Well, another has come and gone. The season finale of Loki came out on Wednesday and I’d say that it lived up to the hype. The series has garnished a lot of praise from fans, and viewers, and the anticipation for the finale was well deserved, and met with great joy as it packed a punch, and was a fitting end, yet, setup, for what’s to come. What’s also great is that the show’s end credits scene revealed that a second season of Loki is officially coming!
Full spoilers from here on out if you weren’t already aware! The episode begins right where episode five left off, and we see a sequence of what looked like the multiverse. Multiple worlds in a sense, being birthed at the dawn of time, and then we see them lead right to where Loki and Sylvie came out of the portal in the penultimate episode. As the duo are looking, quite frightened if I may add, by the bright lights of the various timelines and multiverses branching out into reality, they come upon the impending castle that was alluded to in episode five. As they begin to make their way down the hallways of the castle, Miss Minutes pops up out of nowhere to offer them a proposition.
Image: Marvel Studios via Polygon
Miss Minutes seemingly reveals that she’s been in cahoots with the person behind the TVA all along, and offers Loki and Sylvie a way out. A way out of possible impending doom against the adversary, and a way to live a happy life. A life where Sylvie never got taken by the TVA, and a life where Loki defeated New York City and even killed Thanos. But the two refuse, and come face-to-face with the actual big bad. Before I get to that, let’s discuss Miss Minutes, and her sly ways of deceiving Judge Ravonna Renslayer for “eons.” After telling our show’s “heroes” their offer, she returns to the TVA and tells Renslayer that she wasn’t able to find much information on the entirety of the TVA, but gave her some information that seemed to catch her eye. Renslayer left Mobius after he returned from the Void, and went into a portal to a TBA location.
I believed that Miss Minutes had a larger role to play than the one that had been perceived all season long, but I didn’t expect it to be this vile. She also revealed that they were at the Time Citadel at the end of time, which is fascinating in its own right, but also brings another question: were there once Time Keepers who had a TVA of sorts at their disposal and were killed? Especially seeing how there were a number of statues that resembled the Time Keepers that were alluded to through androids in episode four.
Seeing more of Miss Minutes in the future is something that I am very intrigued about. Could she be leading Renslayer to the villain to help him? Or will she throw her off for a loop completely?
Image via Screen Rant
It’s revealed that the main villain all along, is none other than Kang the Conqueror, or He Who Remains as he called himself and Miss Minutes. He Who Remains, in the comics, is the founder of the TVA and an all knowing all powerful being whose in charge of the TVA and the Time Keepers. He reveals that he was able to, in the 31st century in which he comes from, find a way for inter-dimensional travel, and used this power to seek out other versions of himself in the multiverse. These versions, some good and some evil, clashed in a “Multiversal War” which nearly lead to the extinction of life and the multiverse.
To prevent this he created the TVA, a way to keep the powers at be, and other sadistic versions of himself from dueling the world into chaos. So while he is definitely a twisted man whose evil due to the fact that he doesn’t use his extensive knowledge for much good, is he really all that bad? At the end of the day, yes he uses the TVA almost as a game, but it does keep every reality in tact and saves the world from extinction.
Kang, even though Sylvie seemingly killed him leading up the final moments of the finale, will be back. His alluding to the multiverse, and explaining how if they kill him it’ll unleash even more evil versions of himself, is a nice tease of what’s to come moving forward in the MCU. With The Hollywood Reporter revealing that Tom Hiddleston is set to reprise his role as Loki in next March’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, I would assume that we’d see more of Kang in that. Little is known about the upcoming Doctor Strange sequel, other than the fact that Elizabeth Olsen will be reprising her role as Wanda Maximoff, and a few reports that haven’t been confirmed by anyone associated with Marvel Studios, let alone from completely genuine sources.
Image via The Direct
If the title of the film were to reveal anything, it’s safe to assume that the multiverse will play a key role in the sequel, and might also be where we see Strange’s reaction to the multiversal ramifications that the Loki finale set into motion. Having a tease to the real Kang, considering that the one we saw was not the actual Kang from the mainstream MCU, would be really neat to see and would serve as a nice hype-builder for his next appearance, presumably in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania which is slated for February 17, 2023.
Kang, if he even was Kang considering that he was only referred to as “He Who Remains” who is a legit immortal character from the pages of Marvel Comics which would explain why he said, “I’m much older than I look,” didn’t specify which earth he was from in the multiverse. For example: Sylvie is a Loki, but is clearly nothing like, in terms of looks and powers, to the Loki we’ve come to know and love. Let alone that the fact that The Void also alluded to that as well with the other variations of Loki that we saw throughout the fifth episode.
Kang is a fascinating character, and I’ve been longing for a very long time to see him be brought to the big screen in any type of live-action medium. The version of him that we got in Loki was phenomenal, it’s always great to see Jonathan Majors work his magic, as he’s a stellar actor with great range. He can play a hero perfectly, just watch HBO Max’s Lovecraft Country which was canceled after just one season, or obviously Loki where he captures the character’s craziness masterfully.
Image via The Direct
If you ask me, Sylvie really crossed the line. After He Who Remains gave her and Loki an ultimatum, instead of choosing to be his replacement, she decided to kill him. This was all after she accused Loki of “wanting a throne,” then fighting him, and then kissing him and throwing him into a portal. Her near lifelong obsession with destroying the TVA was obvious, but what she did will have great ramifications that will effect the course of the MCU moving forward for years to come. While I think there is still time for her to redeem herself, it will be really difficult after she pulled a, not as bad, Star-Lord from Avengers: Infinity War, which caused some fans to even hate his character for the long run.
Sylvie is a really interesting character, especially since the trailers leading up to the pilot episode played it off as her, under the hooded cloak, was going to be the main villain. She ended up becoming a fan favorite, but her decision to essentially create the multiverse, might come back to bite her. “See you soon,” is what He Who Remains said to her after she stabbed him in the chest, killing him in the process. “If you think I’m evil, just wait until you see my other variants.” The real Kang is out there, and he will wreck havoc upon the MCU in a greater way than Thanos. Time will tell when we see him again though, but it will surely be a big one, and one that might eventually lead to Sylvie’s demise.
Image via The Direct
It’s not specified where Loki was sent by Sylvie, but it seems like it could be in the multiverse, in a world where Mobius, Hunter B-15, and the TVA know that Kang, or He Who Remains, runs the TVA. This statue looks eerily similar to Kang’s classic comic book costume from the comics, just without the headpiece. He’s even doing Kang’s classic “arms behind his back” pose! It was quite the setup for season two, and I loved the parallels to the 2001 Planet of the Apes film where Mark Wahlberg’s character comes back to to past, only to see that apes run the world. It’s an eerie sight to see, a madman that you just dealt with seemingly being in total power, with your allies at his feet. How Loki gets out of this pickle will be really neat to see, unless this is the main timeline in the present day MCU in the main earth in the multiverse in which he was killed by Thanos?
Now that might be a stretch, but as I said earlier, Loki will return in the Doctor Strange sequel, so anything is possible, especially in the MCU. This was a phenomenal show, and definitely my favorite from the MCU on Disney+ thus far. The future is extraordinarily bright for the MCU, and I now feel comfortable saying that I am more excited for the upcoming MCU projects than I have ever been before.
Big Nate’s rating: 4.5 / 5
Image via TJ Albin
I’m going to be trying out a new feature for some of my articles moving forward, that I will begin with in this Loki piece. I’ll occasionally have friends of mine write a brief 1-4 paragraph opinion, with a 1-5 star rating, on certain movies and TV shows.
First up is the founder of The Daily Goat, and co-host of the podcast Pombo & Peter’s Picks, Jason Pombo:
Rating: 4.5 / 5
Before watching the season premiere of Loki, I didn’t know what to expect. Loki was a character I was interested in, but I wasn’t sure how I would feel about an entire show centered around him. But, after I watched the first episode I was immediately intrigued. I thought the concept of the TVA was unique, and had a multitude of different storylines. Especially with the openings it has now created with the rest of the MCU.
The show’s ability to develop characters stuck out to me. Mobius instantly became a fan favorite , after just 3 episodes. His humor and connection to Loki really had people invested. As the season progressed, it got more and more interesting, with cliff hangers at every turn. The season finale was truly unique, as the creator of the TVA was finally displayed. Kang the Conqueror squarely behind the entire operation. I’m excited for season 2, it’s a must watch.
Next up is Hannah Rinsgwald of CinemaniaWorld. Hannah is a fellow podcaster, whose appeared on my Big Talk with Big Nate podcast in the past, and will also guest star on my Loki / Black Widow review podcast that will be coming shortly too on The Daily Goat:
Rating: 4.5 /5
Loki has finished its first season and is absolutely GLORIOUS!!! Somehow my LEAST anticipated Phase 4 project has turned out to be my favorite? I definitely went into Loki with low expectations but, by the end of the first episode I was already ready to declare it as my favorite of the bunch. From the Fincher-esque episodes, to the huge spectacle ones resembling something like Doctor Who, it’s a blast and surprisingly emotional? I can’t believe how quickly six episodes made me fall in love with Loki and his entire supporting cast.
Mobius and Ravonna Renslayer being the standouts! Loki is a quieter show and really is dialogue and character driven, which is different for a Marvel project! The entirety of the (jaw dropping) finale is people sitting around a desk and talking, which sounds boring but THAT performance paired with the great writing is a slam dunk! So I think it’s safe to say I loved Loki, and CAN’T WAIT for season two!!!
Next is The Daily Goat’s very own TJ Albin, who is not only the director of content, but is the co-host of the YouTube show The OG Era and the podcast Cheap Talk Wrestling:
Rating: 4.7 / 5: season 2 can’t come any sooner
Going from WandaVision which was a great way to kick off the Disney+ MCU series to giving Falcon and Winter Soldier the opportunity to develop not only the relationship between Bucky and now new Captain America Sam Wilson, but to also give us as the viewer an idea on what to expect going forward for the Captain America series. As for Loki, in all honesty, blown away with how this series began and how this series was able to grab the viewer and take them for a ride.
From the very first episode where we get to know about the TVA and how this Variant they are looking for is a “Loki”. All the way to the very last episode to where we get the first glimpse of Kang and we also get a view into the many multiverses in the MCU which could lead (maybe) to the multiple Spider-men in Spider-Man: No Way Home, but that is a conversation for another day.
When it was first announced that a Loki show was going to be happening, I’ll admit that I wasn’t excited for this series, however when the show released the trailer it did capture my attention that this will be something to watch. Week after week with new episodes of Loki coming out I was that person to watch it at 3 am right when the episode dropped because I could not wait for what was to happen next. The Cliff hangers were very well put together and how each show you might have asked yourself what else will happen or what does this mean.
The casting for Owen Wilson as Mobius was a great move by Marvel. He really made you feel for his character even when he found out he himself was a variant in the TVA. Another character that you wanted to feel for was Sylvie played by Sophia Di Martino. One moment you hoped for her and Loki to be together the next you want to get to the next episode just to see Loki confront her but you can not till next season. How she talks about trust even though she is the one not to be trusted was something this series did very well on building on. I for one can not wait to see how they further develop the story between Loki and Sylvie as well as how they
Lastly we have Chelsey Barker, friend of The Daily Goat and an OG fan, who shares her first insight on anything for The Daily Goat:
Rating: 4.7 / 5
I was excited for Loki from the beginning, but Marvel exceeded my expectations by the end of the series. I was interested in Loki and the story of the TVA from the beginning, was in absolute disbelief that the infinity stones we spent so long fearing were technically useless, and was blown away in the series finale. I fell for the characters and really wanted Mobius to ride that jet ski.
Although I enjoyed Marvel’s other limited series, I’m glad they decided to grant Loki a second season and think they did a great job setting up for it without making the wait too painful. We clearly know what’s to come with the next phase of Marvel, and I can’t wait to see what these characters have in store. It wasn’t absolutely perfect, but episodes 4, 5, and 6 saved the show for me as I was on the edge of my seat the whole time!