Starring Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson and Sophia Di Martino, Loki is Disney Plus’ third hit series, as well as the first solo outing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) for the Asgardian God of Mischief.
After a detour to Lamentis-1 in the third episode, episode four brought us back to the Time Variance Authority (TVA), with some shocking revelations, sudden deaths and surprising new characters.
With just two episodes left, there are still a lot of questions to be answered. Luckily, fans think they might have worked out what’s next for the series.
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Ahead of Loki episode five, here’s a recap of last week’s instalment and a rundown of all the best fan theories and predictions (but be warned, there are lots of spoilers ahead!)
What happened in Loki episode four?
The fourth episode, titled “The Nexus Event,” was packed full of action and big reveals. It opened with a flashback to a young Sylvie being taken from her home by Renslayer (Mbatha-Raw) for crimes against the sacred timeline.
She manages to escape, but as we know from episode three, she goes on to spend her whole life running from the TVA.
Back in the present, Loki and Sylvie (Di Martino) share a somewhat romantic moment on the doomed moon of Lamentis-1 in 2077.
As they bond, they cause a sudden steep branch from the sacred timeline, which allows Mobius (Wilson) to locate them and seize them just as they were about to be wiped out by the apocalypse.
The pair are taken to the TVA, with Loki interrogated by Mobius (revealing he has feelings for Sylvie in the process) before being thrown into a Time Cell, where he is forced to relive a looped memory of Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander) punching him and telling him he’ll always be alone.
In the meantime, Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) realises she had a life before the TVA after being enchanted by Sylvie, and Mobius discovers that Hunter C-20 (Sasha Lane) was killed by Renslayer after she too woke up following the enchantment in an earlier episode.
He releases Loki, but the pair don’t manage to get far before Renslayer appears and orders Mobius to be pruned.
She then takes Loki and Sylvie to be executed in front of the Time-Keepers, who are subsequently revealed as being three big mindless robots.
Renslayer then prunes Loki just as he’s about to confess his feelings for Sylvie. The episode ends with Sylvie demanding that Renslayer tell her everything.
Don’t worry though, because a mid-credits scene reveals that Loki is alive, albeit in an apocalyptic version of New York City, surrounded by four new Loki Variants: ‘Boastful Loki’ (DeObia Oparei), ‘Classic Loki’ (Richard E. Grant), ‘Kid Loki’ (Jack Veal) and even Lokigator, a crocodile Loki hybrid.
What are the best new Loki fan theories?
With just two episodes to go, fans have been concocting lots of Loki theories, both for the end of the series and the future of the MCU in general.
From the future of Loki within the MCU to the who the real villain behind the TVA might be, here are some of the best:
Is Sylvie responsible for Loki Limbo?
In the worst timing possible, Loki was pruned by Renslayer just as he was about to tell Sylvie about his feelings for her. Her reaction was quite telling, with the variant only appearing to be slightly surprised when he disappeared from existence.
This has led some fans to theorise that it could be that she’s not worried because she already knows what happens when a Loki is pruned.
After all, she has been running from the TVA for most of her life, so it makes sense that she would have an understanding of how their weapons work.
Loki ends up in an apocalyptic version of New York surrounded by other Loki variants. Maybe Sylvie knows exactly where he is because she set up the Loki Limbo to gather as many variants as she could to take down the TVA?
It seems far-fetched, but we do know that Sylvie is very familiar with many apocalypses, so maybe she’s programmed a few to her advantage.
Miss Minutes is the real villain of the TVA
With the all-powerful Time-Keepers revealed to be no more than three cyborgs, it begs the question: who is really pulling all the strings at the TVA?
Some fans think that yet another Loki Variant is in charge, while others are theorising that someone we’ve already met is really behind the scenes.
We’re not talking about Renslayer, but rather Miss Minutes, the cheery animated clock voiced by Tara Strong that we met in the first two episodes.
Miss Minutes is a mascot of sorts for the TVA, giving newcomers a rundown of the history of the Time-Keepers and the TVA, however she has demonstrated that she’s more than a simple recording, interacting with Loki and dodging his attempts to swat her away.
Could Miss Minutes turn out to be the surprising villain, in a WandVision ‘it was Agatha all along’ style twist?
Sylvie will become the main Loki in the main MCU films
While Hiddleston’s Loki has already had a full character arc within the MCU, Di Martino is only just getting started as Sylvie.
It may be that Sylvie takes over as the main version of the trickster god in the film series, in a similar way to how Sam Wilson took over the Captain America mantle from Steve Rogers in Endgame.
Though no-one could replace Hiddleston’s Loki, his solo series would certainly mark a fitting end to the character’s decade-long story.
Alternatively, if Loki opens up a Marvel multiverse, we could see both versions of the character stepping into the main film series, as is rumoured to be the case for the next Spiderman film.
Loki episode five will be available to stream on Disney Plus from tomorrow, Wednesday July 7, at 8am.
