Lokiwas a beacon of hope in an otherwise mediocre run of MCU projects. WhileThunderbolts*may indicate Marvel’s return to form,Lokiheld things together for years in a literal and metaphorical sense.Avengers: Endgamegave us our first glimpse of time travel in the MCU. But moving past the Infinity Saga, Marvel had the daunting task ofsetting up the multiverse, which is an inherently confusing concept.
A big blockbuster movie is the right place to establish rules that will ripple through the rest of Phases 4 and 5. Marvel blockbusters draw a wider audience, meaning a larger section of audiences will have a grasp of what’s going on later on, should they choose to dip in and out of the MCU. Nevertheless, Marvel didn’t have any time to waste.WithSpider-Man: No Way HomeandDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnesson the horizon, they needed to set up the multiverse quickly and relied onLokito lay everything out.
‘Loki’ Established the Rules for the Entire Multiverse
Endgameestablished basic time travel concepts. Unlike most other time travel movies, changing past events doesn’t always impact the future. If you go back in time, the past becomes your present, and your actions open upnew branch timelines that deviatefrom your reality.Lokiintroduced the TVAto organize and maintain these various branching timelines, establishing the MCU as the “sacred timeline.” This gave Marvel a lot of agency moving forward. It allowed previous non-MCU movies to technically exist as canon in another reality,like theSam RaimiSpider-Manmovies andBlade.
It also meantMarvel could cherry-pickwhich time-altering events were allowed and which weren’t. Loki’s escape from the Avengers Tower inEndgamewas not a canonical event, and so the TVA pruned him. However, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) time-travel shenanigans were permitted, as they all serve the sacred timeline.Marvel became the real-world equivalent of the TVA, selecting whichever characters and plots best served the overarching narrative of Phases 4 & 5.
‘Loki’s Writer Ensured ’Doctor Strange 2’ Didn’t Break the Rules
Lokihad implications for every subsequent Marvel movie and became apillar of the MCU’s broader narrative.Lokibecame so integral to the MCU that the show’s writers collaborated with thewriters ofMultiverse of Madnessto ensure Doctor Strange(Benedict Cumberbatch) didn’t breach any timeline rules. In an interview withDigital Spy,LokiwriterMichael Waldronexplained, “I came in with institutional knowledge of the multiverse and was able to get the creative team ofDoctor Strangeon the same page as me.” WhileMultiverse of Madnessdoesn’t explicitly meddle with time, it follows Steven Strange traveling across various branching timelines.
When developingLoki, Waldron hadn’t realized his series had become theblueprint for the entire multiverse. “There were times when I was like, ‘Oh sh*t, I wish I hadn’t have defined it so clearly.” ConsideringLoki was an experimental new venturefor Marvel, it’s surprising they gave the writers so much responsibility, where their rules would dictate the future of the multiverse saga.
The Broader Narrative Implications for the MCU
Lokichanged the MCU in a literal sense, both in the real world and in the universe. But its narrative changed everything in a completely different way.Lokidialed down the actionand spectacle that Marvel fans had become so accustomed to. The story was an in-depth character study for one of the MCU’s most iconic villains. The first few episodesfollowed Agent Mobius (Owen Wilson)interrogating Loki, which acted more as a therapy session. Mobius took Loki on a tour of his entire life, forcing him into a position where he couldn’t rely on his power, wit, or charm to worm his way out of the situation. Mobius stripped away Loki’s ego and made him confront his identity. The rest of the series followed Loki as he reflected on how his ego and hubris had ruined his life and left him destined for failure.The God of Mischief went on a journeyto discover his humanity. He fell in love with Sylvie(Sophia Di Martino), a female variant of himself, which became a genius metaphor that illustrated how Loki was learning to love himself.
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Lokibecame the first trulycharacter-driven storythat redefined a character and suddenly turned a recurring villain into the MCU’s most fleshed-out, morally complex character. Even more surprising is that the story had a definitive ending.We’ll surely see Loki again inAvengers: Doomsday, but you could watch two seasons ofLokiand be satisfied with a well-rounded story.Lokibalanced such an intimate story with a plot that completely transformed the state of the MCU, which is incredibly impressive. We’ve seenLoki’s influence in subsequent Marvel projects, which have stood out from the rest of their mediocre output.
Lokiset a new standardfor character-driven stories. This isn’t to say that past MCU films didn’t explore fantastic characters. Marvel explored Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) with similar complexity, thoughit took them ten yearsof movies to capture the same degree of complexity as two seasons ofLoki. Phase 4 was rocky, and Phase 5 has been a little hit-and-miss. However, phase 5 has seen success whenever it focuses on its characters.Deadpool & Wolverinejuggled a lot of characters and dimension-jumping, but it maintained focus on its leads, who underwent a story ofredemption and acceptanceof their past mistakes. Similarly,Daredevil: Born AgainandThunderbolts*are Marvel’s latest projects, and both were praised for their attention to character development.
While each of these projects has a team of talented writers and actors who developed those characters,Loki’s success helped Marvel remember their secret ingredient – complex characters.Loki’s stakes are enormous, but the story feels intimate. The same is true forThunderbolts*, which has huge ramifications for the MCU. The filmintroduced Marvel’s strongest character, The Sentry(Lewis Pullman), and established a new Avengers team. Nevertheless, the story felt incredibly intimate and honed in on its morally ambiguous characters' search for redemption.Lokiis the architect of Marvel’s timelines in the story, but he’s also the architect of Marvel’s recent success in the real world.
All episodes ofLokiare available to stream on Disney+ + in the U.S.
Loki, the God of Mischief, steps out of his brother’s shadow to embark on an adventure that takes place after the events of “Avengers: Endgame.”
