CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR ALL EPISODES OF LOKI
How’s this for a slice of mischief: you take a hugely popular character who’s died on screen multiple times, create an alt-universe version of them, send them off on a side-quest adventure apparently set outside the constraints of space and time – only to have them fundamentally change the nature of your central saga going forward. Since Tom Hiddleston’s Loki died a seemingly final death in Avengers: Infinity War, it was fair to assume that Disney+’s Loki series would be something of a shaggy god story – a fun return for a fan-favourite figure that ultimately wouldn’t have an impact on the Marvel Cinematic Universe proper. But with two tantalising words, the Loki finale seemed to light the fuse on the MCU’s imminent future, a promise of the magnitude of what comes next: Multiversal War. Loki is how the multiverse begins: not with a whimper, but with a Kang.
Four stories in, the MCU’s Phase 4 finally seems to have lift-off. That’s not a criticism of what came before – following a Marvel-free 2020, the influx of WandaVision, The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, Black Widow, and Loki in a matter of six months has been a Marvel fan’s dream, three streaming series and one big-screen outing telling idiosyncratic character stories, spending significant time with familiar faces while introducing intriguing new ones. But in their own ways, WandaVision, FAWS and Black Widow were all about the fallout of Avengers: Endgame, less the start of a new phase than a winding down of the previous one. If Loki initially seemed to be following that pattern, springing from Endgame’s jaunt back to the events of 2012’s The Avengers, it soon became clear that the series was actually the start of something new. After spending years assembling the Avengers, introducing Thanos and scattering around Infinity Stones, Marvel is starting to build up to something else.
There’s long been a sense that it was all heading in a multiversal direction. For years now, we’ve known the title of the Doctor Strange sequel will be the supremely pulpy Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness – a name that promises the Master Of The Mystic Arts wrangling with multiple realities. Spider-Man: Far From Home teased the possibility of a multiverse when Jake Gyllenhaal’s villainous Quentin Beck untruthfully posited himself as a visitor from a parallel dimension, while its impending follow-upNo Way Home is surrounded by rumours of a live-action Spider-Verse set-up, crossing over characters from previous non-MCU Spidey flicks. But of all things, it was Loki that finally ripped open the Marvel Cinematic Universe and turned into the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse (as no-one will be calling it).
Loki set up all kinds of vital information, while also being a funny, sprightly, sprawling character study – a six-hour Loki therapy session.
It was another Kevin Feige masterstroke to take arguably the most popular character in the MCU, and use his (not-so) solo adventure as a way to teach audiences the rules of what’s to come. Just as Phase 1 introduced the idea of a shared cinematic universe – with characters that cross over between adventures, eventually culminating in behemothic ‘event’ movies – Loki set up all kinds of vital information that will be important in the stories to follow. There are, now, branching realities. There are multiple incarnations of the same characters – some who look alike, and some who have their own faces, stories, and personalities. There is, too, a new all-powerful threat to fear. That Loki regaled all of this while also being a funny, sprightly, sprawling character study – a six-hour Loki therapy session – is remarkable.
So what does come next, then? The answer appears to be multiversal mega-villain Kang The Conqueror, whose eccentric crackpot variant known only as ‘He Who Remains’ was unveiled as the higher power behind the TVA in Loki’s finale. Just as Loki brought Thanos into the MCU in The Avengers, it’s fitting that he’d be the first MCU character to confront (a version of) Kang, a future-Earth scientist turned dangerous despot whose more villainous variants seem set to wreak havoc across multiple movies going forward. Jonathan Majors will be back in the role in Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania, and rumours are already swirling that he could factor into Multiverse Of Madness too. That there’s not just one Kang, but many maniacal Kangs out there, waging wars across various points in space and time, is a nifty bit of escalation on Marvel’s part. How do you out-Thanos Thanos, the villain who succeeded in wiping out half of all life in the universe? How about a baddie who’s everywhere, always, forever predisposed to war?
With Kang in play and the Multiverse opened up, the possibilities of the MCU feel more wide open than they have in years – but while the future looks bountiful, Loki itself was far more than just a delivery system. It’s a show that gave us Tom Hiddleston’s most explorative performance in the MCU so far, that made Sophia Di Martino’s Loki-variant Sylvie an instant new favourite, that spent much of its runtime taking a long hard look at the who and the why and the when of its central character – with a hand-chomping alligator, and Richard E Grant in comics-accurate spandex to boot. It had a character who was a walking-talking cartoon clock, and kooky time bureaucracy, and an off-kilter ‘70s aesthetic that was part Doctor Who, part cult British comedy Look Around You. Along with WandaVision (and the more successful elements of the flawed FAWS), it showed just how extraordinary, experimental and engaging Marvel can be on the small screen. It’s never been clearer that the Disney+ series aren’t lesser than the films – they’re just told in a different way, to the same exemplary standard.
And, crucially, they’re not all one-offs. If there’s one last lesson Loki taught us, it’s that the Disney+ series are also continuing stories – Season 2 is coming, likely to delve further into the remaining mysteries of the TVA, and deal with the fallout of the fracturing timeline in step with the upcoming Phase 4 movies. Despite his multiple deaths, his pruning from the timeline, and his trip to the end of time, Loki will be back. That guy really does always survive.