Tag: Loki

The Loki Season 2 trailer is so wild we don’t know where to start

Season 2 of Loki coming soon to Disney+.

This is not a drill. We finally have a trailer for the highly anticipated second season of Marvel’s Loki. The first season was a pleasant surprise as Loki (Tom Hiddleston) battled with and then teamed up with Mobius (Owen Wilson) to take down the Time Variance Authority.

MORE: Why Loki’s finale burdened me with a sense of impending dread

Along the way, we meet a LOT of alternate Lokis, including Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), Alligator Loki and more.

The first look at Season 2 promises more mayhem as Loki and Mobius attempt to unravel the destruction of the timeline from the end of Season 1. We have time slipping, new faces (Ke Huy Quan!) and some good old fashioned time-traveling detective work.

Check out the full trailer here:

The new season drops on Disney+ on October 6.

Marvel boss Kevin Feige said clues point to Avengers’ next Thanos-level threat — here’s who is most likely

Who – or what – is up next for The Avengers after Thanos?

We’re officially closer to the end of Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe than the beginning and if you still have a ton of questions, well, that may just be the point.

The transitionary period for the film franchise has seen us say goodbye to series stalwarts Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff and a few other fan favorites—or at least variations of those favorites. As Phase 4 continues exploring the multiverse, we’ve gotten a glimpse at what life could’ve been like had events played out a little differently.

But Phase 4 hasn’t brought us that much closer to another Thanos-level threat that requires a franchise-spanning team-up. Or maybe it has.

MCU mastermind Kevin Feige recently told Total Film the studio is closing in on its next phase and viewers should begin seeing some common threads develop:

“As we’re nearing the end of Phase 4, I think people will start to see where this next saga is going. I think there have been many clues already, that are at least apparent to me, of where this whole saga is going. But we’ll be a little more direct about that in the coming months, to set a plan, so audiences who want to see the bigger picture can see a tiny, tiny, tiny bit more of the roadmap.”

Obviously the first thread is already out there: The Multiverse.

That might just be a means to the next Big Bad, however, and not the MacGuffin the Infinity Stones were. So we put on our best, non-descriptive baseball hats and put together (entirely fictional) odds for who—or what—will cause the Avengers to assemble next.

With six films left on the Phase 4 docket, including Thor: Love and Thunder here’s a look at who’s most likely to rival Thanos’ arrival in the MCU.

Note: This list veers into some of the newer MCU projects, so if you aren’t caught up, read with caution. 

Why Loki’s finale burdened me with a sense of impending dread

Loki is filled with glorious purpose. I’m filled with an impending sense of dread.

This article contains spoilers from the first season of Loki. If you haven’t seen it and/or don’t want to know how it ends, then you should probably hit the exit button and proceed no further.

Loki is burdened with glorious purpose. I’m burdened with an impending sense of dread. I was equal parts terrified and impressed with what the show-runners did in the finale of Loki. As reality branched into the multiverse, I laughed at the sheer audacity of Marvel’s decision. I had goosebumps.

What. Did. Marvel. Just. Do?!

The finale, a dialogue-driven episode, delivered the multiversal climax, which was to be expected if you were watching the first season (and the news surrounding the coming movies) closely. He Who Remains explained that Loki and Sylvie had a decision: rule the one “sacred timeline” or kill He Who Remains and see the timeline branch into the multiverse (where they would encounter the insidious supervillain Kang the Conqueror and other Variants of scientist Nathaniel Richards). Sylvie picked the multiverse, in part driven by a desire for revenge over a life He Who Remains never let her live.

In the multiverse, Marvel will have the opportunity to explore … anything. Everything. Marvel Studios president and head creative officer Kevin Feige can rewrite canon if he wants. In fact, that’s exactly what the show, “What If..?” could do. It will explore alternate possibilities, timelines and realities where Avengers are in different places at different times.

That’s when the excitement turned to dread. I felt like I was chewing on fruity gum that lost its flavor.

Infinite possibility.

Time travel is such a fun thing to explore. The concept of alternate dimensions, timelines and universes is equally fascinating. Super powers are pretty darn cool as a plot device. But Marvel is meshing all of those science fiction concepts — and it might do so while introducing the X-Men into the MCU. There’s a lot going on.

How we feeling about infinite possibility?!

As Marvel navigates what comes next, it will have to manage two things: dilution and convolution. If there are an infinite number of Variants of Kang The Conqueror, Thanos, Iron Man, Steve Rogers and even the TVA’s Casey, then how will Marvel focus on just one? How will they keep these stories straight?

The answer, of course, is that they won’t. For Spider-Man, they seem interested in melding the plot lines of past and present Spider-Men. Spider-Man: No Way Home is rumored to have Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, all of whom have had their own Spider-Man franchise. It’s also safe to assume Doctor Strange 2, titled Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, will bask in the multiverse. And of course, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will feature Jonathan Majors, who debuted as He Who Remains and will presumably return as Kang. There should be plenty of talk of the multiverse in that movie, too. Plenty of talk.

INFINITE! POSSIBILITY!

Marvel has to find a way to explore the open-ended concept of the multiverse without cheapening their artistic decisions or detracting from the canon that they’ve created as lore. The studio has done a pretty good job of keeping things consistent over the course of their movies and TV shows. There have been some plot points that go awry — or defy credulity — but for the most part, the movies follow a linear path (even if that includes traveling through time). What may be about to occur is that the path will turn into a scatter plot with points sprayed across the multiverse in different times and realities.

Maybe it’s because I have a tiny little brain, but that concept overwhelms me, if only because we’ve never seen anything like it in cinema —and certainly not through the course of multiple TV shows and movies.

There’s a lot that can go wrong when diving into the multiverse for such a long period of time, something Loki head writer Michael Waldron, also the writer for Doctor Strange 2, seems to have toiled over. To that point, there’s so much that can go right if brilliant minds are guiding the studio. Marvel hasn’t let us down yet. It would be foolish to be skeptical of this choice — right? My gut is reminding my that it will be the studio’s biggest test to date. Here’s hoping they can pull it off.

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Marvel introduced a Thanos-level supervillain, but he’s not who everyone thinks he is

Meet the Marvel’s new Big Bad. The villain is probably worse than Thanos.

This article includes spoilers from Loki’s finale. We include countless details about the plot points from that episode. If you don’t wish to learn about the happening from episode six, then you should leave immediately. 

Last chance!

At the end of episode six of Loki, it felt like no coincidence that the out-of-control branching of the multiverse looked like fireworks: chaotic, destructive, beautiful and out of control.

That’s more or less what He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) explained to Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston).

“I’ll see you soon,” He Who Remains uttered as his (not) last words.

So dark. So epic.

He warned the Loki Variants, after all, that he’d be back in one form or another if they chose to kill him.

“I’ve been dubbed many names by many people: a ruler, a conqueror, He Who Remains, a jerk. But it’s not as simple as a name,” Majors’ character said.

So if you were waiting for Kang the Conqueror — one of Marvel’s biggest, baddest villains who I expected to see in this finale — you may have to wait a little longer. Why? Well, I’d argue that we didn’t actually see Kang in this finale. We saw a different Variant of Nathaniel Richards, a person who eventually becomes Kang the Conqueror.

The comic books explore this concept. Richards ultimately ends up having multiple aliases due to his multiple Variants through the multiverse. If your head is spinning, then don’t worry. We’re going to walk you through this.

The ‘Loki’ finale delivered an epic plot twist, and Marvel fans couldn’t stop cracking jokes about Dr. Strange

Doctor Strange, of all characters, was the butt of Marvel fans’ jokes after the Loki finale.

This article contains spoilers from episode six of season one of Loki on Disney+. If you don’t want to know the plot points from the first season, then you should get out of this article as soon as possible. Like… right now. Last chance!

Doctor Steven Strange has a big job ahead of him. Sylvie and, to a lesser degree, Loki have created a multiversal disaster. I won’t pretend to know the scale of what Loki and Sylvie did in the finale, with Sylvie stabbing He Who Remains. But on first blush, it looked bad — really, really bad. The sheer chaos in the timeline was a gorgeous on-screen shot but, of course, it was as troubling as it was beautiful.

Marvel introduced the multiverse in episode one of Loki. And the MCU hurtled itself headlong into that multiverse in the finale. It’s mind-boggling to consider what comes next. But it’s clear that the MCU will focus on the multiverse for multiple movies, likely including Spider Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

We know which character is going to take on the brunt of the cleanup for Syvlie’s mess. It has to be Dr. Strange. Poor Steven.

When Marvel fans finished episode six of Loki, they took to Twitter to make the same joke.

The ‘Loki’ finale provided a crucial piece of information in the credits

Did you miss that important piece of information from the credits?

No, there’s was not a post-credit scene in the finale of Loki on Disney+. But — and it’s a big but — the credits did reveal crucial information about the series. It’s not over.

That’s right. Buried in the credits, you’ll find a moment where it cuts to an envelope. There’s a red stamp on the top of a file that reads: “LOKI WILL RETURN IN SEASON 2.” And it’s likely that season will be as wild as this first season.

We won’t get into spoilers or plot points from season one for the sake of those who haven’t finished it yet. But if Marvel hadn’t disclosed the information about the second season, it would be impossible to know if they’d continue it. It seemed like the events in the final episode would tie in directly to a number of the upcoming movies, including Spider-Man: No Way Home and Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (which has the same head writer, Michael Waldron, as Loki). But now, Loki won’t just tie into the movies. It will tie into its second season, which will likely weave into the upcoming movies.

The details are hazy in the wake of the announcement. There are a few initial reports on the topic, including the suggestion that filming could begin in January 2022 and the suggestion that Waldron could be involved in “some capacity,” per Deadline. Not only will Waldron be working on the next Dr. Strange movie, but he’s also going to work on a Star Wars script under Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios.

Loki is the first Marvel show on Disney+ to announce a second season. The studio has made no such announcement for WandaVision or The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

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17 questions with ‘Loki’ head writer: Easter eggs, fan theories before highly anticipated finale

“I love seeing what people are thinking. We’ll see if anybody was right. There’s some interesting ideas.”

Marvel’s Loki has been the strangest chapter of the comic book universe to appear on screen. And that has been what makes it outrageous, daring, fun and unpredictable. The creativity stems from the show’s two pillars of leadership: head writer Michael Waldron and director Kate Herron.

Ahead of the sixth episode and the season finale of Loki, we chatted with Waldron to pick his brain on how the script developed. He fielded questions on Loki’s romantic preferences, what makes a Loki a Loki, fan theories, Easter Eggs and, of course, Alligator Loki. Waldron, who has worked on Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty and HBO’s Heels, also addressed some of his upcoming projects: Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and an unnamed Star Wars film.

Here are 17 questions with Waldron. Some of his answers have been edited for transparency and brevity.

Warning: This article contains spoilers from episodes one through five of Loki on Disney+.

Alligator Loki is the MCU’s newest, most amazing obsession

This mysterious reptile has won over our hearts.

I’m late to the party. But that’s the way Loki would like it. He strikes me as someone who arrives fashionably late, if at all. The internet is celebrating Alligator Loki, the darling of Loki on Disney+.

If you’re reading this, you already knew that. You love Gator Loki. I love Gator Loki. Let’s talk about it.

In the fifth episode of Loki, “Journey into Mystery,” Gator Loki was one of the weirdest things in a show that clearly prided itself on being Marvel’s version of the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour. It’s totally different and psychedelic — and better for it. Gator Loki is the physical personification of Loki‘s eccentricities. In a show where we’ve seen Frog Thor (Throg), Lokis in love and a sentimental speech about a jet ski, Gator Loki might be the strangest thing the show has gotten away with. The show-runners tried it. And my goodness, did it work.

The gator is an enigma who inspires so many questions. Does it come from an alternate timeline where ALL the Avengers are animals? Can it enchant? Can it wield a dagger? Can he lie? Will we ever see it again? And, the biggest mystery: Is he even a Loki?

“I know, but I want people to wonder,” Loki head writer Michael Waldron told Marvel.com. “I want that to be the next great Marvel debate. Is Alligator Loki really a Loki or not?”

Oh, you cunning member of the Crocodilia. You demi-god and demi-dinosaur. You ridiculous, RoxxiWine-drinking reptile.

We see you. Respect.

And we get that if we don’t show respect, we’ll lose a hand. So … seriously: respect.

I’d respect Gator Loki even more if he wasn’t actually a Loki. His biggest common threads are survivalism and the color green. Otherwise, he has shown no powers. He can’t even speak unless Classic Loki is translating Alligator Loki’s unamused looks. But that’s helped him deliver high comedy in his supporting role. The muted cutaways to his (non) reactions are perfect. And then there are the cutups of Gator Loki’s appearances set to music, which are #art.

Want to get even more weird? Check out what the actors had to look at when they were in his company on stage. The actors were working with a googly-eyed stuffed animal.

It sounds like director Kate Herron genuinely grappled with how Gator Loki should look: Cute, cartoonish and cuddly or cold and calculated? It’s Loki. Gotta be the latter.

“We had some early versions when we were doing visual effects that probably were a bit too cute, in the sense of it was a bit more like a cartoony kind of alligator,” Herron told Marvel.com. “But it just became funnier and funnier the more it looked like a real alligator that just happened to be wearing the horns. That was the sweet spot. Once we landed in that spot where it felt like a real alligator, but with a kind of slightly jaunty horns on, that’s where we were like, ‘Oh, there he is.’”

Brilliant.

Now I know you want me to say Gator Loki is better than Baby Yoda from Star Wars universe and “Mandalorian” on Disney+. The conversation is raging on Twitter, Reddit and Facebook. Let’s not turn this into an episode of ESPN’s First Take. I’m not here to be Stephen A. Smith with an anger-invoking opinion. That’s not what Gator Loki is about. That’s not what Baby Yoda is about. My nuanced take is they’re both wonderful — and different.

Apples and oranges. Lokis and Yodas.

Am I right? (I am.)

It’s likely we’ve seen the last of Gator Loki. He will live forever in The Void — and in our hearts. Farewell, sweet prince(ss).

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All signs are pointing toward ‘Loki’ introducing this supervillain in the finale

Who is running the TVA? We think we have a clear idea.

This article contains spoilers from episode five of Marvel’s show, Loki. The Disney+ series has one episode left. We will reveal plot points from the first five episodes while speculating on what’s to come in the finale. If you don’t want to see that information, please exit this article.

No one thrives in chaos like Loki. And that’s why the scene in episode five when Loki (Tom Hiddelston) dances through a crowd of his fellow Loki Variants — one of which has dreads for horns and one of which is an alligator — was absolutely perfect. It should be too absurd and preposterous. And, well, it was. But it was also silly in all the right ways, including and especially Alligator Loki eating President Loki’s hand. Outrageous.

It was one of the just-the-right-amount-of-weird moments from an episode that united Loki and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) in The Void, where they got one step closer to finding the person behind the TVA (Time Variance Authority).

Though Loki on Disney+ has been one episode of chaos after the next, the show seems to be organized in setting up one particular villain. All the signs point toward an appearance from Kang the Conqueror in the finale.

Who is Kang? Imagine if Genghis Khan had access to 1) a suit of armor that made him super powerful and 2) a time traveling device. Kang is, of course, a conqueror. But what makes him special is that he conquerors multiple points of time. The ambitious villain moves between time and space — because conquering in one place and one space is too easy.

Played by Jonathan Majors, Kang will appear in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, a movie set to release in February 2023. But could he make an appearance in Loki first? Could he be in charge of the TVA?

Here are the easter eggs that Marvel fans have found — and there are many.

Marvel fans are freaking out about 2 scenes (1 in the credits) in latest ‘Loki’ episode

What. Just. Happened?!

This article contains spoilers from episode four of “Loki.” If you haven’t seen it or don’t want to know the plot points, then hop out of this article — right now. Seriously! You have to get out of here. Last chance!

Loki cannot die.

Prove me wrong.

Just when you think Marvel has done away with Tom Hiddleston’s character, the studio finds a way to keep him alive. The fourth episode of Loki is yet another example. Rather than get rid of a Hiddleston’s Loki (or even Sophia Di Martino’s Sylvie/Loki), they introduced even more Lokis.

In the episode titled, “The Nexus Event,” we saw two major characters, Hiddleston’s Loki and Mobius, die — or so we thought. We saw both Loki and Mobius disappear after getting pruned (a word which refers to getting poked with those glowing sticks, wielded by Time Variance Authority agents). But a credit scene suggested Loki is alive, with the anti-hero finding himself in the company of what appeared to be other Loki Variants.

“Is this hell? Am I dead?” he asks.

“Not yet. But you will be unless you come with us?” one of the Loki replies.

What an ending for the episode.

Where is he? Another planet? Another reality? It’s unclear. But we’ll surely find out in the following episode. With such a staggering cliffhanger, Marvel fans lost it.