier were laid.
On December 14, 2017, The Walt Disney Company announced that a deal had been reached with Fox that would see Disney acquire Fox’s television and film divisions, among other things. For comic book fans, this deal was huge, for it meant that Marvel characters such as The X-Men, The Fantastic Four, and Deadpool would be free to be ushered into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This development would end up impacting Loki: Season One in a very big way, as it freed-up the Kang the Conqueror character for use by Marvel Studios within the MCU.
On November 8, 2018, Bob Iger confirmed the name of the upstart Disney streaming service as Disney+. Loki: Season One was also confirmed for Disney+ with Tom Hiddleston reprising his role as the God of Mischief.
On July 20, 2019, Marvel Studios presented its landmark 10th independent presentation at San Diego Comic Con where Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige hyped Loki: Season One for Disney+, announcing a release window of Spring-2021. Tom Hiddleston appeared onstage with Feige to tout the series, which Feige confirmed would follow the journey of the Variant version of Loki that escaped Avengers custody with the Tesseract during the 2012 portion of the Time Heist, as seen in Avengers: Endgame.
On August 25, 2019, Kate Herron was announced as the showrunner for Loki: Season One.
On October 15, 2019, The Walt Disney Company announced the promotion of Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige to Chief Creative Officer of all things Marvel Entertainment. This meant that Feige would now oversee movies, television, and even publishing. The original version of Marvel Television (led by Jeph Loeb) was disbanded and even Marvel Entertainment President Dan Buckley and Marvel Chairman Ike Perlmutter would now essentially answer to Feige. Disney stated that all of this was being done in an effort to create a more cohesive Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the Spring of 2023, Ike Perlmutter was let go by The Walt Disney Company and around a year later, in the Spring of 2024, Marvel Television would be relaunched under Brad Winderbaum with Kevin Feige’s blessing and this time around working in full accordance with Marvel Studios.
On November 12, 2019, Walt Disney Pictures launched its Disney+ streaming service in the United States. A special feature production titled Marvel Studios: Expanding the Universe was included for viewing upon the launch. The special featured footage from the 2019 San Diego Comic Con and D23 conventions along with some new concept art from Loki: Season One. The new streaming service drew a reported 10-million subscribers on its first day.
On February 2, 2020, during the NFL’s Super Bowl LIV, Marvel Studios released a 30-second teaser that previewed the upcoming Disney+ television streaming shows, including Loki: Season One. Super Bowl LIV saw Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs defeat Kyle Shanahan’s San Francisco 49ers by a final score of 31-20.
On February 10, 2020, Loki: Season One commenced filming.
On March 15, 2020, Marvel Studios announced that all filming on Loki: Season One had been halted for two weeks due to concerns related to the sudden Coronavirus outbreak.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
On March 22, 2020, Marvel Studios completely shut down due to continued concerns over the ongoing COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak. All ongoing shoots had already been postponed, but a further step was taken to close the Marvel Studios offices in Burbank, California as the Coronavirus continued to wreak havoc on American life, complete with a mandatory stay-at-home order to all residents in California for the foreseeable future. Consequently, Marvel Studios did not release a single project in 2020, with the previously scheduled 2020 releases of Black Widow, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Eternals, and WandaVision all getting pushed back to 2021.
On December 5, 2020, after weeks upon weeks of delays, Loki: Season One wrapped filming.
In Loki: Season One, we are introduced to the Time Variance Authority. The TVA was created by Walter Simonson and Sal Buscema, debuting in Thor # 372 in 1986. In the comics, the TVA played homage to longtime Marvel writer Mark Gruenwald, who is credited with coming up with the classification system for the Alternate Realities that comprise the Marvel Multiverse. In the comics, the entire TVA staff was comprised of clones that were drawn in the likeness of Gruenwald, most notably Mobius M. Mobius, who led the organization. In the Marvel comics, He Who Remains was actually the last surviving member of the TVA, present at the End of Time. The purpose of the TVA that was introduced in Loki: Season One is to police the “Sacred Timeline”; the preordained “proper” Flow of Time as decided by He Who Remains. Their most important duty in Loki: Season One is the “pruning” of Multiversal “Variants” which are the physical result of “Nexus Events”; the blatant or accidental defiance of one’s destiny. Nexus Events spawn “Branched Timelines” that extend from off the Sacred Timeline and that must be eradicated by the TVA before they cross the dreaded “Red Line.” If left unchecked, such Branches could potentially trigger a violent and cataclysmic Multiversal War. In the MCU, the TVA is comprised of unwitting Variants who were plucked from Branched Timelines and had their memories erased before being indoctrinated into the dogma of the TVA.
In Loki: Season One, we learn that throughout history, Loki has been one of the most consistent catalysts of Nexus Events. He is the God of Mischief, after all! Loki has consequently spawned countless Variants over the course of time, and Loki: Season One introduces viewers to several memorable Loki Variants, including a female Variant of Loki named Sylvie. In the Marvel comics, Loki first took on a female form in 2007’s Thor # 5 written by J Michael Straczynski and illustrated by Oliver Coipel. In this series, Loki adorned the skin of the Lady Sif upon the resurrection of the Norse gods following Ragnarok. In his female guise, Loki was a member of the sinister Cabal, comprised of Norman Osborn, Emma Frost, Namor the Submariner, Doctor Doom, and The Hood. I highly recommend Straczynski’s Thor run. 37-year-old actress Sophie Di Martino was cast by Marvel Studios to portray Loki’s female self, who in the series is known as “Sylvie.” Sylvie, while being a Variant of Loki, is also based on the comic book character Sylvie the Enchantress, who debuted in 2009’s Dark Avengers by Paul Cornell and Mark Brooks; a follow-up to the original Enchantress (Amora), created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1964.
Another memorable Loki Variant that we are introduced to In Loki: Season One is a child Variant of Loki referred to as “Kid Loki.” In the Marvel comics, Kid Loki debuted in Matt Fraction’s Thor #617 in 2010 but truly came into his own as a character through the work of Kieron Gillen in the Journey into Mystery series. In the comics, Kid Loki longed to be a hero while struggling with his destiny; a narrative that Marvel Studios’ Loki: Season One adopted as a main plot point, despite it not actually pertaining to the Kid Loki version of the God of Mischief, specifically. Gillen’s Journey into Mystery is a series that I cannot recommend highly enough.
In Loki: Season One, we are also introduced to a Loki Variant known as “President Loki.” This character was inspired by Christopher Hastings’ 2016 Vote Loki series and in terms of appearance, was very faithfully adapted. This series is a fun and entertaining read, as Loki puts together a successful political campaign that thrives based on his brutal honesty about being a liar.
In Loki: Season One, we are furthermore introduced to a Loki Variant known as “Classic Loki.” This character did not actually come from a specific comic book arc but was rather based on the idea of the classic Marvel Comics Loki that first appeared in 1962, created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Larry Lieber. Classic Loki wears Loki’s original comic book outfit, which is a lot of fun to see in live action in the same way that it was fun to see Wanda Maximoff and VISION dressed in theirs on Halloween in WandaVision.
Loki’s aren’t the only Variants that we see in Loki: Season One, as we are also introduced to a Variant of Thor who has been transformed into a frog. In the Marvel comics, Loki turned Thor into a frog in 1986’s Thor # 364 by Walter Simonson. And as I mentioned earlier, TVA agents are all (brainwashed) Variants themselves.Â
On December 10, 2020, The Walt Disney Company hosted an “Investors Day” conference call in an effort to generate revenue in what had been the most challenging year in company history with the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic shutting down film and television productions, closing theaters, canceling cons and conventions, and closing theme parks, while infecting 69-million people worldwide and killing 1.5 million. With no San Diego Comic Con and no D23, there had been no formal announcements from Marvel Studios over the course of 2020, making Kevin Feige’s 23-minute Investors Day promotional video clip for Marvel Studios quite the anticipated ordeal! Feige confirmed that Loki: Season One would debut on Disney+ in May of 2021, and presented a teaser trailer for the series along with official casting announcements for Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku, and Richard E. Grant.
On April 5, 2021, Marvel Studios dropped a full trailer for Loki: Season One. The trailer’s primary focus was to explain to audiences that this unique series would revolve around the (Variant) version of Loki that escaped from Avengers custody with the Tesseract in Avengers: Endgame and to establish the presence of The Time Variance Authority as a major force within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Loki‘s release date was confirmed as June 11, 2021, on Disney+.
On May 5, 2021, Marvel Studios announced that Loki: Season One would premier two days earlier than expected: on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.
On Wednesday, July 21, 2021, a behind-the-scenes feature on Loki: Season One produced by Marvel Studios aired on Disney+, titled Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Loki. The feature boasted interviews Head Writer Michael Waldron, Director Kate Herron, and stars Tom Hiddleston, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Owen Wilson, Sophia Di Martino, Jonathan Majors, Richard E. Grant, and Producer Stephen Broussard. On September 26, 2023, Loki: Season One was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray in the United States, making it the first Marvel Studios Disney+ production to ever be released on Physical Media.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
UNDERSTANDING TIME TRAVEL AND THE MULTIVERSE IN THE MCU
While Loki: Season One primarily focuses on the mythology surrounding the MCU Multiverse, Time Travel is also a key plot point, due to how the act spawns Branched Timelines and due as well to the history of He Who Remains and his Multiversal Variants. Avengers: Endgame introduced the concept of Time Travel into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In that movie, the filmmakers took an approach to Time Travel that has been theorized within Quantum Mechanics in the âMany Worlds Theory.â This is not a familiar approach for general moviegoers, as Time Travel has been traditionally presented from a very different perspective in most films that utilize the plot device. In Endgame, popular theories such as âThe Grandfather Paradoxâ do not apply, because you canât go to back to the past and change your future, because your future has already happened. This is why The Avengers canât simply travel back through time and kill baby Thanos before he ever grew up as Rhodey suggested in the film. Time Travel (at least in Avengers: Endgame) does not work that way. By doing that, The Avengers would create one of those aforementioned Branches that would extend from off their native Timeline, and they would merely kill the Thanos that exists within this new Branched Timeline. The Thanos from their Timeline would be unaffected. In Loki: Season One, the danger of these Branched Timelines is highly stressed as they pertain to the Multiverse.
The concept of the Multiverse is not new to comic book readers, and it has been a Marvel Comics plot device since the 1970’s. An attempt was made to explain how the Multiverse ties into Time Travel through the dialogue of several characters in Endgame. As it is told in the film, the mere act of traveling back through time creates one of these Branched Timelines / New Realties. Upon the arrival of a time traveler or time travelers, the Universe executes a sort of copy / paste initiative, and a New (Branched) Timeline is born. The time traveler / time travelers now exist within this New Reality; one that shares the exact same history of the world from whence they came … up until the exact moment that they arrive in the past. This is why in Endgame, people and places looked and acted identical to the same people and places from whence The Avengers came … Because they were. They were for lack of a better word, Cosmic Copies of the people and places that The Avengers knew.
From the point of their arrival however, things are free to move forward in whatever way they may, and one simple change or alteration to the history that the time travelers know can result in unfathomable changes to the New (Branched) Reality that they’ve spawned. This was explored in Endgame through the act of 2012-Loki escaping with the Tesseract following the Battle of New York. This specific incident triggers a potentially drastically different world from the one that The Avengers knew, while dramatically altering Loki’s destiny: Thor will not be able to take Loki and the Tesseract back to Asgard following the Battle of New York, and Loki therefore will not get sentenced to the Asgardian Dungeons, will not inadvertently cause the death of his mother, will not team up with Thor against Malekith, will not covertly seize the Asgardian throne from Odin, will not stand alongside his brother against Hela, and will not be killed by Thanos. For the TVA, this is not okay. Loki: Season One kicks off with Loki’s Tesseract heist / Nexus Event and with his arrest by the TVA from off the Branched Timeline that he caused for crimes against the Sacred Timeline. He is taken back to TVA Headquarters (which exists outside of time) to stand trial for his crimes. Let the fun begin!  Â
A subplot of Avengers: Endgame as it pertained to time travel involved the Infinity Stones. The 2012-Ancient One explained that the Infinity Stones are a crucial part of Universal harmony and warned of the dangers to any Reality should they be taken off the proverbial board. This is why Steve Rogers set out to return the Stones at the end of the film to the (Branched) Timelines from whence they came at the exact moment that they were taken. Chronologically, when Steve does this, he theorizes that it will be as if the Stones never left those worlds at all, so he clips the potentially dark and dangerous (new) Branches that could have evolved by default from those Timelines, restoring those (Branched) Timelines to their intended existences, as it pertains to the Infinity Stones, at least. In Loki: Season One however, we learn that the TVA routinely prunes Timeline Branches and resets Timelines using various technological tools devised by He Who Remains to maintain the integrity of the Sacred Timeline and keep Variants in-check. Before Loki is taken into TVA custody, the TVA prunes the Branched Timeline from which he was arrested. This seems to suggest that had Rogers failed in his mission to return the Stones from whence they were taken, those dark Branches would have been pruned by the TVA anyway, which may mean the only true purpose for his journey through time was his reunion with his beloved Peggy Carter in the past.
For we furthermore learn in Loki: Season One that according to the TVA: “What The Avengers did was supposed to happen.” Their time traveling to reverse what Thanos had done was part of the Sacred Timeline’s script. As the Loki series evolved, we would learn that contrary to what the TVA believed, Loki actually WAS supposed to escape with the Tesseract. This could in fact be the entire purpose of the Time Heist itself, as He Who Remains needed that Loki to embark upon the journey that would lead Loki to He Who Remains at the Citadel at the End of Time.
Back to the Infinity Stones themselves, in what was a somewhat shocking narrative pivot, their actual importance in the grand scheme of things is significantly downplayed in Loki: Season One, as evident by the fact that select TVA workers use the Stones as paper weights at the TVA.
While time travel and the creation of Branched Timelines was explored in Avengers: Endgame, Loki: Season One focuses more on the MCU Multiverse and what it is or isn’t. The Sacred Timeline isn’t actually a singular Timeline, but rather a collection of Timelines that share a common destiny: no Variant of He Who Remains will ever be born within them. THIS is what most matters to He Who Remains, not the existence of a Multiverse, but the existence of a Multiverse comprised of His Variants. This is evident by the mere existence of Sylvie. No one traveled back through time and created Sylvie; she was simply born as a female Loki on one of the Timelines that are allowed to comprise the Sacred Timeline. These Timelines are allowed to freely exist … until a Nexus Event occurs, and they Branch. As Sylvie’s physical appearance illustrates, beings from any one of these other Timelines may not resemble beings seen in the films that comprised Marvel Studios’ Infinity Saga, though they can as well. For instance, Sophia Di Martino does not look like Tom Hiddleston, but “President” Loki does. It can go either way. For Sylvie, being born a girl was not a Nexus Event … it was Sylvie’s heroic ambition. On the surface, this is why she was arrested by the TVA and why her world and everyone that she knew and loved were pruned, but looking at the whole picture from the perspective of He Who Remains, her arrest – as well as her subsequent escape – were approved by He Who Remains so Sylvie would embark upon the journey that would lead her to He Who Remains at the Citadel at the End of Time.
Throughout its six episodes, Loki: Season One is ultimately leading to one thing: Both Loki Variants meeting He Who Remains and the events that follow. Loki and Sylvie are given a choice by He Who Remains: take over the TVA and rule in his stead (which the Time Heist Variant Loki sees as a at least worth considering), or kill Him, as they’d come intending to do (which is all that Sylvie wants). HWR warns that His death will result in the instantaneous and infinite Branching of the Sacred Timeline and will consequently lead to Multiversal War. For all of their similarities and warm feelings for one another, these two Loki Variants are ultimately far too different to come into agreement with one another over the fate of He Who Remains, and this leads to a skirmish that sees Loki try to prevent Sylvie from slaying HWR, but taking advantage of Loki’s feelings for her long enough to distract him, Sylvie kicks Loki through a Time Door and defiantly stabs He Who Remains, killing Him and consequently triggering the instantaneous and infinite Branches that He warned of. The Multiverse has been reborn, and it would seem that all of Reality is DOOMED.
This is how Loki: Season One ends and 2023’s Loki: Season Two picks up right where Season One leaves off. He Who Remains is dead; his corpse actively rotting at the Citadel at the End of Time while Loki has been sent to a past version of the TVA that predated the original Multiversal War that He Who Remains spoke of. From there, the God of Mischief begins slipping through time itself while embracing not only his heroic side, but his Godhood as well. For more on Loki: Season Two, check out my review!
Beyond both Seasons of Loki, understanding how the MCU Multiverse does and doesn’t work has been a complex task. The overarching narrative of Loki seems to imply that the Multiverse was created (or reborn as it were) upon the death of He Who Remains, but other dialogue suggests that the death of He Who Remains simply exposed His previously isolated Sacred Timeline to the greater Multiverse. Either way, the promised (by He Who Remains) threat of His once-conquered Variants waging a deadly Multiversal War that will threaten every Reality is the most important plot thread to hold onto when watching this series as well as the other projects that comprise Marvel Studios’ Multiverse Saga.
Because both Seasons of Loki primarily take place outside of time, specifying an appropriate viewing position is yet another complicated task. For me personally, I think the easiest way to fit Loki into a chronological MCU viewing is to simply watch both Seasons of the show immediately after watching Avengers: Endgame, even though the final TVA sequence of Loki: Season Two takes place after the events of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.
On August 11, 2021, Marvel Studios released the First Season of the animated series What If …? on Disney+. Two more seasons would ultimately be released in 2023, and 2024, respectively. The animated series is a sort of spinoff of Loki, as it explores various New Realties that have come to exist within the unrestrained and reshaped Multiverse following the death of He Who Remains and after Loki achieves Godhood. All three Seasons of What If …? star Jeffrey Wright as the voice of Uatu the Watcher and all three Seasons can be streamed on Disney+.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
The Dogma of the TVA:
In both Seasons of Loki, He Who Remains is presented as a powerful, eccentric, and manipulative conqueror, who, through innovation, technology, trial, error, and strategy, managed to best his warmongering Variants, end the first Multiversal War, and create the Sacred Timeline. He is also clearly presented as a liar though, and one can ever fully know when He Who Remains is or isn’t telling the truth. Loki: Season Two in fact reveals that He Who Remains uses routine misdirection and brainwashing to maintain his control over the TVA. Before the end of the first Multiversal War, HWR openly ruled the Time Variance Authority, and they fought on behalf of Him during the Multiversal War against his Variants. Upon the end of the war however, HWR decided to settle into a quiet anonymity and indoctrinate the TVA into a new and false belief system. So, as Loki: Season One commences, here is a brief overview of what the TVA and its Agents believe is the way of things:
“Long ago, there was a vast Multiversal War. Countless unique timelines battled each other for supremacy, nearly resulting in the total destruction of ⌠well, everything. But then, the all-knowing Timekeepers emerged, bringing peace by reorganizing the Multiverse into a single timeline: the Sacred Timeline.â â Miss Minutes.
The TVA serve a mysterious trio of what were more or less Space Lizards called “The Timekeepers.” TVA Agents are taught that the Timekeepers created the TVA and its workers in order to prevent the outbreak of a new Multiversal War that was waged by militant Variants of an unimaginably powerful conqueror and ended by the Timekeepers. TVA Agents are armed with numerous technologically advanced devices that assist them in their efforts to police the Sacred Timeline in noble servitude to the Timekeepers, including TemPads, Time Twisters, Time Wands, Time Cells, and Reset Charges. They are also assisted by a unique Artificially Intelligent program / hologram known as Miss Minutes. The TemPads allow the TVA to freely traverse the Sacred Timeline as well as any spawned Timelines without causing a Timeline Branch themselves. This is essential in order to maintain the integrity of the Sacred Timeline. From TVA Headquarters, the TVA Agents monitor the Sacred Timeline, searching for any signs of Nexus Events and potential Branched Timelines. The Sacred Timeline is also monitored by the Timekeepers, who the entire TVA answer to, though only TVA Judges are permitted audience with the Timekeepers themselves. The TVA Judge furthermore oversees all criminal cases of Variants and when a Variant is found guilty, they are mercilessly âprunedâ and the Branched Timeline from whence they came is reset (a nice way of saying purged).
TVA Agents are groomed to believe that they themselves were created by The Timekeepers and that a sort of blissful and heavenly existence at the End of Time awaits them as a reward by The Timekeepers for their good work.
In reality, TVA Agents are not only denied the truth concerning Who it is that they actually serve, but they are also denied free will as well as their very selves, knowing not their true origins nor their past lives, all while being manipulated into murdering trillions upon trillions of (Variant) people with their methods of pruning / purging.
It’s ignorant hypocrisy, blind loyalty, and unfounded faith in their purest forms.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
My Loki: Season One Review
Glorious Purpose â Directed by Kate Herron. Written by Michael Waldron.
On Wednesday, June 9, 2021, the first episode of Loki starring Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson premiered on Disney+. The series was Marvel Studios’ third venture into the realm of television streaming following WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. The episode kicks-off with the scene in Avengers: Endgame where Loki steals the Tesseract and escapes with it during The Avengers’ Time Heist and sees him land in foreign territory where he is arrested by the Time Variance Authority. The TVA reset the Branched Timeline and declare Loki a Variant, taking the God of Mischief to their Headquarters to stand before TVA Judge Ravonna Renslayer.
There, Loki finds himself confused, disrespected, and completely out of his league and he finds himself greatly outmatched by the TVA, as Loki as well as the Tesseract have been rendered powerless, for Loki was surrounded by technology far beyond his understanding.
Standing before Judge Renslayer, Loki blames his predicament on The Avengers, noting that it was their time-traveling antics that allowed him to escape with the Tesseract, but Renslayer informs him that the TVA approved of The Avengers’ time-traveling, because it was supposed to happen, while Loki escaping with the Tesseract was not. Loki is then told that he has violated the âSacred Timelineâ that the TVA exists to maintain. Loki is then approached by TVA Agent Mobius (wonderfully portrayed by Owen Wilson), who takes Loki away amidst hopes of recruiting the God of Mischief to assist Mobius and the TVA in a case that had become of great concern to everyone involved.
From there, Mobius takes Loki on a brief tour of the TVA before taking him to the TVA Theater where he shows Loki archived video footage of his previous antics leading up to the Battle of New York while demanding to know why it is that Loki is the way that he is. Loki mocks Mobius throughout this process, prompting Mobius to show Loki shocking footage of the death of his beloved adopted mother Frigga during the Dark Elf invasion of Asgard in the year 2013 (as seen in Thor: The Dark World); an event that for this Loki Variant, has yet to occur.
Loki is startled to see that it was his actions that directly led to the death of Frigga on this (intended) Timeline but goes on to laugh all of it off as some sort of devious trick. Mobius presses on, explaining to Loki that he has a predestined path that he is supposed to stay on; a path that is part of the Sacred Timeline, and that taking the Tesseract and fleeing the Battle of New York was not part of that path. Loki continues to scoff at Mobius until the militant Hunter B-15, who originally apprehended Loki, barges into the room, demanding assistance. Mobius complies and orders Loki to stay put, but the ever-defiant God of Mischief makes an effort to escape after commandeering Mobius’ Time-Twister device. Loki uses this device to bounce around the TVA, ultimately happening upon a room of TVA desk workers. Loki attempts to take a hostage, but the TVA employee that he tries to threaten (Casey) is oblivious to his threats. Then, Loki discovers within the desk of this TVA worker, a drawer full of Infinity Stones from a variety of Branched Timelines that the TVA had reset. Each of these Stones are as powerless as the Tesseract that Loki brought with him though, and this realization absolutely demoralizes Loki as he realizes that he really is in way over his head.
A dejected Loki returns to the Time Theater and allowing his curiosity to get the best of him, activates the machine that Mobius had used previously to look into his predestined future. Here, Loki is overcome with a variety of raw emotions from joy to grief, to sheer horror! The God of Mischief watches not only the death of Frigga, but also the death of Odin on Midgard and his uniting with Thor for the war against Hela (as seen in Thor: Ragnarok), and then, his heroic death at the hands of Thanos (as seen in Avengers: Endgame). Having seen his predestined future, Loki finds himself at a loss for words when he is reunited with Mobius, realizing that he can never go back to his Timeline.
Faced with the choice of assisting Mobius or being pruned, Loki begrudgingly agrees to help the TVA in any way that he can. Mobius then explains that the case he needs Loki’s help on involves an entity that has declared war on the TVA, murdering countless TVA Minutemen at various points in time, while threatening to abolish the Sacred Timeline. From there, Mobius explains to Loki that he needs his help specifically, because the murderous entity he is trying to stop is … Loki; another Variant from another Branched Timeline that has long since been pruned!
So, Loki is my favorite Marvel character, so of course, I loved the first episode of this series. I found it stronger than either of the first episodes of WandaVision or The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and even after the viewing of episode one, I could see this show easily ending up as my favorite Marvel TV series of all time, and probably in the upper echelon of all Marvel Studios productions.
The TVA and the whole Branched Timeline things were very exciting concepts, as were the Timekeepers, the Multiversal War, and the concept of Multiversal Variants. Avengers: Endgame left MCU fans with lots of questions pertaining to time travel; questions that had lingered for more than two years by the time Loki: Season One was released, and it seemed like this Loki series was going to answer those questions as it progressed, while in all likelihood, invoking a ton of new ones.
I was overwhelmed by how so very good the first episode of Loki was! Tom Hiddleston could have easily phoned it in for a paycheck here after around a decade of portraying the God of Mischief, but instead, he portrayed Loki with more fire, and more drive, and more emotion than ever! By the rules of the show alone, this is a different Loki, but Tom Hiddleston gave us a different Loki through his performance, presenting a more vulnerable God of Mischief that doesn’t quite know what to do with these new truths he is presented with. Remember for this Loki, he has just been shown that pretty much everything that Odin taught him had been a lie. Not only was he the adopted biological son of King Laufey and not Asgardian, but he also spent hundreds of years oblivious to the fact that a whole Universe existed beyond the Nine Realms, and oblivious to the true power of the Infinity Stones. Loki was raised in a world of lies, and the only truth he knew at this point was that he was born to be a King and that he had been denied his birthright by his adopted father, who was more akin to a kidnapper! Loki declared war on Earth on behalf of Thanos in an effort to claim a throne and stick it to Odin and Thor, and this was the pinnacle of his ambition at the point in time he was thrust into the TVA and exposed to even more truths that he had no prior knowledge of! Loki had just found out about the true power of the Tesseract, and now, he was discovering that that power paled in comparison to the power of the TVA! To say that Loki was vulnerable at this point would be a gross understatement! Loki didn’t know up from down at this stage. Everything that he ever thought to be true was a lie, and this was a terrible burden unlike anything Loki had ever carried before, which made him more desperate than he’d ever been, which by definition made him more dangerous than he’d ever been as well!
Coming into this series, I was not an Owen Wilson fan. To each their own of course, but Owen Wilson just never clicked with me. In fact, I found myself as a fan, quite annoyed when his casting was announced, because I assumed it was going to add a goofy element to this series. That being said and admitted, I have never been more wrong! Owen Wilson was amazing in Loki: Season One, and I was all-in on his portrayal of Mobius in the first episode alone! Wilson portrayed Mobius with a sincere conviction and that made it impossible to not like him! He was funny and entertaining in a straight-man sort of way, and I found myself buying everything that he was selling about the TVA even though I knew better! The chemistry between Owen Wilson and Tom Hiddleston was special, and I found myself longing for an entire series of just them talking to each other. Today, I’m an Owen Wilson fan, and I hope to see much, much more of him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Now, let’s talk about propaganda. We all know it’s real and that it’s wielded as a weapon towards the goal of controlling select people, but the TVA took propaganda to an entirely new level! A Sacred Timeline overseen by Space Lizards and policed by the TVA!?! Come on!!! However, the Miss Minutes character sells it all like a champ, and I am a HUGE fan of Miss Minutes!!! As of the first episode, we don’t know much about her, aside from the obvious fact that she is a tool that is used towards professing the nobility of the TVA, but Tara Strong was incredibly convincing in her voice acting! From that first presentation, Miss Minutes felt manipulative and dare I say evil, in the most charming way possible, of course, but she was also likable and irresistible with her Southern accent and old-cartoon illustrations. This was perfect for a series that revolves around a character in Loki that is by definition âevilâ, yet irresistibly likable, as it set-up a tremendously intriguing dynamic that I could not wait to see play itself out!
I cannot fairly say that the premiere episode of Loki was everything that I wanted it to be, because it far exceeded my hopes and expectations! Marvel Studios introduced some fantastic characters and concepts, and I was both satisfied and immensely intrigued coming out of the first episode.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
The Variant â Directed by Kate Herron. Written by Elissa Karasik.
On Wednesday, June 16, 2021, the second episode of Loki starring Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson and introducing Sophia Di Martino premiered on Disney+. The episode sees Loki begin working with Mobius and the Time Variance Authority in their mission to hunt down the rogue Loki Variant that is causing them so much trouble. As we see at the beginning of this episode, the other Loki Variant has taken things to a dangerous new level, actually taking a hostage (TVA Hunter C-20) in an effort to learn the location of The Timekeepers.
Arriving in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in the year 1985 upon the Branched Timeline that has been spawned by the other Loki Variant, Loki’s apparent willingness to work with the TVA is revealed to be a ruse, as the God of Mischief is far too irritated by his predicament and far too intrigued by the notion of meeting a Variant version of himself to serve the Time Variance Authority. Here, Loki actually stalls for time during the mission in order to allow the Variant time to escape, infuriating Mobius as well as Judge Renslayer, who’d begrudgingly approved Loki’s involvement in the case.
Mobius is desperate though, not just to apprehend the Variant, but to rescue Hunter C-20, and that desperation provokes Mobius to give Loki another chance, encouraging the God of Mischief to thoroughly study all of the files that the TVA had pertaining to the other Loki Variant. This leads to a really touching moment when Loki reads about Ragnarok and the destruction of Asgard (which took more than 9,000 Asgardian lives as it turns out). It was in his study of this event that Loki discovers a method to the other Loki Variant’s madness and deduces where the Variant just may be hiding out. Loki rushes over to Mobius and voices his theory.
As Loki sees it, the TVA have been unable to successfully track the Variant due to the fact that the Variant is hiding out within various apocalypses along the Sacred Timeline. Loki reasons that any action taken just prior to an apocalyptic event will not create a Branched Timeline, because anything done to defy one’s destiny or the proper Flow of Time would not matter because they, as well as everyone around them, were essentially doomed.
To test Loki’s theory, an intrigued Mobius takes Loki to Pompeii in the year 79 AD upon the Sacred Timeline, moments before the cataclysmic eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Certain that he is right, Loki begins screaming to everyone around him that he is from the future and that they are all going to die. This greatly concerns Mobius initially, but he then notices much to his dismay, that there is no Branch extending from the Sacred Timeline on his portable monitor. Nothing that either of them do in this moment matters and as the volcano erupts, Loki and Mobius exit Pompeii and return to TVA Headquarters.
There, Loki and Mobius begin studying various apocalyptic events and during a conversation with Loki, Mobius eventually happens upon the event that he believes the Variant to be: an apocalyptic hurricane that demolishes Alabama in the year 2050 upon the Sacred Timeline. Mobius rounds up a team to investigate Loki’s theory. There, Loki, as he’d hoped, encounters the other Loki Variant. The Variant initially refuses to reveal their face, choosing to instead use their magical abilities to enchant various people and talk â and fight â through them. Loki’s frustration grows as the other Loki Variant refuses his proposal to team-up against the TVA, for the two Loki’s have conflicting agendas. Our Loki seeks to overthrow The Timekeepers and rule the TVA, but the other Loki Variant wants no part of any such throne. Their goal is to kill The Timekeepers and altogether destroy the TVA. They have in fact been collecting TVA Reset Charges and have rigged them to blow, in an effort to essentially bomb the Sacred Timeline to such a point that the entire TVA would be occupied enough to provide an opportunity for the Variant to venture to TVA Headquarters and slay The Timekeepers.
The Variant soon reveals their face to Loki, revealing that this Loki Variant is a female! From there, Loki can merely watch as the Variant sets off the Reset Charges she’d collected. The Variant opens a Time Door and escapes through it as Mobius and his TVA team come charging towards her. Mobius calls-out to Loki, but Loki follows the Variant through the Time Door. Back at TVA Headquarters, the Time Variance Authority are rendered panicked as Branches began extending from off the Sacred Timeline at an alarming rate, with many quickly approaching the Red Line! The TVA Hunters therefore spring into action as the episode comes to an end.
I loved The Variant just as much as I loved Glorious Purpose. Both of these episodes were so very good, and there was a lot to like in this episode! We got a lot more of Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson together, which was a big win! They continued to boast amazing chemistry and there were plenty of more humorous and some genuinely touching moments between the two, such as Mobius discussing his love for jet skis, and their friendly debate over free will, predestination, and the power of belief. This was some of the most well-written stuff to ever come out of Marvel Studios.
On top of all of that, the Pompeii scene was amazing! It was clear that Tom Hiddleston was having fun, and that made me as a viewer have fun with the whole thing, despite how over-the-top and considerably unsympathetic Loki was during the sequence. It’s things like this scene right here that make Loki such a great character though. Emotionally speaking, he is all over the place, and there are a lot of people that can relate to that. Even at his lowest, he can find something to laugh about and something to be entertained by. I can relate to that.
Wrapping up this episode, the bombing of the Sacred Timeline by the Variant was shocking at the time, and I came out of this episode expecting the birth of a new and dangerous MCU Multiverse, though that was ultimately not to be.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Lamentis â Directed by Kate Herron. Written by Bisha K. Ali.
On Wednesday, June 23, 2021, the third episode of Loki starring Tom Hiddleston and Sophia Di Martino premiered on Disney+. The episode opens with the female Loki Variant arriving at the TVA Headquarters and targeting The Timekeepers. She is followed by our Loki of course, and back at the TVA, Loki confiscates his daggers and arms himself for battle. The female Variant quickly discovers that she (like Tom Hiddleston’s Loki before her) is powerless within the TVA Headquarters, and with TVA forces closing in, she takes Tom Hiddleston’s Loki hostage and threatens his life as Judge Renslayer approaches, but Renslayer casually dares her to go ahead and kill Loki. Before things can escalate further, Loki activates the Variant’s TemPad and the two Loki’s are transported to the year 2077 upon the Sacred Timeline, on a moon known as Lamentis-1 that is hours away from apocalyptic destruction. The TemPad runs out of power upon their arrival however, forcing the two Loki’s to work together toward the goal of recharging the TemPad before the moon’s pending obliteration, which will arrive in a matter of hours. In the meantime, Loki learns that the female Variant goes by the name Sylvie, having abandoned the name âLokiâ years earlier.
Loki and Sylvie make their way to a train that is destined for an escape craft labeled the Ark. Sylvie reasons that the TemPad can be charged aboard the train. As Loki and Sylvie settle down, they share select details of their lives with one another, discovering in the process that they are very much the same while also being quite different. Sylvie for instance boasts the power of enchantment but does not share Loki’s talents for more traditional magic. She also knew that she was adopted from a young age, but Loki had fonder memories of his mother, as Sylvie insisted that she barely remembered hers anymore.
As the train ride progresses, Sylvie slips off to sleep and Loki has too much to drink, provoking him to lead the bar area in a song and dance number that is both funny and moving. It was clear to me at this point that Loki was completely enamored with Sylvie!
Loki’s antics provoke his and Sylvie’s removal from the train and the TemPad is destroyed during Loki’s crash. This lands Loki and Sylvie in an even more desperate place, as they seem doomed to die on Lamentis-1. With seemingly nothing to lose, Loki and Sylvie open up to one another even further, and Sylvie reveals the startling fact that the TVA was entirely comprised of Variants! Sylvie notes the hypocrisy in this, but Loki assures her that the TVA Agents do not know this.
As the episode ends, Loki and Sylvie work together in an effort to fight their way aboard the Ark and live to see another day, only to watch the Ark go up in flames. Time and hope have seemingly run out, and Loki and Sylvie are doomed.
Lamentis was a visually beautiful episode of Loki, with a sort of Guardians of the Galaxy feel in terms of color schemes and the interstellar setting, and the chemistry between Tom Hiddleston and Sophia Di Martino made all of their scenes together very enjoyable. While I did miss Owen Wilson’s Mobius this week, there was a lot of cool and revealing stuff to unpack that had me just going crazy in anticipation of what came next.
As was the case in the previous two episodes, Tom Hiddleston really shined, with his song once again driving home the fact that Loki is all over the place. A true and genuine sadness emanated from Hiddleston mere seconds apart from pure joy! Yes, he was having fun, but he was staying true to his character in the process, and I really don’t have enough words to justifiably praise his performance in these first three episodes.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
The Nexus Event â Directed by Kate Herron, Written by Eric Martin.
On Wednesday, June 30, 2021, the fourth episode of Loki aired on Disney+ starring Tom Hiddleston, Sophia Di Martino, and Owen Wilson. The episode picks up where the previous week’s episode left off as Loki and Sylvie are trapped on Lamentis-1 awaiting their impending doom. Believing her life has reached its end, Sylvie shares more details of her past with Loki, telling him that she has been on the run from the TVA since she was a child. Sylvie’s honesty is the final straw that endears her to Loki in ways that he has never been endeared to another being and he begins to helplessly fall in love with the other Variant. The feeling is mutual, and these feelings trigger a powerful Nexus Event / Branched Timeline despite their pending doom, alerting the TVA to their whereabouts.
The TVA respond in force, arriving at Lamentis-1 and taking Loki and Sylvie both into custody, imprisoning them at the TVA Headquarters. This leads to a Loki and Mobius reunion, and Loki attempts to explain to Mobius the many lies that the TVA have indoctrinated him with, but Mobius will hear none of it, and he entraps Loki within a Time Loop that forces Loki to relive a scene from his past over and over and over again. The scene is the day that Loki cut off Sif’s hair.
As Loki suffers the wrath of the Warrior Maiden, Sylvie is interrogated by the militant Hunter B-15 and Mobius meets with Judge Renslayer concerning Hunter C-20. This ends up causing a significant rift between Mobius and Renslayer, due to Renslayer’s declaration that C-20 had died after suffering a mental breakdown, which Mobius soon thereafter learns cannot not be true. This inspires Mobius to reconsider Loki’s prior warnings. In the meantime, Sylvie unlocks the mind of Hunter B-15, showing B-15 the memories of the life that had been stolen from her by the TVA. Hunter B-15 was what she had been indoctrinated to hate the most: a Variant!
Mobius goes on to free Loki from the Time Loop and is consequently confronted by Judge Renslayer, who shockingly prunes Mobius for what she deems as a betrayal of the TVA. Loki and Sylvie are then taken before The Timekeepers by Renslayer where they are freed by a defiant B-15, allowing the two Variants to declare war on the TVA!
In a startling turn of events, the head of the middle Timekeeper is separated from its body during the Variant uprising, prompting the other two Timekeepers to laugh mockingly as it is revealed that all three of the Timekeepers are mere robots. In yet another startling turn of events, Loki is then pruned by Renslayer and with Sylvie having reached a new point of desperation, the show comes to a close.
From there, a credits scene reveals that people like me had been wrong about the nature of âpruningâ up to this point in the series, as it turns out that Loki was very much alive, trapped in a mysterious place and surrounded by a band of other previously pruned Loki Variants!
For me, this was the best episode of Loki: Season One yet! There was SO much to like! I have to start with the Loki cutting Sif’s hair thing; a character arc that is ripped right out of Norse Mythology as well as select Marvel comics. It was also great to see Jaimie Alexander back; her first-time portraying Sif within the MCU in eight-years; since Thor: The Dark World. On top of all of that was the continued chemistry between Loki and Sylvie and the outstanding performance by Tom Hiddleston. He sold Loki’s affection for Sylvie in spectacular fashion, and I loved seeing him and Mobius back together on-screen after the break the previous week.
The pruning of Mobius and Loki â which I thought at the time meant their deaths â was heart-wrenching on both accounts, and while I had figured all along that the nature of The Timekeepers was going to be a Wizard of Oz kind of reveal, the question still remained of just who was behind The Timekeepers. Who was the puppet master that was pulling the strings?
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Journey Into Mystery â Directed by Kate Herron. Written by Tom Kauffman.
On Wednesday, July 7, 2021, the fifth episode of Loki titled Journey into Mystery aired on Disney+ starring Tom Hiddleston, Sophie Di Martino, and Owen Wilson. The episode opens with Sylvie demanding answers from Judge Renslayer, who begrudgingly gives her some information (revealing that Loki and Mobius had been sent to the Void at the End of Time), while trying to set Sylvie up for capture, with help from Miss Minutes. Sylvie sees through Renslayer’s scheme however, and as her capture seems imminent, she makes the bold choice of pruning herself, much to Renslayer’s dismay.
Meanwhile, we catch back up with the band of Variant Loki’s at the Void at the End of Time. The Void boasts a murderous Cloud Monster called Alioth that exists to devour those unfortunate Variant souls that have been banished there by the TVA, while presumably safeguarding whomever it is that is truly behind the TVA. The band of Loki Variants (which include a Kid Loki, a Classic Loki, a Boastful Loki, and even an Alligator Loki) take our Loki back to their underground place of residence where they share their individual Nexus Events which led to their respective banishments and the destruction of their Timelines. Kid Loki reveals that his Nexus Event was his murder of Thor, Classic Loki reveals that his Nexus Event was his covertly dodging being murdered by Thanos and then seeking out Thor years later. Boastful Loki claims to have conquered The Avengers and to have seized all six of the Infinity Stones. Loki listens intently and takes everything the Variants are saying in, and he sees only one proper course of action: slay Alioth and venture to the immaculate Citadel and confront whoever it is that dwells there. The other Loki’s think this is madness, but any debate that could have ensued is interrupted by the arrival of yet another Loki Variant; this one titled President Loki. A brawl breaks out between President Loki’s many followers and the Variants that are joined with Kid Loki, during which Boastful Loki is revealed to be a traitor.
Loki meanwhile prepares to face Alioth, but before he can, Sylvie (having been picked up by Mobius) arrives. Loki introduces Sylvie and Mobius to his new friends and Loki shares a couple of really sweet and tender moments with Sylvie and Mobius en route to Sylvie vowing to assist Loki in the slaying of Alioth and the subsequent confronting of the entity behind the proverbial curtain.
Loki and Sylvie work together, combining their powers and benefiting from a much-needed sacrificial assist from Classic Loki to conquer Alioth. The only thing standing between them, and the Citadel is air and opportunity, and it is there that the episode ends. Meanwhile, Mobius returns to the TVA to confront Judge Renslayer!
Loki: Season One continued its traditional trend of getting better with each episode in week number five. The Variant Loki’s were a lot to take in as a concept, and I have to admit that I was at first put off by the idea of Alligator Loki, but that little joker ended up being one of my favorite parts of this episode! I WANT ONE! In fact, he was my favorite displaced Loki Variant, followed by Classic Loki, and then President Loki, and then Kid Loki, with Boastful Loki coming in last (wasn’t crazy about him at all, actually). The interactions between the various Loki Variants ended up being a lot of fun and I thought the death of Classic Loki was done really well. Despite being an extremely new character, the nature of the character in being a Loki Variant made for a very quick attachment, and this allowed his death to be quite emotional. That, and the fact that Richard E. Grant was amazing in the role!
Probably my favorite scene from the entire episode was when Loki and Mobius hugged each other. This was immensely moving! Alligator Loki biting the hand off of President Loki and Tom Hiddleston’s hilarious reaction was another highlight. So good!
The Void offered loads of crazy Easter-eggs from Earth’s more mythical past and the unexplored past of what could have been the MCU had Branched Timelines been allowed, including a Thanos Copter, a S.H.I.E.L.D. / Hydra Helicarrier, a destroyed Stark Tower, a crashed Dark Aster, a crashed Valkyrie bomber, and the USS Eldridge (purported to have been involved in the infamous Philadelphia Experiment). Even a Frog version of Thor (voiced by Chris Hemsworth) and Mjolnir were seen amongst the many items and relics that had landed in the Void! All of these things weren’t just fun ideas to consider but were representations that the Time Variance Authority had not been telling the whole truth about well, probably much of anything, and that despite their best efforts, there were still Variants out there in the Void that were remnants of the Branched Timelines from which they came.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
For All Time. Always â Directed by Kate Herron. Written by Eric Martin and Michael Waldron.
On Wednesday, July 14, 2021, the sixth and final episode of Season One of Loki aired on Disney+ starring Tom Hiddleston and Sophie Di Martino and introducing Jonathan Majors as He Who Remains. The episode opens with Loki and Sylvie preparing to confront whomever it is that is behind the TVA and after a brief interaction with the more devious than ever Miss Minutes, Loki and Sylvie find audience with the entity that they had been seeking, and it is not another Loki Variant (as I had figured it would be), it is ⌠Kang the Conqueror! Well, sort of! It is an entity known only as He Who Remains, portrayed by Jonathan Majors!
He Who Remains goes on to explain to Loki and Sylvie how and why He created the Time Variance Authority and why He weaponized Alioth and created the Sacred Timeline and restricted free will for its inhabitants, sincerely defending his actions as a “necessary evil.” He also exclaims that He has paved the two Loki’s respective roads to Him. Everything that had happened to them up to the very moment that they were experiencing, had been preordained by Him to serve His purpose. And that purpose is to offer the two Variants a complicated choice: kill Him right then and there and expose the Sacred Timeline to the threat of Multiversal War, invoking the chaos that He has strived to prevent for eons … or adopt His world view and replace Him as the Guardians of the Sacred Timeline. Tom Hiddleston’s Loki is noticeably conflicted over what choice to make, taken aback by the dire warnings of He Who Remains, concerning what the consequences of destroying the Sacred Timeline would be (specifically, infinite versions of Himself that would be far less benevolent than the unhinged entity sitting before them, each of which would be hellbent on provoking a new Multiversal War). Sylvie is convinced that He Who Remains is lying and even begrudges Loki for daring to suggest that they should consider the entity’s offer. Loki begs for Sylvie to trust him and to carefully consider what they should do next, which leads to the fantastic line âYou cannot trust, and I cannot be trustedâ from Loki to Sylvie line, which perfectly sums up their conundrum.
He Who Remains furthermore reveals that this point in time where Loki and Sylvie are deciding what course of action that they will take is a point from which He can allegedly no longer recite the script, meaning that He knows not what Loki and Sylvie will ultimately choose. As tensions rise and Loki and Sylvie fight each other in defense of their conflicting beliefs, the two Loki Variants finally kiss, in what was a pretty great moment, but then, Sylvie turns against Loki and forces him through a Time Door back to (a past version of) TVA Headquarters. Sylvie then boldly does what she had set out to do all along: she violently slays He Who Remains. He Who Remains dies right in front of Sylvie, causing an instantaneous and infinite expansion of the endless Branches that had already began to grow upon the crossing of what He Who Remains called “The Threshold.”
The Sacred Timeline is breaking free!
From there, we catch back up with Tom Hiddleston’s Loki at TVA Headquarters where he is in a solemn panic. Loki rushes to find Mobius, happening upon Mobius in the company of Hunter B-15. Loki frantically warns them about who and what is coming, only to realize in horror that B-15 and Mobius have no idea who Loki is! Loki then notices that a menacing statue of He Who Remains now stands where the statues of The Timekeepers once stood in the TVA! This is clearly not the TVA that Loki knows!
UPDATE … The 2023 arrest and eventual conviction of Jonathan Majors for assault obviously cast a large shadow over the entire Multiverse Saga. I did a lot of praising Jonathan Majors for his talent as an actor in this review but let me be clear: I do not condone violence against women, and I have zero respect for anyone that commits the types of crimes that Jonathan Majors has been accused of committing.
Loki: Season One was a series that really stuck the landing, with each episode topping the one that preceded it. The finale brought together everything that the first five episodes set up in a satisfying conclusion that was intense, shocking, and entertaining. In regard to this specific episode, I have to mention how much I adored Jonathan Majors as He Who Remains! He was funny, intimidating, and extremely charismatic, and I found myself unable to get enough of him! He was SO good, and it was a thrill to watch him interact with Loki and Sylvie. I was shocked that Marvel Studios actually went with this narrative. Though all signs pointed to Kang the Conqueror throughout the series, I expected some kind of a swerve once we got where we were going, but that did not happen, and kudos to Kevin Feige and company for taking such a bold and daring approach in terms of character integration.
The final episode of Loki ended in the most perfect way possible, as the credits revealed that it was not the end after all as Loki was confirmed for a Second Season, making it the first-ever Second Season of a Marvel Studios television Streaming Series!
Loki: Season One was a series that was fully loaded with incredible direction, drama, suspense, acting, wit, philosophy, storytelling, music, and costuming. This was for me in the upper echelon of Marvel Studios productions, right up there with Endgame and Infinity War and WandaVision.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Highlights of Loki: Season One
Tom Hiddleston is Loki
Owen Wilson as Mobius M. Mobius
Chemistry Between Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson
Sophia Di Martino as Loki / Sylvie
Chemistry Between Tom Hiddleston and Sophia Di Martino
Jonathan Majors as He Who Remains
Richard E. Grant as Classic Loki
Tom Hiddleston as President Loki
Miss Minutes
Alligator Loki
Pompeii
Throg
Sif cameo for Norse Mythology scene with Loki
Loki Watching How His Life was Supposed to have Played Out
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Continue following the MCU journey of Loki Variant L1130 in Loki: Season Two (2023).
Continue following the MCU journey of Sylvie in Loki: Season Two (2023).
Continue following the MCU journey of Mobius in Loki: Season Two (2023).
Continue following the MCU journey of Miss Minutes in Loki: Season Two (2023).
Continue following the MCU journey of Ravonna Renslayer in Loki: Season Two (2023).
Continue following the MCU journey of Hunter B-15 in Loki: Season Two (2023) and Deadpool and Wolverine (2024).
Continue following the MCU journey of He Who Remains in Loki: Season Two (2023).
Continue following the MCU journey of the Multiversal Variants of He Who Remains in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (2023) and Loki: Season Two (2023).
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