Before Thanos killed Loki at the start of Infinity War, the God of Mischief fought everyone from his brother Thor to all the Avengers at once — and not even the Mad Titan could finish him off for good.
Clearly, you can't keep a good Asgardian down, so it came as quite a shock when Tom Hiddleston recently teased Loki will "come up against more formidable opponents" in his upcoming Disney+ show.
That's now been confirmed in a new Super Bowl TV spot which finally gives us our first look at the alternate Loki who ran off with the Tesseract in Endgame. Up until now, all we've known about this show is that Loki will hop around different time periods in the multiverse, spreading his unique brand of mischief everywhere he goes.
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However, it looks like these shenanigans will soon be cut short — at least, if this first promo is anything to go by.
In the trailer, Tom Hiddleston's anti-hero is seen wearing what looks like prison garb while he tells someone offscreen: "I'm gonna burn this place to the ground." So far, so Loki, but how did he end up in this predicament, and why is it he's always imprisoned every time he appears on screen?
While we can't account for Marvel's bondage fetish just yet, eagle-eyed fans might have spotted the answer to that first question already.
The letters TVA are clearly visible on Loki's shirt, and in Marvel Comics, this stands for the Time Variance Authority. Think DC's Legends of Tomorrow, but they're not superheroes per se. Instead, the TVA are a mostly faceless organisation dedicated to protecting the time stream.
Using time-travel technology, they have the power to travel between realities and even destroy divergent timelines if they're deemed dangerous to the multiverse at large.
Given that this version of Loki is yet to go on the (anti) hero's journey we saw in later Marvel movies, we wouldn't be surprised if the God of Mischief has been living up to his name in full since he escaped the Avengers, manipulating the course of human history for his own personal gain.
It makes sense then that the TVA would intervene here, and they might prove themselves too powerful even for Loki, or at least at first.
Most of the peacekeeping organisation is made up of artificial clones called chronomonitors, although there are a few high-ranking officials involved too, including Justice Peace. Don't be surprised if Owen Wilson ends up playing one of these judges now that he's joined the cast.
Now that the TVA have been confirmed to make their debut in the MCU, this also opens up even more connections to the wider Marvel Universe too. Recent She-Hulk comics have seen the gamma giant team up with the TVA to solve a time-related trial, and it's probably no coincidence that She-Hulk is soon set to star in her own Disney+ show.
It's also possible that by introducing the TVA, Marvel is planning to bring Kang the Conqueror into the MCU as well at some stage.
With Thanos now gone for good, the Avengers need a new big bad to team up against, and the time-travelling villain would be a perfect fit, particularly now that Loki is set to expand on this multiverse concept further.
Either way, it's looking more and more likely that the TVA will play a big role in Phase 4 — and this is just the beginning. Of course, that's all assuming the organisation even survives its upcoming encounter with Loki. The TVA might be "formidable", but this is the God of Mischief we're talking about here.
It's like we said; You can't keep a good Asgardian down, and this version of Loki is about as far from "good" as it gets.
Loki is set to premiere on Disney+ in spring 2021.
Disney+ Watch the MCU on Disney+
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After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
