Loki: What’s hidden in plain sight in episode 2

Lady Loki

One of the earliest rumors about the series (backed up by the set photos) was that Sophia Di Martino would play a female version of Loki. And sure enough, “The Variant” reveals that the Loki causing the TVA so much trouble is a Goddess of Mischief. Of course, you’re probably wondering how this is even possible since even the other Variants Mobius showed during the briefing all look like Tom Hiddleston, even the Hulk one. Well, there’s a logical explanation for that.

For starters, Loki in the comics, movies, and the original Norse mythology is a magical shapeshifter. We’ve not only seen him in various MCU films disguise himself as other people (particularly Steve Rogers), but the fact that his TVA personnel file lists his gender as “fluid” indicates that he can become a woman or a man. Even his eye and skin color could be regarded as “fluid” since he was really born with the blue skin, red eyes, and markings of a frost giant. There’s even a story from the Norse myths in which Loki changes himself into a mare and later gives birth to a eight-legged horse named Sleipnir.

In addition, there was an extensive period in the comics in which Loki became a woman. During J. Michael Straczynski’s run on Thor, when the Asgardians were reborn after Ragnarok, Loki’s soul ended up possessing a female body. Only it wasn’t just any female body; it was a body intended for Thor’s beloved and fellow goddess, Sif. The real Sif wound up occupying the body of terminal cancer patient, and Loki took advantage of the situation just to mess with his brother. There was even a point in which Lady Loki pretended to be Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a. the Scarlet Witch, in a plot against the Avengers.

However, there’s another potential wrinkle, in that Lady Loki may not even be a Loki variant. That’s because in various foreign language dubs, the credits list Sophia Di Martino as “Sylvie.” This very well could be a reference to Sylvie Lushton, a midwestern teenager in the comics whom Loki decided to give magical powers to just for the fun of it. Sylvie ended up joining the Young Avengers and called herself The Enchantress after the original Thor villain, Amora the Enchantress.

This brings in all kinds of possibilities. Perhaps this Lady Loki is the MCU version of the Enchantress while also being a Loki from an alternate timeline. Or that Lady Loki is a protegee, perhaps even a biological relation to, another version of Loki. That would certainly give added meaning to her response to Loki’s “You’re me” during the episode: “Ugh, don’t call me that,” i.e. “Don’t call me Loki.”

Now all we have to figure out is why Lady Loki, or whomever this Variant really is, decided to bomb the Sacred Timeline with multiple reset charges to create the Marvel Multiverse. Because it can’t be as simple as bringing about “another multiversal war,” can it?

Any clues or Easter Eggs from Loki episode 2 that we might have missed? Let us know what they are, along with some of your theories, in the comments section below.