It finally happened. The Loki series premiered on Disney+, and it was even better than we were expecting. Episode 1 was equal parts hilarious, emotional, and just plain mind-boggling, but it absolutely has us hooked.
A lot of questions popped up, which hopefully get answered in upcoming episodes, and some major rumblings are being heard around the Marvel Cinematic Universe right now as the series opens up a few massive doors for its future.
A few key takeaways from this first episode were:
The Multiverse
The big one. We did a lengthier article on this, which you can read here, but the Multiverse has officially arrived in the MCU. It might be a little dramatic, but also suffice to say, that the MCU won’t be the same after this one. With characters like Doctor Strange, Wanda Maximoff, and America Chavez floating around, the Multiverse is here and ready to make itself known in projects going forward. Just how much the MCU delves into the Multiverse and all its potential obviously remains to be seen, but expect it to pack a punch.
The TVA
The TVA is an interesting place, and we noted a few things about it in the aforementioned Multiverse article, but the TVA is virtually a dead space. It’s not connected to the Multiverse or the Sacred Timeline, instead standing as its own separate entity. We learned that neither magic powers nor Infinity Stones work within its walls, and Loki realized that yes, this place is likely one of the most powerful in the universe. He’s probably right.
Loki’s Development
Loki underwent a little bit of character downgrade from his last big appearances in Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War, and Loki did an incredible job exploring this past version of him. One of the main questions going in was: would Loki learn his future? And episode 1 answered that question. He did indeed, and it was even more notable for him to see his death as a God still loyal to Thanos. Is the Mad Titan’s eventual betrayal of Loki going to help him transform? What about the description of Loki’s true purpose from Mobius? (It hurt … a lot). But the best part was the end, when Loki confessed to Mobius that he indeed doesn’t enjoy hurting people, that’s it’s all a ruse in an attempt to gain power.
This introspection made for some amazingly emotional moments, and it almost guarantees a nice arc for the God of Mischief again.
Infinity Stones Galore
So the TVA just has dozens of Infinity Stones laying around? And they’re being used as paperweights? It’s hard to theorize what this means, beyond the known fact that the stones are useless there, but we hope this gets revisited. Are they products of the Multiverse? Or of Variants using them to stir up trouble in timelines that have since been reset?
Loki Who?
There’s just so many Loki’s running around … Now, I love the guy, but the world can really only handle one at a time. Where is this other Loki from? An alternate reality, or another time? He’s obviously able to jump through time effortlessly, having started the episode in 1589 and ending it in 1858, so where he’s from and where he’s going next is anyone’s guess. But if anyone knows Loki, it’s Loki, so we can only wait and see if Loki’s loyalties will lie with the TVA, or this other Variant of himself. It’s really a toss up.
Keep up with all our coverage of the series, including episodic recaps, theories, deep dives, and more!
Episode 2 of Loki premieres next Wednesday, June 16 at 12 a.m PST exclusively on Disney+.
