Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Loki

  • Wow! ‘Loki’ Co-Star Reportedly Set for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Return

    Wow! ‘Loki’ Co-Star Reportedly Set for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Return

    Following the conclusion of the Infinity Saga, it was hard to imagine how much more Marvel Studios was going to squeeze out of Tom Hiddleston‘s Loki. Fortunately, Michael Waldron, Eric Martin, Kate Herron, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead found a way to breathe new life into the God of Mischief, putting together two seasons of an incredible journey into mystery that allowed Hiddleston to fulfill Loki’s glorious purpose.

    As brilliant as Hiddleston was in Loki, the chemistry between him and his co-stars, specifically Owen Wilson and Sophia Di Martino, helped make both seasons work so well. With the L1130 Variant of Loki now set up as the MCU’s keeper of the timeline–the God of Stories, it was no surprise that Hiddleston was among those announced as part of the main cast of Avengers: Doomsday last year. It’s not yet entirely clear exactly what role Loki will play in attempting to stop Doctor Doom from unleashing a “cascading crisis across the entire multiverse,” but according to a new report, he’ll have his best buddy at his side.

    My contribution has been contributed. It is monumental. The centre of the story is absolutely brilliant, and was so surprising when I read it. It just has never been done before.

    -Tom Hiddleston
    According to industry insider Daniel Richtman, Owen Wilson will return in Avengers: Doomsday as TVA timecop Mobius.

    We have different styles. You’re a man of action, which is fine. I take a more slow, deliberate, cerebral approach because I see everything. I notice everything.

    -Mobius

    When last seen in the Loki series finale, Mobius had left the TVA to enjoy the freedom to live his own life free from the machinations of He Who Remains. However, it was made pretty clear that there was room more Mobius and, with the Multiverse at stake, it sounds like it’s time for him to get off the couch.

  • What to Expect from the Future of The MCU and When to Expect It

    What to Expect from the Future of The MCU and When to Expect It

    What’s next for Marvel Studios? Who’s recently joined the cast of your most anticipated series or film? Where can you find the teasers and trailers? Look no further, true believers. Everything you need to know about the future of the MCU has been collected for you here. Click on each logo to learn what we currently know about the upcoming MCU projects.

  • EP Kevin Wright Shares His Hopes for the Future of ‘Loki’

    EP Kevin Wright Shares His Hopes for the Future of ‘Loki’

    Marvel Studios Loki stands out among the MCU streaming series as having delivered high-quality episodes consistently. The Season 2 finale did a fine job of wrapping up both the sophomore season and the longform narrative that kicked off in 2021. If no further Loki stories were to be told, though it would be a shame, the character–and those who worked as supporting characters over two seasons–were well served. However, star Tom Hiddleston has made it clear that he hadn’t entirely closed the door and now Kevin Wright, who worked as an executive producer on Season 2, has made it clear that the studios is open to more stories being told in that corner of the universe.

    “For two seasons, I’ve loved working with this team… I would love to keep telling those stories with them, in this world,” Wright told TVLine. “I don’t think any of us would ever want to rush into a Season 3 if there’s not a good story to tell. But I think this team could go off and tell other stories. Maybe it’s not Loki Season 3. Maybe there’s something we can continue to do at the TVA, and it’s like our Better Call Saul to Loki‘s Breaking Bad. That would be cool, to me.”

    (L-R): Wunmi Mosaku as Hunter B-15, Owen Wilson as Mobius, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Eugene Cordero as Casey, and Ke Huy Quan as O.B. in Marvel Studios’ LOKI, Season 2, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Gareth Gatrell. © 2023 MARVEL.

    The notion that more stories could be told through the lens of the TVA and its various interesting characters seems to fit with Marvel Studios new creative strategy to produce multiple seasons of serialized streaming series. Wright was quick to clarify, however, that his comments aren’t an indication of what is happening, only what he would like to see happen. “I don’t know the future of these characters in the MCU,” Wright explained, adding it’s only him saying when he “would love to do.”

    Given the very unique nature of the TVA, it would seem logical that it’s very fetrile creative ground. Add to that the fact that Loki has been among the studio’s most roundly praised shows and it does seem as though there might be some more stories to be told. “I have to think, with how people have really enjoyed this story,” he continues, “that other filmmakers are going to want to come in and continue to tell stories [in this world]. That would be my hope.” And that’s a hope shared by many who would love to see further adventures in the very strange sci-fi world Marvel Studios has built at the TVA.

    Source: TV Line

  • Marvel Studios is at a Crossroads

    Marvel Studios is at a Crossroads

    Marvel Studios’ has faced its worst opening weekend with The Marvels. Is it a simple discussion surrounding superhero or Marvel fatigue? Going by just how varied the discussions are online, it’s very likely not as simple as anyone wants it to be. One could discuss the impact of the last few years, a rough 2023 box office for blockbusters, the SAG as well as WGA strikes, and many more factors. So, there might simply not be a singular reason and just a lot of elements coming together.

    Of course, these kinds of numbers establish the expected “end” of Marvel Studios’ discussion online. Articles have dropped announcing that the films are no longer events which is why no one is watching them. Certain subsections proclaim the end of Marvel due to “wokeness” and whatever personal reason one has when leaving the franchise behind as “it should’ve ended with Endgame” echoes throughout the dark corners of the web. For years, the discussion was that superhero movies would go the way of the Western and if that point has been reached, we’ll likely see a very different Marvel Studios moving forward.

    As such, it seems like the perfect time to discuss what exactly the future might hold for Marvel Studios and likely the results that’ll come from this blow at the box office. We have no insight into what Marvel Studios will truly do moving forward but there are already some minor hints that may tease what the future has in store and what we can expect from the studio that reinvented blockbusters for over 15 years. We’re at a crossroads and potentially the beginning of a new era moving forward.

    First Signs Exist in 2023

    Bob Iger returned as the CEO of Disney, which saw Bob Chapek try his best to figure out what exactly they would be doing during a pandemic. He carried over the Disney+ goals that were started by his predecessor only to buckle under the weight and get replaced. Yet, Iger’s run since hasn’t been something one would describe as a “return to form” but he has pointed out that a reduction of releases is something they are definitely going to review the future.

    At the time the pandemic hit, we were leaning into a huge increase in how much we were making. And I’ve always felt that quantity can be actually a negative when it comes to quality, and I think that’s exactly what happened. We lost some focus.

    Bob Iger

    2023 was still a big push from all studios to make bank after a rough pandemic, but it has led to many films fizzling out. As much as we want to point to Barbenheimer and Super Mario Bros. Movie as a showcase of how strong the year was: it simply wasn’t. Many films have bloated budgets due to filming during COVID and subsequently were never going to truly make their money back outside of some massive numbers. Prices are on the rise and with a cost of living crisis affecting people’s decisions, it becomes clear that people are far more selective than they’ve ever been (a reason it’s not as simple as just fatigue).

    One thing is clear though: we’ll see fewer releases moving forward. We already saw the reduction of output in 2023 with only two Disney+ series hitting the streaming service with quite a bit of time between each release; even if Secret Invasion didn’t quite help matters. The Marvels was pushed from July to November, which ended up hurting it due to the actor’s strike heavily hampering its promotion build-up. So, we’re already in the middle of a transition phase for the studio.

    New Disney+ Strategy

    Actually, there is one new highlight I ended up leaving out and that is Marvel Spotlight. Out of nowhere, Marvel Studios unveiled an entirely new banner just for their “grounded” stories that aren’t necessary for the major storyline being told throughout the phases. It was a strategic move that definitely left some ripples alongside a strong first impression with Echo’s trailer. Ever since there’s been a bit more positivity in the air that was definitely needed for the franchise that has been. Of course, outlets were still ready to say it’s too late or won’t fix any of the issues it’s facing. Head of Streaming, Brad Winderbaum, shared the inspiration for this new brand:

    Marvel Spotlight gives us a platform to bring more grounded, character-driven stories to the screen, and in the case of Echo, focusing on street-level stakes over larger MCU continuity. Just like comics fans didn’t need to read Avengers or Fantastic Four to enjoy a Ghost Rider Spotlight comic.

    Brad Winderbaum

    It’s unclear if this might just become the de facto banner for the Disney+ shows and the way it is being described is to ease viewers into it. The fact of the matter is: there’s a lot of debate about Disney+ and the film’s connections potentially muddling viewership a bit, especially with The Marvels that technically ties into multiple stories. While many have been quick to point out that every Marvel film quickly introduces elements from these shows and doesn’t require audiences to do the homework they complain about online, it’s a clever way to just visually create a distinction and ease audiences in.

    Still, one thing that the Disney+ shows should do is focus primarily on becoming the venue of exploring either side stories from movie characters or simply setting up its own subset within the grander universe. In a way, they could take the Defenders approach from Netflix and simply have its own little build-up with various characters that can bleed into Avengers releases that tie the entire Phase together. Small references here or there could ease viewers in but not lead to discussions of: “why is Ms. Marvel headlining a movie, does it mean I need to watch her show to know who she is?”

    Daredevil and Echo could become the grounded, street-level heroes on Disney+ that are visually and much more distinct from what they do with the movies. That would also help make the films stand out more, as these shows are no longer just as bombastic and expensive as their main counterparts. Agents of SHIELD worked as a complementary series that looked like it was part of the universe but distinctively is a TV series.

    New Cinematic Strategy

    2024 will only give us Deadpool 3 and that likely is mainly due to the writer’s strike but also potentially a deliberate choice to restructure next year. The only question is if they will stick with their 2025 schedule, which now includes three releases as is the usual norm for the studio. Yet, we might see them move away from that once they start reshuffling moving forward.

    The biggest problem that plagues these films is the production costs that have ballooned since COVID. The Marvels marks the final production that occurred during that time with everything heading our way in the coming years once again being under somewhat normal production rules for the studio moving forward. Though the SAG and WGA strikes are definitely going to show their thorns with Captain America: Brave New World which is getting extensive reshoots and Deadpool 3.

    Still, it would seem wise to perhaps pull back a bit going into 2025. Once again rolling out three films and who knows how many Disney+ series might just set them right back to where they are currently. Perhaps going back to the days of two releases a year to slowly build up momentum again might be the best way forward.

    Hell, if they do it right they could have one major event release per year with a bigger budget behind it, something we might see with Captain America 4, and then try to focus on a smaller project in that same year which can make back its money with even a softer release. Blade is rumored to have a $100M production budget and would perfectly fit that very bill. Once things “normalize” we might see the old MCU budgets back in action, as the current ones are definitely not intended. That way they can build up relevance and still given minor characters a spotlight even if they carry a bigger box office risk.

    No Single Solution

    Even making these examples and ideas of how Marvel Studios could move forward; mostly based on what signs are already there; there’s no true single solution to it all. Every franchise will eventually end up in a slump and the box office developments between The Marvels and previous projects are still showcasing a distinction. The current slump may remain an anomaly due to multiple factors affecting its release and the question will be if Deadpool 3 can draw in a crowd given where Marvel stands.

    Going into 2024, I wouldn’t expect many more releases outside of Echo and perhaps one more Disney+ series. There’s a chance the binge model works for them so they do make use of it to avoid the series occupying too much time and potentially not leading to the consensus of overwhelming audiences. Yet, this year has proven that they can have a massive success like Loki’s second season and a mild reception like Secret Invasion.

    The clear thing is: that once they show more consistency moving forward for audiences as they build toward Avengers: Secret Wars, we might see audiences once again return to theaters to not miss out on the latest Marvel movie. The studio is at a crossroads rather than an immediate stop. Whatever happens, moving forward depends on how they react to this current status and how they decide to build upon it moving forward.

    Source: The Verge, CNBC, Deadline, Variety, ComicBookMovies.com

  • ‘Loki’ Season Finale Grows to 11.2M Views

    ‘Loki’ Season Finale Grows to 11.2M Views

    While all eyes are on the demise of the MCU with The Marvels‘ disappointing opening due to a variety of reasons strongly affecting the market, it does look like their Disney+ series is showing that there’s a chance there’s, as expected, more to this story. The series finale for Loki has seen an increase from its initial viewership according to Disney+. It’s not a massive jump but it did see a jump from 10.9M in its premiere episode to 11.2M in its final entry.

    That is not the biggest ending for a series in 2023 on Disney+ however, as the series was just behind The Mandalorian’s third season. Still, what is quite impressive is that Loki had a strong consistency throughout its six-episode run by pulling in an average of 11M. It should be noted that it’s difficult to compare streaming services’ viewership the success so we can only compare it to other series on the streaming service.

    Loki remains one of the strongest entries on Disney+ for Marvel Studios and is likely a template for future projects moving forward. Of course, we don’t know what their future has in store exactly but it’s interesting to see these two sides to what Marvel Studios currently stands at. It further highlights that the box office performance represents a crossroads rather than the norm.

    Source: Deadline

  • RUMOR: Marvel Studios “Likely Moving Away” from Original Kang Storyline

    RUMOR: Marvel Studios “Likely Moving Away” from Original Kang Storyline

    There’s been much debate online over the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Many have already called it the end of an era after their first film in a while had a lower opening than even their 2008 release, but that doesn’t mean the production company is just going to sit around. The biggest challenge was that Jonathan Majors‘ Kang the Conqueror was going to be the main focus of the Multiverse Saga but as it turns out, they may be heading in a new direction.

    Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania writer Jeff Loveness is seemingly no longer involved with the first Avengers film, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. A podcast episode of The Ringer’s House of R features writer Joanna Robinson who made the recent MCU book exploring the inner makings that made the studio what it is today. In it, she seemingly hints that Marvel Studios might be moving away from its original plans.

    As this hasn’t been officially confirmed, it’s something we should take with a grain of salt but Loki definitely kept it open how they decide to move forward. They still have many options in how they tackle the entire storyline moving forward and there’s also a chance that they simply retitle the first Avengers film, or perhaps just jump straight into Secret Wars‘ storyline. They could turn whatever happened to the multiverse into a mystery film as these characters try to unravel what happened to their reality.

    Source: Spotify

  • REVIEW: ‘Loki’ Season 2 Finale

    REVIEW: ‘Loki’ Season 2 Finale

    The reinvention of the God of Lies is complete. With a thrilling and satisfying finale to the second season of Loki, Tom Hiddleston has roundly addressed critics’ concerns (including my own) about how much could possibly have been left in the tank for a character who had already done so much. Hiddleston’s dedication to the character, a fantastic creative team that was fully dedicated to some ridiculous sci-fi concepts and held fast to their vision and a deep cast combined to provide 12 incredible episodes of streaming television including an astounding season (and likely series) finale.

    Though it won’t be the last time we see Loki, “Glorious Purpose” was a wonderfully fitting bookend to the entire series (you’ll recall that the first episode of the series was also entitled “Glorious Purpose”). Loki’s journey into mystery led him right back to where Season 1 ended and put him face to face once again with He Who Remains who, sort of unsurprisingly, revealed that every step of said journey–including his own “death” and all the crazy bits that went on in Season 2–where engineered by him. Having spent centuries trying to save every reality and totally recreating himself along the way, Loki’s refusal to take He Who Remains final offer as an answer leads him to make a choice that nobody, including himself, could have ever predicted. No longer the conqueror or mischief maker, Loki reanimates the dead branches of reality and sets himself about the endless task of giving life to others at the expense of his own freedom. Free will outside of the boundaries set by He Who Remains.

    (L-R): Owen Wilson as Mobius, Wunmi Mosaku as Hunter B-15, Eugene Cordero as Casey, Sophia Di Martino as Sylvie, Ke Huy Quan as O.B., and Tom Hiddleston as Loki in Marvel Studios’ LOKI, Season 2, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Gareth Gatrell. © 2023 MARVEL.

    As a finale to a season and the series, the episode lands because it ties up so many of the series’ threads nearly as neatly as Loki ties together the branched timelines. Loki is the MCU’s longest experiment with longform narration to date and it’s a tall task for any writing room to keep everything together over the course of nearly 12 hours of a series. Thankfully despite series creator Michael Waldron moving on, the studio maintained continuity by handing the keys to the show to one of Season 1’s most key contributors, Eric Martin. Resultant of that, Season 2 picked up where Season 1 left off, took the audience on a wild romp and then dropped them right back off in a familiar place with the main character in a familiar predicament.

    For as complicated as the sci-fi weirdness of the show seemed to be, in the end, Loki remained a fairly straightforward character study of one of the MCU’s greatest characters. And powered by one of the MCU’s greatest talents in Hiddleston, Loki became the warm light for all mankind to share. In that regard, Loki was more than just a series that maintained continuity over 12 episodes; it was a reverential ode to every beat that has made the character so popular since he first appeared in 2011’s Thor. In just about every way, Loki is the MCU’s “Breaking Good” full of all the things that make stories great. Perhaps, in his big chair at the end of time, this was a story written by the God of Stories himself.

  • REVIEW: ‘Loki’ Episode 5 Shows the Power of the Longform Narrative

    REVIEW: ‘Loki’ Episode 5 Shows the Power of the Longform Narrative

    As Loki nears the completion of its second season, it continues to stand as the nonpareil of what Marvel Studios television was initially intended to be and should endeavor to continue to be. Thanks in no small measure to the continued brilliance of Tom Hiddleston, the show continues, in modern parlance, to slap, slay and dish out weekly bangers. While it’s illogical, even preposterous, premise all but guarantees it’s not for everybody, Loki continues to embrace its place as a true sci-fi show and seems with each passing episode to submerge further into those depths. To that end, it’s no surprise that Season 2’s fifth episode, “Science/Fiction” turned out not only to be the most convoluted and nonsensical entry to date but also one of the series’ best and maybe one of Marvel Studios’ best episodic efforts.

    As the penultimate episode of Season 2, “Science Fiction” does what penultimate episodes do. It makes real the consequences of the season’s ongoing concerns about the stability of the Temporal Loom which finally gave out in Episode 4’s cliffhanger. The destruction of the Loom, which refines raw time into the timelines where people live their lives, resulted in both the destruction of the TVA and, as revealed in Episode 5, the destruction of those timelines. When the Loom isn’t Looming, entire realities and their inhabitants are reduced to spaghetti, something that not even Sylvie, the colder-hearted Loki Variant, can abide. The loss of the Temporal Loom also puts Loki back in a familiar predicament as his time-slipping, thought to have been remedied in the season’s first episode, resumes albeit with an interesting twist as he bops about to different realities where familiar faces from the TVA are living their lives. By episode’s end and with the help of Ke Huy Quan’s A.D. Doug, PhD, Loki is empowered to control time-slipping, creates a bare-bones TVA and puts himself on the path to make an effort to save all of reality in the Season 2 finale. Job well done.

    (L-R): Wunmi Mosaku as Hunter B-15, Owen Wilson as Mobius, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Eugene Cordero as Casey, and Ke Huy Quan as O.B. in Marvel Studios’ LOKI, Season 2, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Gareth Gatrell. © 2023 MARVEL.

    However, as part of Marvel’s longest longform episodic narrative to date, “Science/Fiction” serves as a linchpin not only for Season 2 but for the series as a whole. Season 2 head writer Eric Martin’s presence as a key contributor to Season 1 allowed for continuity of the creatives behind the series which means that the big ideas from the first six episodes are far from forgotten. Indeed, “Science/Fiction” may have just put Loki and Sylvie right in the same boat in which they found themselves when they met He Who Remains in the Citadel at the End of Time. In that meeting, He Who Remains offered the pair the power to be curators of the Sacred Timeline as his replacement as the man behind the curtain of the TVA. By assembling an all-new, all-different team and learning to slip time at will, Loki has put himself in position to prevent the destruction of the TVA (man, the time wimey stuff here is so fun–and painful–to think through) and, with no leadership left to speak of, take control. Take a bow, Al Ewing, as Loki is about to become the God of Stories.

    There is, however, one fairly large question left to ponder as we wait for Episode 6: is Loki really writing this or any other story? Should Loki end up in charge of the TVA, isn’t that right where He Who Remains wanted him? Of course, as the God of Stories, Loki may somehow find a way to use Victor Timely’s Multiplier to allow the newly branched timelines to continue on but if not, if the decision is made keep all of reality intact by refining time back into the Sacred Timeline, won’t He Who Remains have accomplished exactly what he wanted? While he’s not the most trustworthy narrator, He Who Remains made it very clear that he was the architect of Loki’s existence and it was through his machinations that Loki ended up in the Citadel in the first place. As this Variant of Loki who has come so far on his road to redemption finally finds himself on the precipice of becoming the hero of all time, always, would Marvel Studios dare take his agency from him and reveal that he’s simply been He Who Remains marionette all along? With one episode left to go, it looks like we’ll all find out together just how much of this story has truly been written for Loki and how much has been written by him.

  • ‘Loki’ is Disney+’s Second Biggest Premiere of 2023

    ‘Loki’ is Disney+’s Second Biggest Premiere of 2023

    It looks like the god of mischief remains a major player for Disney+ even if The Mandalorian still holds the crown. The streaming service is highlighting that the second season of Loki pulled in 10.9m views worldwide in its first three days. As such, it managed to have around 512M minutes watched. While Ahsoka was touted with 14M views recently, those numbers were a five-day tally which means that Loki is only behind The Mandalorian in 2023’s big number game.

    The first season still remains one of the most-watched series on the streaming service and the anticipation for a sequel season was quite high even if marketing was a bit more subdued. Though that is likely still more reflective of Marvel not trying to rock the boat too much given people’s ongoing discussions of fatigue surrounding the genre and franchise, but that didn’t seem to stop Loki one bit going into its sophomore season.

    At the end of the day though, it’s always difficult to say if these shows are breaking any records. The reactions to Loki have been more positive when compared to The Mandalorian’s third season. So, who knows if the coming weeks might help the show grow? There’s definitely potential and we still don’t know how big Secret Invasion was earlier this year outside of third-party analysis pointing to it being a smaller release when compared to others. So, we’ll see if Disney is willing to share any more data moving forward.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • REVIEW: ‘Loki’ Season 2, Episode 1

    REVIEW: ‘Loki’ Season 2, Episode 1

    In the wake of the widely panned Secret Invasion and the shuffling of Echo into 2024 and Ironheart into who knows when, Marvel Studios’ hopes for streaming success in 2023 rest squarely on the shoulders of the second season of Loki. While it’s foolish to judge an entire series by its first episode, if “Ouroboros” is any indication of what to expect this season from the creative team of writer Eric Martin and directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who previously teamed up with Marvel Studios on Moon Knight, Marvel may be able to rest easy.

    “Ouroboros” comes out of the gate swinging. Opening in the moments immediately after the Season 1 cliffhanger, the episode quickly dismisses the most prevalent fan theory about where Loki ended up when Sylvie kicked him through the time door. Whereas the belief was that Loki was transported to an alternate TVA, the first quarter of the episode establishes that he has in fact been transported to the same TVA in the past…and what an interesting past it was. By grotesquely “time slipping”, Loki learns that He Who Remains once openly ruled the TVA before installing the Time Keepers and slipping away to the Citadel at the End of Time. Taken in concert with the recent revelations that all TVA employees are Variants who were ripped from their lives, the very foundations upon which they believed the TVA stood are now entirely reframed as the implications of He Who Remains’ actions become crystal clear. These people’s minds have been wiped repeatedly in the service of the TVA and anything and everything they think they know about themselves is just a fraction of their actual lives.

    Once the episode moves forward under those implications, finding a solution to Loki’s time slipping becomes the central focus of the episode. Finding a solution to that problem leads Mobius and Loki to one of the second season’s key new members in Ke Hey Quan’s Ouroboros. The march to find OB, the TVA’s resident tech guru, not only allows for an exploration of some of the unseen nooks and crannies of the TVA but also time for the series’ marquee characters, Loki and Mobius, to shine. Much of the success of Season 1 came from the chemistry between the two and even under the direction of a new creative team, the pair continues to cook. Tom Hiddleston continues to be so wonderfully charismatic and catalytic as Loki which means that it’s nearly impossible for him to share an awkward scene with anyone and so as funny as his scenes with Owen Wilson continue to be, his split-time scenes with Quan’s OB are equally brilliant. By working together, Loki and OB come up with a solution to Loki’s issue but in attempting to solve that issue, the larger mystery of Season 2 is revealed.

    Owen Wilson as Mobius in Marvel Studios’ LOKI, Season 2, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.

     In pursuit of curing Loki’s time slipping, OB discovers that the Time Loom, an object which he explains is used to refine raw time into physical timelines, has been overloaded as time broke free following the death of He Who Remains. The second half of the episode ends up being some of the MCU’s best hardcore sci-fi to date as it attempts to address the madness erupting in the multiverse. The back half is full of imaginative set designs and mumbo jumbo jargon (a dial on the ceiling keeps track of the chronons being emitted per hour) that allow for the audience to have some footing in what’s actually taking place. Sci-fi, time travel and mulitversality have never been for everyone but the writing team, lead by Martin, did an admirable job of making it palatable and as relatable as possible under the circumstances.

    While “Ouroboros” solves Loki’s time slipping issue and resolves the Season 1 cliffhanger, it ends on one itself. In the absence of Ravonna Rennslayer, the headless TVA is now subject to the whims of an interesting group of folks led by General (Paradox), Judge Gamble and another fellow with all the energy of Ray Winstone’s Dreykov. Just as Loki is pulled back from the time stream, several brigades of Hunters are seen taking off through a series of time doors into the newly created branches in search of Sylvie. While her location is unveiled in the show’s post-credit scene, the actions of these Hunters and are sure to have some pretty heady consequences for the show and set up one of two ongoing plot points for the season.

    Though in many ways it feels like more of the same (great writing, great characters and timey-wimey mysteries), the opening episode of Season 2 also gives the MCU something brand new. While Loki’s glorious purpose, established over a decade ago in the MCU’s timeline, seems like old news to the audience, it’s important to remember that this Loki Variant was plucked from 2012 where he only very recently attempted to kill the Avengers and sought to rule all of humanity. “Ouroboros” give this Loki room to grow into a new glorious purpose: becoming the hero of all time. From the moment he first appears on screen, Hiddleston plays the part with a distinct desperation we’ve never really seen. Even in the Season 1 finale, there was some hesitancy to become the hero but now, having been Lokied by another Loki, this Loki now seems fully committed to an all-new, all-different path. And maybe, just maybe, the sun will shine on Loki and his brother again at the end of it. If you thought there wasn’t room for more Loki in your life, “Ouroboros” did its level best to make you think twice and set up one hell of a first two-thirds of a season of streaming TV at its best. In an increasingly entropic MCU, Season 2 of Loki seeks to return order and remind us all what’s always been so great about this shared universe.