This text accommodates spoilers for the Loki season 2 finale
Loki season 2 is now full and with it probably all the character arc for Tom Hiddleston’s all-time nice MCU antihero. Over the course of his appearances within the films and on TV we’ve seen a totally rounded character arc that took him from a scheming villain to arguably the best hero within the historical past of the multiverse.
However there was an enormous quantity to soak up over this finale, so let’s break down precisely what occurred.
He Who Stays
Loki spent the primary half of the episode utilizing his new time-slipping powers to attempt to save the TVA by repairing the temporal loom, although it doesn’t matter what answer he tried nothing labored. Quickly we’re again on the finale of season 1, with He Who Stays again in his chair on the finish of time. We discover out this Kang variant has each proper to be smug – he’s completely right that his loss of life will inevitably result in spaghettification of all time and area.
He Who Stays reveals that the one approach for Loki to forestall the tip of all issues is for him to kill Sylvie earlier than she will be able to kill him. He is aware of that his loss of life will create a loop and that Loki will inevitably return thus far (giving his cheery “see you quickly” new which means”). He Who Stays’ survival will forestall the temporal loom from changing into overloaded and permit the TVA to maintain ticking on indefinitely.
However Loki figures out one other approach.
Loki’s plan
He Who Stays could have been a genius, however Loki outsmarted him. Regardless of it apparently being the one accessible choice Loki refused to kill Sylvie, allowed He Who Stays to die, and let the loom explode. Quite than making an attempt to restore the loom, he did one thing that no one would count on from a Loki variant: heroic self-sacrifice.
This Loki strode into the blast of time radiation, together with his immortality defending him from spaghettification. His interjection prevented the loop from being reset, although left him inside a tangled chaos of dying timelines. However, utilizing his magic and his hard-won information of all issues temporal he singlehandedly wove the time streams into a brand new multiverse, with him holding every part collectively on the heart of it.
Loki lastly will get the golden throne and the “superb function” he’s been craving ever since we first met him 2011’s Thor. His pals are protected, the timelines are all ticking alongside fortunately, although victory comes at the price of being trapped alone because the God of Time on the heart of all actuality. So far as we all know, this Loki’s story has now come to an finish, as his vacating his throne would finish the multiverse. Nevertheless, there are actually an infinite variety of different Loki variants on the market who now have the liberty that Sylvie so desired.
We lastly see that the brand new form of time is a tree, which followers of Norse mythology will acknowledge as Yggdrasil, the world tree. Loki being trapped right here neatly mirrors his destiny within the unique Norse mythology, by which he’s tied up in Yggdrasil’s branches and plagued by a snake’s slowly dripping venom.
What’s subsequent?
So far as we will inform, this Loki is now a everlasting fixture on the heart of the multiverse, which means this can be the ultimate time we see Tom Hiddleston within the MCU and the possibilities of a 3rd season really feel distant. That mentioned, there are actually quite a lot of Lokis on the market within the multiverse, although as they haven’t been by way of the identical character improvement most of them will likely be of the moustache-twirling “invade Earth” selection.
As for the way forward for the MCU? Nicely, the destruction of the temporal loom and the everlasting loss of life of He Who Stays means there’ll now be extra Kangs and the damaging multiversal battle threatened by He Who Stays will certainly happen – possible over the course of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars.
As for the TVA? Nicely, it appears to be ticking alongside fortunately monitoring Yggdrasil with a rebooted and non-homicidal Miss Minutes. A poster reveals TVA brokers as gardeners caring for the tree, with the slogan “nurture our nature for a greater future”. Mobius has understandably dipped out and seems to have ambitions of discovering a life on the sacred timeline (hopefully with private watercraft) and Sylvie now has the liberty to discover time and area as she sees match.
Sadly issues don’t seem so constructive for Renslayer, because it seems she’s caught in The Void and could also be about to be consumed by Alioth. That mentioned, we don’t truly see her die, so we’d wager she’ll be again as Kang’s trusted lieutenant in The Kang Dynasty.
It’s been a heck of a trip and let’s hope different Marvel TV reveals and films take observe. That is the way you do it proper.
