Not only does Loki have huge ramifications for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the show also has some of the most intriguing MCU references.
Out of all the Disney Plus series that were announced following the end of the MCU’s Phase Three, Loki had the most unpredictable possibilities. WandaVision’s plot had precedence in the comic book storyline House of M, while The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was a more straightforward continuation of Captain America’s teammates’ narrative. The original timeline Loki was killed by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, but the show would focus on a variant Loki from 2012 who escaped capture by the Avengers, because of their timeline-meddling in Avengers: Endgame.
Now that the first season is over, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki’s glorious purpose has unfolded before us. The show had so many ups and downs, twists and turns, from chapter to chapter. And in between all of the God of Mischief’s chaotic disruptions, there were references to the larger universe that Loki has been apart of since 2011. Let’s break down some of the key connections in each episode.
Episode 1 – Glorious Purpose
The series begins with an obvious link to the Asgardian trickster’s previous MCU content, by replaying the most recent Loki-related scene from Avengers: Endgame. The 2012 version of Loki snatches up the Tesseract after the Avengers botch the time-heist. The show picks up from there and dives into the heavily expository episode to explain that this caused a disturbance in the timeline, otherwise known as a Nexus event.
The people responsible for enforcing such events are the Time Variance Authority (TVA). MCU fans who haven’t read any Man-Thing comics that deal with the Nexus of All Realities may still find that the word “nexus” rings a bell. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Iron Man visited the internet hub called Nexus which essentially houses every piece of data in the world. And in WandaVision, one of the commercials was for an antidepressant drug called Nexus. These were not happenstances.
While Loki is at the TVA, he is told that “time works differently here”. A similar statement was made to his brother about Sakaar in Thor: Ragnarok; Loki was knocked out of the Bifrost seconds before Thor, but somehow landed on Sakaar weeks before him. At the TVA, it is even more impossible to tell how much time has passed.
Another notable tidbit at TVA headquarters is that a Skrull is visible in the background. Skrulls were introduced in Captain Marvel and formed alliances with Nick Fury and Carol Danvers. The Skrull in Loki may just be a nice Easter Egg, or perhaps Skrulls will be playing a bigger role in the future of the MCU and will return for the second season of Loki.
Episode 2 – The Variant
A RoxxCart superstore is the setting of the second episode’s climax, which conveys how Roxxon Corporation is still running strong in the 2050s. Early Roxxon was presented as a successful business in the network show Agent Carter, where the head of the company, Hugh Jones, was a rival of Howard Stark’s. Roxxon also plays a role in Marvel shows that operate outside of the universe, such as Cloak & Dagger and Daredevil.
Roxxon’s slightly larger connection to the MCU is in the Iron Man trilogy. In the first movie, Roxxon Corporation’s building is clearly noticeable behind Iron Man, while fighting Iron Monger. In the sequel, one of the race cars in the Grand Prix was sponsored by Roxxon. And in the third Iron Man, the climactic battle took place at a Roxxon oil tanker.
Also, in “The Variant”, Mobius refers to Loki as a backstabber, stating he has literally stabbed 50 people in the back. The most notable person he stabbed in the back was Agent Coulson in The Avengers. This version of Loki was snatched up by the TVA shortly after he gutted Coulson. Both characters have gone through a lot of changes at this point in the MCU, so it could be interesting if the two ever met again.
Episode 3 – Lamentis
Loki and Sylvie find themselves on the doomed moon of Lamentis in the season’s third part. During their train ride, Loki talks to Sylvie about his mother and how she helped him develop his gifts. Frigga’s powers in the Thor franchise are often inconspicuous yet strangely palpable. In Thor: The Dark World, the God of Thunder discusses their recently-deceased mother, anguishing to Loki “you had her tricks, but I had her trust.”
Another callback to the Thor films is Loki getting drunk on the train; something that Thor would do with his friends. After downing a drink, Loki breaks his glass, and exclaims “another”, just like his brother did in New Mexico in the first movie, only Thor’s command followed his first taste of coffee.
The story in “Lamentis” transforms into a heroic quest by Loki to ensure the citizens get off the moon on the ark before it is destroyed. This resembles Loki shepherding the Asgardians onto the Grandmaster’s ship in Thor: Ragnarok before Asgard is demolished.
Episode 4 – The Nexus Event
The opening of “The Nexus Event” shows young Sylvie playing with a toy Valkyrie and Fenris wolf. Valkyrie was an Asgardian hero who redeemed herself to help save her people in Thor: Ragnarok. The primary villain of that film was Hela, who resurrected the giant wolf using the Eternal Flame.
One of the best surprises in the episode is seeing Lady Sif return. The last movie she appeared in was Thor: The Dark World, eight years ago. Although she did pop up on Agents of SHIELD a few years later. In this episode, Loki is sent to an unpleasant time-loop that stars an irritated Sif, which most definitely pre-dates the original Thor. Both Valkyrie and Sif are expected to attend Thor’s fourth solo outing, Love and Thunder.
While listing off the different types of threats the TVA has come across, Mobius says that the organization has dealt with Kree, Titans, and vampires. The Kree are the most common of the three in the MCU, featuring heavily in Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel. We have seen less of the Titans, although the most famous Titan of all, Thanos, was a huge threat who killed Loki in a different timeline. And, as far as we know, vampires have yet to be spotted in the MCU, but the upcoming Blade movie is sure to change that.
Episode 5 – Journey into Mystery
In the penultimate chapter, Loki is stuck in The Void, where many MCU-related items are laying around. Did you spot a SHIELD helicarrier or the Dark Aster – Ronan the Accuser’s ship that the Guardians took down in their first film? Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, can be seen alongside other discarded paraphernalia nearby the Loki camp. Going by the TVA’s rules, all of these are in the Void because they were connected to some kind of Nexus event at some point in the timeline.
And is that Yellowjacket’s giant-sized head in the Void’s wasteland. At the end of Ant-Man, the tiny hero disposes of Yellowjacket by internally destroying his suit. Yellowjacket collapses into himself and could even have gotten trapped in the Quantum Realm. Did that Yellowjacket come out the other side to the literal end of time itself or is this a variant version of the villain?
Before moving onto the finale, we have to acknowledge Loki’s “glorious purpose” phrase. It is spoken throughout the season and is a commonly used expression that Loki first uttered to Nick Fury when he came to claim Earth for himself at the beginning of The Avengers: “I am Loki of Asgard and I am burdened with glorious purpose”. The most memorable recycling of the phrase in Loki is splendidly shouted by Richard E. Grant’s classic Loki as he first distracts, and then becomes engulfed by the Alioth.
Episode 6 – For All Time. Always.
The culmination of Loki seems to have more MCU connections of things to come rather than things that already have happened. The conclusion reveals that Kang the Conqueror is behind the “sacred timeline” and the entire TVA. This is our first meeting with the major villain after last year’s news that Jonathan Majors was cast in the role for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Some even suspected his casting for a movie that will not hit theaters for years suggests that Kang could appear in the MCU before Ant-Man 3.
With the season ending in utter timeline chaos, this actually points to the show setting up events of several MCU movies. Peter Parker will have his hands full with a spider-verse in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch will likely deal with the timeline fallout in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and now it looks like the tiniest superheroes will come face to face with an evil version of Kang in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Could Loki show up in those feature films? Unlike WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki is the first Disney Plus MCU show to confirm a second season. And after the mess that Loki and Sylvie just made, this decision certainly makes a lot of sense.
Are you looking forward to Loki season 2? Do you hope he shows up in more MCU movies? Let us know in the comments below.