Marvel’s new series Loki features a scene that is essentially a primer for what’s to come in the MCU.
Tom Hiddleston returns as the God of Mischief in the series, which has been described as a time-hopping adventure.
The first episode of the series is an introduction to the time-bending iteration of MCU films; Phase Four is set to delve into the multiverse, with Spider-Man: Far From Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
*Spoilers follow - you have been warned*
Loki immediately picks up after the moment the Asgardian villain uses the Tesseract to escape from the clutches of the Avengers in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. It’s worth noting this is the 2012 version of the character, who is yet to kill his mother (Rene Russo) or be killed at the hands of Thanos.
Using the Tesseract sees Loki stray from his time path, which leads to his arrest by a corporation known as the TVA (Time Variants Authority) for “crimes against the sacred timeline”.
After being taken to the headquarters, he is shown an animated orientation video describing its history – and it’s essentially there to clue viewers up on what exactly the multiverse is.
As anthropomorphic clock Miss Minutes (voiced by Tara Strong) explains: “Long ago, there was a vast multiversal war, countless unique timelines battled each other for supremacy nearly resulting in the total destruction of... well, everything. But then, then, the all-knowing Time-Keepers emerged, bringing peace by reorganising the multiverse into a single timeline – the sacred timeline.
“Now, the Time-Keepers protect and preserve the proper flow of time for everyone and everything, but sometimes people veer off the path the timekeepers created. We call those ‘variants’.
“Maybe you started an uprising or were just late for work – whatever it was, stepping off your path created a Nexus event, which, left unchecked, could branch off into madness, leading to another multiversal war.”
Knowing that a Nexus event is set to branch off into madness thanks to the title of the new Doctor Strange film – which was teased in the final moments of WandaVision – it’s certain that Loki will be tee up the MCU’s next phase and provide you with all the information you need moving forward.
Elsewhere in the first episode was a hilarious callback to Thor: Ragnarok, with viewers also believing they spotted a beloved former MCU character in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it background cameo.
We may earn commission from some of the links in this article, but we never allow this to influence our content.
Loki is available to stream on Disney Plus. New episodes arrive weekly on Wednesdays.
