Loki may not be coming to Disney+ until early summer, but Marvel has raised anticipation for the Tom Hiddleston starrer with a new trailer which gives fans their first proper look at the show.
For Marvel comics fans, the trailer is full of references and Easter eggs, but less committed fans may find themselves with some questions. Read on for some answers.
When is the Loki trailer set?
Like WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier before it, Loki seems to be set after the events of Avengers: Endgame. Though Loki was among the few who seemingly died for good in Infinity War, Endgame saw a previous version of Loki steal the Tesseract. According to the trailer, this led to Loki "breaking reality." This means that though Loki is set after Endgame, the Loki at the heart of it is the villain we saw in 2012's The Avengers rather than the later redeemed version of the character.
Who are those statues of?
Much of the Loki promo is set in a large brutalist office (in reality an Atlanta hotel) which features three large statues in its lobby. These three figures are also carved into the courtroom behind the judge (Gugu Mbathu-Raw).
These statues are the Time Keepers, three powerful figures created by the TVA who exist at the final moments of the multi-verse so as to teach the next set of universes about what came before.
Who are the TVA?
For a full explanation of the Time Keepers and the TVA, have a read of our explainer about the organization's role in the MCU. But briefly, the TVA is the Time Variance Authority, a bureaucratic force that monitors all time and space, and tries to prevent time variants. Hence why Loki finds himself seemingly standing trial in the trailer.
Who is Owen Wilson playing?
The Wedding Crashers actor was announced to be joining the Disney+ show in an undisclosed role in February 2020. Then, in December 2020, it was revealed via the closed captioning on the first trailer that he was playing a character called Mobius M. Mobius.
In a world of superheroes and villains, Mobius is that decidedly unglamorous thing, a middle manager at the TVA.
Notably, he is another character from the world of the Fantastic Four to join the MCU, following Agatha Harkness' role in WandaVision, suggesting that we are inching closer to Reed Richards and the gang entering the Marvel TV and film world. He prosecuted the Four for their meddling with time and also presided over the time crimes trial of She-Hulk, who is getting her own show in 2022.
Who is the judge?
Though listed as simple "TVA judge" in the closed captioning, we know that the judge is Judge Ravonna Lexus Renslayer. Comics readers will know that she is a princess from the 40th century, best known for her combative relationship with constant TVA scourge Kang the Conqueror. As that character is set to appear in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, that film appears to be being set up by this show.
Playing the character is Gugu Mbatha-Raw, the British actor and star of Belle, the "San Junipero" episode of Black Mirror and The Morning Show.
Why does Loki have 'variant' written on his back?
For most of the trailer, Loki appears not in his standard green armor but in a drab prisoner's inform with the word "VARIANT" stamped on his back. This is a reference to the fact that this is not the Loki we know from later MCU but a variant of an earlier version of the character who has created a new timeline by stealing the tesseract. As seen in the trailer, this act has created cracks in the space-time continuum that this Loki is set to help the TVA fix.
What is Roxxcart?
As well as setting the scene for the Disney+ series, the Loki promo also gives us a glimpse of some of the adventures in store for viewers. One of these sees Loki in a world seemingly dominated by a corporation called Roxxcart.
This seems to be a subsidiary of the Roxxon Corporation, a massive company in the MCU that has previously been in the background of numerous shows and films. The best description of the company came courtesy of Elektra (Elodie Yung) in Netflix's Daredevil, where she said of Roxxon, "energy, cleaning supplies, macaroni and cheese. Child labor, slave trade. They have their fingers in everything."
Where is that purple planet?
Another adventure seems to take place on a very purple planet, where we see Loki in the midst of a meteor strike. Fan speculation has it that this is Vormir, the planet formerly seen in Endgame with a very similar color palette that ended up as the final resting place of the Soul Stone.
Who is the woman in black?
Another short scene sees a hooded figure in black using the TVA's gates in time to take out the agency's agents. This figure is then seen with Loki on that purple planet with their hood off, revealing her red hair.
Her hair led to speculation that this might be a surprise appearance from Scarlet Johansson's Black Widow. However, based on set photos from the shoot, it appears that this is in fact actor Sophie Di Martino. Rumors of who this British actor is playing have been that either she is playing a female version of Loki or the Enchantress, another Asgardian God who is a former ally of Loki's.
Is Loki running for office?
Another scene, meanwhile, shows Loki with his signature headpiece back, but with a suit and what seems to be a Loki campaign button. This is yet another comics reference, this time to the 2016 series Vote Loki, a parody of that year's election battle that saw the God of Mischief standing on a platform of lies.
Loki is released on Disney+ on June 11.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
