Loki Just Changed Time Travel in the MCU

Loki just changed everything we know about time travel in the MCU welcome back to nerdus news you marry Marvel mavens I'm Kyle Anderson and today we're going to be talking about the season 2 premiere of Disney Plus's Marvel's Loki specifically we're talking about the huge Revelations and major implications of the way time works or doesn't work in the TVA it turns out it's much more like Back to the Future too than we first thought oh this is heavy if you'd like to read more about it Michael Walsh has you covered over on nerd.com but before we get into Mecha paradoxes we want to throw a big old spoiler warning up there for you so if you haven't seen Loki season 2 episode 1 go on and take a Biff tangent you know make like a tree and get out of here it's leave you idiot make like a tree and leave you sound like a damn fool when you say it wrong all right then leave still with us Fantastic Four no still no let's get into it shall we it feels like years since we last spent time with Loki Mobius Sylvie and the members of the TVA but in a lot of ways it's only been a couple of hours such is the nature of Television but it turns out such is also the nature of time within the time variance Authority it appeared as though sylv's decision to kill he who remains upended the entire universe and all of time itself worse it seemed King the Conqueror or one of his variant had risen to power amid all the upheaval and installed some very tasteful and understated statues but the show season 2 premiere revealed that that was not actually what happened Loki didn't end up in a new TVA with Kang ruling everything he ended up in the exact same TV VA just years in the past how why when also who and where what the answer to some of these questions is time slipping and temporal looms the season 2 premiere clarified what actually happened in the show's season 1 finale the murder of he who remains did not reset the TVA time itself or the Multiverse his death did not cause anything that dramatic at least not yet it will happen at some point because without he who remains having the TVA tend his temporal Garden new timelines will shoot up like weeds more on that in a bit when Sylvie kicked Loki through the time door he went to the same tva's own past look Ren Slayer kick me down some steps too that's why Mobius and B15 don't recognize him what that's also why Loki saw statues of he who remains earlier in the tva's history he who remains did not hide his identity behind robot timekeepers rip to those guys are you seeing this robot head on the table anyway Loki thinks he might have ended up in the past because Sylvie opened that time door with he who remains special temp P but as far as Loki or any of the TVA members knew there was no time in the TVA well to quote a Thompson twin song lies lies lies yeah new character Ora boros AKA o played amazingly by Oscar winner kiwan seems to be the one person with knowledge of how the operations of the TVA actually works he also can't believe time slipping is a real thing and yet he sees it with his own eyes OB thinks many timelines branching following he who remains death and the subsequent overloading of the temporal Loom might be responsible it's possible one both or neither contributed to Loki getting ripped across time in the tva's past present and future time slipping looks pretty darn painful as Mobius and random elevator lady tell us and it's none too Pleasant for Loki either it's not that bad I can handle it how does it look but what it does provide is some context for just how many Secrets the man who would be Kang was keeping remember the whole raison debt for the TVA was to keep time from branching to keep variants from forming and to keep a single sacred timeline flowing it has much less to do with most variants existing it's instead entirely about keeping more kangs from popping up but as we see in quantam Mania it's kangs all the way down Loki listens to an old recording while trapped in the tva's past it features he who remains speaking to raana Ren Slayer on the tape He Who Remain says for us for all time she answers always he who remains then says raana Ren Slayer you are quite a Marvel I will be proud to lead with you you made a difference in this war thank you for being on my team this is a huge huge deal during season 1 of Loki Ren Slayer did not know about he who remains is that what you're calling him or that's his name that's how I was introduced pretty arrogant it's like calling yourself last man standing clearly though she once knew him quite well she not only fought for he who remains in the multiversal war she was marked to co-lead the TVA with him at some point after that conversation he who remains must have wiped the memories of Ren Slayer and everyone else at the TVA low assumes he who remains must have wiped TVA Employees Minds more than once none of them remembered the prominent he who remains paraphernalia that once adorned the organization I have no memory of having my memory wiped he only proved it to them by taking x5's pruning baton and literally showing them the man behind the curtain present day Casey also had no memory of how the floor got cracked despite being there when Loki did his best Yamcha impression at least one mind wipe happened after Loki showed up in the past which is why none of them remembered meeting him there what and Mobius also did not fully remember visiting OB 400 years prior 400 years what feels like a thousand let's talk a little bit more about OB OB is the lone employee of the tva's research and development division he also wrote the TVA guide book and is the expert of the device currently holding everything together as though Ki Kuan couldn't be any more delightful oroboros is funny without knowing he's funny yes because then I stayed for a little bit he took me over no he left immediately the scenes of OB talking to Loki in the past and Mobius in the present are some of the most enjoyable of the episode and more than that they also give us some key info on the type of time travel we're dealing with unlike what the character said in Avengers endgame the tva's time travel rules do work like Back to the Future going back in time changes the present during a time slip Loki gives OB the info to make a temporal Aura extractor the exact thing they need in the present to stop Loki's predicament this means caal Loops are a thing that can happen which is very fitting for a show with with characters named Mobius and oroboros look those things up if you don't know what they are but more than that it proves that time and specifically the lives of variants can be written how they want despite the sacred timeline's countless branches sprouting with the death of he who remains the entire Multiverse has yet to collapse the temporal Loom is barely keeping the Multiverse from exploding but it is doing it that device is the heart of the TVA it refines raw time into a physical timeline it's not constructed to weave together so many branches though so it's overloading to keep the DVA itself safe from that impending blowup Obi needs to lock everything down and close the blast doors but first Loki needs to access the temporal Loom to save himself at Great personal risk to his own skin Mobius attaches the extractor to the temporal Loom when someone or something then prunes Loki violently ripping him from every strand of time and space it sends him out of time the extractor then pulls him into the present where he crashes into Mobius sending them both behind the safety of the blast doors before they close so now Loki is back where he ought to be in the tva's present along with Mobius B15 and the other TVA agents who don't want to prune timelines anymore it seems they don't need to if OB can get the loom working properly unfortunately not everyone sees it that way General doc Hunter X5 and her band of armed Minutemen don't want to be the fruit of that particular Loom and set out to do something nefarious it seems they're just going out to get Sylvie but B15 rightly notices there's way too much Firepower for that task alone and what of Sylvie where's she been in all this well the episode's credit scene gives us our answer using he who remains Tad she arrives in the middle of brockston Oklahoma 1982 branched timeline conveniently right next to the house of one Mr Ronald mcpr placement this location is significant too in 2007's Thor number two the God of Thunder transports Asgard to Brockton Oklahoma and it became their new home on midgard unfortunately it was also destroyed Years Later by the elder god known as the god of hammers who obliterated Brockton to get back at Thor after going in and looking at the menu Sylvia tells the employee she wants to try everything what better metaphor for being nobody's puppet with your whole life ahead of you than getting everything off of that gargantuan menu presumably we'll see more of Sylvia in future episodes but maybe not maybe she's just going to hang out at the golden arches and let Loki deal with the time Shenanigans maybe she'll drink the Grimace Shake which is basically the McDonald's version of elath Glorious Pap but we think likely not remember during Loki's time slipping arrives in front of a TVA elevator Sylvie with a new haircut manually opens the doors and says there you are right as someone or something prunes him in order for Mobius to save him if she's expecting Loki at some point in the tva's future that must also mean it's in store for our future and we still have a number of other questions who recorded he who remains in Ren Slayer did he do it Richard Milhouse Nixon style who pruned Loki who's on the phone make it make sense but that's all for future installments I for one am just thrilled Loki is back and it's still the same funny touching mindbending show it was way back in 2021 where it'll go from here only time will tell for now though tell us what did you think of Loki season 2 premiere do you think we've seen the last of Ren Slayer will miss minutes give us another terrifying jump scare hey y'all God it gets me every time let us know in the comments below and while I have you did you know that Nerdist has a weekly pop culture Deep dive podcast called laser focus I did because I posted as well each week I sit down with a different guest to geek out about everything from Doctor Who to Classic Power Rangers to jallow horror and much more make sure you check out laser focus wherever fine podcasts are served anyway folks thanks for watching as always and for more of the latest and greatest in the world of Pop Culture keep a glue to nerdist.com [Music]

Channel: Nerdist

Views: 30,917

Keywords: Nerdist, Nerdist News, Dan Casey, Loki, Marvel, MCU, Season Two, Kang the Conqueror, Mobius, Renslayer, Avengers, TVA, Time Variance Authority, Fan Theories, Theory, Comics, Loki Season 2, Disney+, Video Essay, Analysis, villain, character theory

Id: kzP5L4Ync4M

Length: 9min 55sec (595 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 09 2023