Loki, as we have known him in the last few years, is sadly gone, but fans are as hyped as ever to get new content of their favorite trickster. While the Superbowl Disney+ trailer only gave us four seconds of new Loki content, the implications of those four seconds have theories running rampant. The new footage shows Loki in a TVA-branded uniform, saying he “will burn this place to the ground.” So, what does it mean?
The TVA, or Time Variance Authority, is an organization that monitors the different realities in the multiverse. Chronomonitors, the agents working for the TVA are faceless clones that come into existence when a new reality comes into being. They do what they can to prevent tampering with timelines and reality, but despite that, they don’t succeed as often as you would think. However, if they do catch someone causing mayhem, and they find them guilty of whatever crime they have perceived, they will erase the guilty party from ever existing in any timeline with their Retroactive Cannon, or Ret Can.
The shorter hair that Loki is sporting shows that this iteration of the character is the one that got away with the tesseract in Avengers: Endgame. Photos from the set have heavily implied that Loki will be jumping around through significant points in the history of the earth. All of this jumping, and mischief no doubt – this is Loki we are talking about after all – will absolutely set the Time Variance Authority on Loki’s tail. The TVA has been known for hiring outside agents on top of using the chronomonitors, so while the likelihood is much higher that the TVA will be wanting to imprison him, or maybe even turn the Ret Can on him, they could also be trying to use him for their own means.
Considering the implications of the multiverse as well, whatever happens in Loki will most certainly tie in with the events of the coming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Doctor Strange is almost sure to run into the TVA, but since the release date for Loki isn’t confirmed yet, it’s hard to say exactly how the movie will tie into the series. The involvement of the TVA in Loki also opens up the possibility for a tie-in with the coming Disney+ show She-Hulk. In the comics, Jen Walters stands trial before the TVA for trying to warn Hawkeye of his impending death. However, instead of getting a face-to-face encounter with the Retroactive Cannon, She-Hulk helps defeat the villain Clockwise as he tries to infiltrate the Null-Time Zone, a place that exists outside of time itself. Because of this, Jen instead gets to save her fellow Avenger, Two-Gun Kid, from TVA custody.
It is going to be amazingly interesting to see how all of this ties together in the end. Loki is in production and is currently slated for release sometime during the first half of 2021. You can watch the Superbowl sneak peek below!