Loki: What’s hidden in plain sight in episode 1

Having watched the premiere of Loki, we offer an in-depth look into the mysterious TVA and the real-life incident behind one of America’s infamous heists.

Loki, the latest outing from Marvel Studios and Disney+, premiered last Wednesday, and based on several reviews, it didn’t disappoint. It’s also evident that, aside from the pleasure of seeing Tom Hiddleston once again reprise the Asgardian God of Mischief, the series is bound to get a little off the wall. Because whenever a story deals with time travel, alternate realities, possible futures, and fractured timelines, events tend to go a bit nuts, if not more than a little confusing. That also makes it more important to pay attention to some possible clues on-screen.

As with all the Marvel Studios’ Disney+ shows, Loki also throws in its share of Easter Eggs and sly winks to the fans. Some are just cute references, like the courtroom mural depicting Stan Lee as a TVA agent. Others reference other films or series, like the Skrull being booked into the TVA processing center, and another who, though out of focus, bears a striking similarity to Peggy Carter. However, as we’ve done before, we’ll be looking at the major clues, while also comparing some aspects of the television series with how they’re presenting in the comics. And we’ll start with the super secret agency at the center of it all…

The Time Variance Authority

There’s not too much difference between the Time Variance Authority from the comics and how they’re presented in the series. Other than its aesthetic and origins, their mission statement remains the same: Monitoring and preserving the proper flow of time. Whether they actually do a good job at doing this is still up for debate.

However, there are few neat little tidbits which Loki didn’t include. For instance, Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson) in the comics is the literal clone of Marvel Comics writer and artist Mark Gruenwald, which creator Walt Simonson did as tribute to his friend and colleague. In fact, all of the mid-to high-level executives at the TVA are clones of Mark Gruenwald. The low-level employees, called Chronomonitors, are anonymous, faceless desk jockeys that are created anytime there’s a new alternate reality.

Another big difference is that the law enforcement division of the TVA are not called Hunters but “Justices,” and they’re, essentially, just like the Judges from the Judge Dredd/A.D. 2000 comics. Instead of wearing all black tactical gear, they wear uniforms of red, white, and blue with star emblems and chrome-plated helmets. They also tend to have cybernetic body parts and, aside from their firearms called “Peacekeepers,” their heavy artillery are known as “Retroactive Cannons” (get it?) which completely erases a person from reality.

There’s also another big difference between the TVA from the comics and the TVA in Loki. There is no Judge Ravonna Renslayer at the TVA. There is, however, a Ravonna Renslayer in the comics who is the lover of the time-travelling supervillain, Kang the Conqueror. And we know that Kang is set to make his cinematic debut in the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. If Ravonna is a judge at the TVA, then that already suggests that the MCU version is much more nefarious than it lets on. Then again, there’s already something suspicious about it when we get to its supposed origins.