Spoilers ahoy for season 2, episode 4 of Loki, but you knew that already.
Even the most ardent supporters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will have to begrudgingly admit the Multiverse Saga as a whole hasn’t lived up to expectations, at least until Loki season 2 came along.
The majority of projects barely even touched the prospect of alternate realities and fractured timelines, but it’s become abundantly clear over the last four weeks that Tom Hiddleston’s trickster would serve as a herald of sorts who would bring the endgame (pun intended) of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars into greater focus than ever before.
Even at that, it would be an understatement to say the bombshell cliffhanger at the end of this week’s episode came completely out of the blue, potentially tearing up the rulebook for the entire MCU. Of course, Loki “dying” is hardly a new development for the franchise, but it’s everything else that made the conclusion of the latest installment the single biggest bombshell since Thanos did exactly what he said he was going to do and snapped his fingers at the end of Infinity War.
Loki? Gone. Victor Timely? Gone. OB? Gone. Sylvie? Gone. Mobius? Gone. Renslayer? Gone. Miss Minutes? Gone. The entire TVA? Gone. The Sacred Timeline? Well, that remains entirely up for debate, but it’s one hell of a hook to drum up incredible amounts of speculation and anticipation for the next seven days.
The destruction of the Temporal Loom – the only thing holding time itself together and preventing multiversal chaos – could be a game-changer for not just Loki, but every MCU project coming down the pipeline. Will the explanation stick the landing and justify the need for such a colossal rug-pull with two episodes still to go?
That remains entirely up for debate, but it’s going to be an excruciating wait before we find out for sure.
