You can’t keep a good Loki down, can you? Every time Marvel has tried bumping the character off in the MCU, he’s bounced back, from his seeming death in Thor: The Dark World, to his actual death in Avengers: Infinity War – and if you thought Disney+ series Loki was the last we’d see of the God Of Mischief, well, he’s not done his last misdeed yet. Marvel Studios has confirmed that the show is not a limited series in the sense that WandaVision was – and it’s officially coming back for a Season 2.
To say any more would involve spoilers, so consider this your SPOILER WARNING for the Loki Season 1 (as we can now call it) finale.
SPOILERS FOR THE LOKI FINALE FOLLOW
Still here? Sure you want to read on? Let’s get stuck in.
That immense final episode finally revealed who was behind the TVA – and as many predicted, it was Kang The Conqueror all along (or, a variant of Kang simply known as ‘He Who Remains’), played by MCU newcomer Jonathan Majors. And with Sylvie taking it upon herself to stab He Who Remains, the timeline has now ruptured, Hiddle-Loki has found himself in a version of the TVA with Kang statues instead of the space-lizard Time Keepers, and the prospect of a Multiversal War looms. Yikes. Instead of a traditional post-credits sting, the episode ended with a TVA stamp confirming: ‘LOKI WILL RETURN IN SEASON 2’.
What exactly Loki Season 2 will be, though, remains to be seen. The effects of this series look set to ripple all across Phase 4 of the MCU, teeing up all kinds of Multiversal madness – including Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness. And we know Kang will be back in Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania, and will likely be a new Thanos-esque big bad rattling around the multiverse for many movies to come. With several more Marvel films and series set to arrive before any new Loki episodes, we might see a time jump (if time even means anything anymore) for the next run of episodes, or have a better idea of how the timeline-fracturing is playing out across the multiverse. Will it still be a TVA-centric show? Will we get more of Owen Wilson’s Mobius? And will he finally ride a jet-ski next time? No answers here yet.
Either way, it’s fascinating to see which Marvel series are intended as one-offs, and which ones are set for continuation. WandaVision is done, and The Falcon And The Winter Soldier hasn’t yet been confirmed for more episodes – though reports indicate that the series’ head writer Malcolm Spellman is working on aCaptain America 4film, centred on Anthony Mackie’s new incarnation of the Star-Spangled Man. With Loki’s Season 2 confirmation, expect Loki and Sylvie to return on the small-screen – and keep your eyes peeled for the next run of Marvel movies in case they cross back over to the big screen down the line. Who's ready for a Multiversal War, then?