With the MCU dropping the ball with each of its projects nowadays, it is ironically once again up to the god of mischief to set things in perfect order by building on the multiversal stakes. The necessity to posit Kang the Conqueror as a legitimate threat to the Multiverse saga rested upon Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and now, after its spectacular failure, the responsibility lies with the second season of the Disney+ series Loki, where the MCU’s version of Kang was first introduced in 2021. In this context, it’s also a neat coincidence that both the prime cosmic-level antagonists of the overarching narrative chapters of the MCU, Thanos in the Infinity Saga and Kang in the Multiverse Saga, were introduced through Loki, which really emphasizes how integral this oddball of a character is to the grand plan of the MCU. Now that the second trailer of the second season of the much-awaited series has been released, let’s take a quick look at the key points that demand exploration.
Timeslipping In TVA: Is Loki An Anomaly?
The second trailer opens with Mobius M. Mobius, the mild-mannered, ever-faithful agent of the Time Variance Authority, meeting the archivist of the timeline sanctity maintenance agency (TVA), Ouroboros, played by the beloved actor Ke Huy Quan. This is not the first time the actor will be participating in multiversal shenanigans, though, as his Oscar-winning role in Everything Everywhere All at Once as Waymond Wang also had multiple incarnations throughout the multiverse. However, Ouroboros in Marvel comics is also the name of a clone of a certain Mr. Paradox, a character associated with TVA, which means there is a possibility that Key Huy Quan might be playing multiple roles in the series itself.
We have to keep in mind that TVA was created by He Who Remains, a comparatively less villainous version of Nathaniel Richards, in order to protect the Sacred Timeline from evil variants of himself. In the finale of the first season, Sylvie killed He Who Remains, thereby branching the sacred timeline itself. In doing so, Kang and other evil variants of Nathaniel Richards got freedom, and the existence of TVA inevitably became a paradox. Perhaps this is the reason why we see in the trailer that Loki is glitching in and out of reality through past and present, almost like Spider-characters did in other universes in Across the Spider-verse, as he is probably the only constant that remembers both the past TVA and the present altered version of it. Mobius asks Ouroboros about the solution to the situation, which the latter mentions as time slipping. Ouroboros doesn’t know the way out of this, which leads to the next segment of the trailer—going either to the past or seeking a solution.
Running To The Past: Where Are Sylvie And Others?
Loki and Mobius go to the past, and a number of Easter eggs pop up in quick succession. There are two different past timelines shown in the trailer; the first is the later 19th-century carnival, or more precisely, the science fair, where Loki and Mobius have gone to seek out the evil variant of Nathaniel Richards, whom Sylvie’s actions let loose. The other one seems to be the late 80s, where Loki finds himself in front of a Jet Ski showroom (much to Mobius’ delight, we presume, given how fascinated the character was by this water sport), and Sylvie is seen wearing a classic McDonald’s costume at one of their outlets.
In this same timeline, a glitzy action-adventure movie premiere brings together the characters as we see Hunter B-15, the variant pruning brute now in a completely different get-up, Sylvie, and the Loki-Mobius duo. The movie name Zaniac is significant, as in Marvel comics, it is also the name of a swarm of creatures hailing from the Dark Dimension that possess hosts and instill murderous tendencies in them. Now the lead actor of the movie, whose name is shown on a placard to be Brad Wolfe, is the actor whom Zaniac possesses. Seeing how Loki attacks Brad multiple times, using multiple versions of himself, it seems the comic accuracy has been maintained with this character.
Will Victor Timely End The TVA?
As the trailer progresses and Loki and Sylvie catch up, it seems the duo has new roles this time around—no longer the prisoner of TVA like in the first season. Instead, they are looking to save it to protect the multiverse. Sylvie’s action has allowed Kang to shape the TVA in his image, with the fates of existing Hunters and authoritarian figures like Ravonna Renslayer in question, and Loki has come to the realization that the only thing standing between Kang and likewise threats and the multiverse is the TVA—the reformed one. Loki expresses his moral dilemma of deciding whom to save, and his statement is completed by a nefarious Victor Timely, the late 19th-century variant of Nathaniel Richards, whom Loki and Mobius met at the science fair.
Victor Timely in comics is known for eventually becoming Kang Prime by controlling the chain of events by going back in time. From what we have seen in the Quantumania climax, Kang the Conqueror was pulled into the turbulent time vortex, which means there is a major possibility of him trying to act as the puppeteer, going so far back in time that the superpowered protectors of the timeline have no chance of stopping him. In the trailer, Timely is also seen unleashing an enlarged, different version of Miss Minutes on the townsfolk, which further emphasizes that his plan to reshape the grand scheme has already begun.
We also see Mobius literally approaching the severed ends of branching timelines wearing a spacesuit, a dilapidated version of Citadel at the end of time is seen, and Ravonna Renslayer seems to be standing in the Void, all of which signals Timely’s impact on the TVA itself. Although there might be more than one antagonist behind the situation, given the fact that reference to the dark dimension has been provided through Zaniac, which brings Dormammu into the play—the lord of the dark dimension who previously had been tricked by Dr. Strange’s time loop— Both Timely and Dormammu are closely linked with the MCU’s concept of Time, and to even think how much damage they can do to the multiverse if they join hands is astounding.