It’s true. Loki has gone from battling Iron Man in The Avengers to becoming the new Iron Man figure of the MCU in just a few phases. How’s that for character development?
The God of Mischief’s journey from villain to anti-hero, or maybe just straight-up hero at this point, is one of the most celebrated arcs of the entire MCU, but we didn’t know quite how much he meant to the franchise until now. While its been noted before that Tom Hiddleston’s Asgardian trickster is essentially taking Tony Stark’s place as the main driving force of the Multiverse Saga, whereas Tony was the primary hero of the Infinity Saga, Marvel has just subtly revealed this comparison is even more apt than we knew.
New book release Marvel Studios: The Marvel Cinematic Universe – The Official Timeline offers a complete breakdown of the MCU timeline for the very time, which is particularly useful for the temporal minefield that is Phases Four through Five. The placement of Loki season 1 on the timeline is especially eye-opening, as the book confirms that its events actually take place before WandaVision. Previously, the Scarlet Witch vehicle was assumed to be the opening act of the Multiverse Saga, but now we know it’s Loki season 1.
Loki could already make claim to being the Iron Man of this saga thanks to his rivalry with Kang mirroring Tony’s with Thanos. However, now the parallel is much more direct. Just as the Infinity Saga kicked off with Iron Man in 2008, so the Multiverse Saga apparently begins with Loki season 1. The fact that Tony got to introduce the MCU meant that he went on to have an all-important role in Avengers: Endgame. Does this mean Loki will do the same in Avengers: Secret Wars?
As Marvel seems to be doing everything it can to transform Thor’s formerly wayward brother into the MCU’s MVP, that might well be… inevitable.
