Marvels Loki is a show that has definitely piqued my interest. When Marvel first announced the show starring Tom Hiddleston, I admit I wasnt that excited, to begin with. I knew the show would not be about the prime Loki, because hes dead. My concern then was that this would be us going back to a Loki of 2013, without the development that character had in the prime timeline. I just didnt think that was going to all that enjoyable. I hope I was wrong.
Since then we have learned only a little about what Loki will entail. However, what we have heard recently has me changing my mind about what I want to see from the Loki Disney+ show.
We know that Owen Wilson is in it, and we think he is playing someone from the Time Variance Authority. Loki in Marvels own words will heavily involve time travel. Fans think that Sophie Di Martino is playing a female version of Loki, and I think Richard E. Grant could be playing an older version of Loki. Yesterday we shared a wild rumor that Finn Wolfhard would be playing a kid version of Loki, but thats unsubstantiated so I will leave it there. We also shared a rumor this week that the Minutemen would be involved in Loki. The Minutemen we think should be the time police serving the TVA in the show. Finally, back to the very start, Kevin Feige himself shared some concept art of Loki standing in a 1975 version of Times Square.
These ingredients for me could make an exciting recipe for the Loki show. Last week I spoke about how I see a thread running narratively from Black Widow, through Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and towards a potential Thunderbolts movie. This week I want to talk about how I see a thread start from WandaVision, through Loki, and into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Maybe, the events of Loki will also have an influence on what happens in Thor: Love and Thunder, but I cannot quite see the connection there, yet.
So lets take a look at what I want to see from Loki. Remember, this isnt speculation as such, you could take those ingredients mentioned above and bake them a thousand different ways. This column is purely opinion-based, and as such, this is merely what I want to see as a fan from Marvels Loki. Or, what I would do. So I hope you enjoy a little fan-fiction mixed with some guesswork.
When this show begins Loki has escaped from his captors with one of the Infinity Stones. This is still very much a vengeful and ruthless version of Loki. This version of Loki has not endured the death of his mother or worked with his brother Thor to avenge her. Loki has not pretended to be Odin and ruled Asgard, he has not seen his fathers death caused as a result either. Loki has not yet met Hela or had to work with Thor to defeat her. Finally, Loki has not died at the hands of Thanos whilst attempting to assassinate him and save the Universe. Thats a heck of a lot of character development absent from this version of Loki.
I, therefore, think that Loki is going to start off quite villainous. Lokis development over the course of the show should echo that of the prime Loki with different catalysts. Who Loki is underneath is not an outright villain, but a misguided and dangerously complex character. I want Marvels Loki to lean into this aspect of the character. How do you get Loki from villain to anti-hero across six hours?
Id like to see the show begin with Loki intending to continue his selfish ways until he is captured by the TVA as an anomaly. The TVA will be aware that Loki is now well outside of where he is supposed to be. The events of Endgame were minimized by Cap taking all the Infinity Stones back to where they got them. However, in the version of reality where the Avengers messed up, everything has changed. Loki is free, the Tesseract with him. Also, the events of The Winter Soldier might not happen because of how events were changed in Endgame. The ripple effects of Hulk accidentally flooring Tony Stark in Endgame would be widely felt.
Loki is Loki, a master manipulator, and this is where I think the story will begin. I can see Owen Wilson as a character far too trusting, and allowing himself to be manipulated by Loki. Loki will offer to help the TVA, but Im sure with his own plans for an eventual escape. A quest through the Multiverse, dealing with various time issues would follow. This could give Loki the chance to see various versions of himself, versions that took similar or different choices in life. The best way for a character to focus on self-improvement is to show them their faults. Loki is going to see his own character magnified back upon him tenfold. Essentially, its A Christmas Carol through time and space.
Like Loki eventually warmed towards his brother Thor, I could see him begrudgingly begin to care about Owen Wilsons morally sound, but nave TVA character. Once Loki begins to encounter different versions of himself, he will fall more and more into an anti-hero type role. Sure, we dont want Loki to end up being Captain America, that would be out of character and uninteresting. However, an anti-hero is, by definition, a character who has lower moral standards youd expect from a hero, and yet still does heroic acts or battles far worse villains.
I could definitely see Lokis skills being employed to fix problems across time and the Multiverse. Wilsons character could be the one to reign Loki in, and keep him on the right side of that tightrope he walks. Im sure that by trying to fix time, all theyll do is create more problems potentially here and there. Think Quantum Leap crossed with Back to the Future, and you might be on the same wavelength of where my brain is going for Marvels Loki.
Loki could mess up and the results be far worse than whatever he was trying to fix. Loki will, of course, feel some sense of responsibility to prevent this timeline from happening. Perhaps he is shown a terrible future with his own actions acting as the catalyst? Loki begins by trying to fix his own mistakes only. But by the end, Loki and Wilson are a great team, cutting about time and space like Sam and Al from Quantum Leap, just without Ziggy.
We know WandaVision is coming out before Loki, and we know it will tie into the Doctor Strange sequel. I could definitely see the events of WandaVision having a noticeable effect on the TVA. Im guessing some of the ripples from Wandas meddling will be seen in Loki. Equally, I could see some of the events of Marvels Loki affecting the story of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Doctor Strange and Wanda could theoretically cross streams with Loki and the TVA. Perhaps the TVA itself could become an overarching plot anchor for this Phase of the MCU?
At some point, Marvel has to bring in both The Fantastic Four, and the X-Men into the prime MCU timeline. My own theory for how this will happen is the ripple effects from all this time and Multiverse meddling that will happen. Endgame may have begun this path, but WandaVision, Loki and Doctor Strange 2 will take those concepts farther. What if the Saga being told right now is the Time Saga, or the Multiverse saga? Could this next decade of the MCU finish with the Avengers battling Kang for control of time and space? Kang was not only involved with the TVA in the comics, he also had some tantalizing connections to The Fantastic Four.
Here is my prediction then. Black Widow, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and maybe even Hawkeye and Spider-Man 3 will lead up to Avengers 5.5. What I mean is a Thunderbolts movie which could act as mini Avengers movie in the way Civil War did. I already said what I want to see from the next Avengers movie in one of these columns. I am looking for Avengers 5 to be a standalone story, like Avengers, or Avengers: Age of Ultron. Following that you have a semi-Avengers movie In thunderbolts.
For the next event movie though i.e. Infinity War and Endgame, what about a massive fight against Kang? This brings The Fantastic Four and the X-Men into the prime timeline going forward and we could get some time with them in their own movies before hand. So what if Eternals, WandaVision, Loki, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and maybe even Blade are leading towards that Multiversal event?
This is what Id like to see from Marvels Loki. Add these details to the previous weeks content in this column, and we have one fans version of how Phase 4 and Phase 5 could fit together. Ill point out again, that this is not what I predict as such. This version of the MCU exists only in my head and its where I would go with the various pieces of the puzzle we know already.
It will be hard for fans to guess much else about the MCU until we see some new content from this franchise. Unfortunately, we simply dont know when we are going to see Black Widow hit theaters? Until we do see Black Widow I think Ill try and steer this column away from the MCU for a few weeks.
Where we go next, is a choice I leave to you? actually that would be a lie, but I do welcome any suggestions of what movies or franchises youd like to see me get imaginative on? Let us know in the usual spot below with you think of my ideas, and share your own theories. See you next week..
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