The latest Disney Plus original series from Marvel Studios looks set to be its most ambitious offering yet, featuring Tom Hiddleston’s mischievous Loki as you’ve never seen him before.
The plot spins out of a pivotal scene in Avengers: Endgame, where the eponymous superhero team travel back to the year 2012 with the intention of retrieving the Tesseract for their war against Thanos.
However, when the desperate bid goes wrong, Loki uses the chaos for his own last-minute escape, creating what certain inhabitants of the Marvel Cinematic Universe refer to as a “variant”.
But what exactly is a variant? Read on for all the details you need for the Disney Plus series, including a regularly updated list of the Loki variants we’ve seen so far.
What is a variant?
A variant is a term coined by the Time Variance Authority to describe a person who does something they are not supposed to in the so-called “Sacred Timeline” of the MCU, and thus branches away into an alternate version of events.
It is the role of the TVA, a mysterious bureaucratic organisation, to keep these instances under control, meaning that their agents are rolled out shortly after the detection of a variant.
They handle the situation by arresting the individual in question and undoing the change that was caused by their misbehaviour, which gets the main MCU timeline back on its correct course.
This important work prevents the Marvel Universe from breaking into an infinite number of uncontrollable multiverses, some of which would inevitably be dark and chaotic – perhaps even posing a threat to our own.
Is Loki a variant?
Yes, the version of Loki featured in his self-titled Disney Plus series is classed as a variant, following the events of 2019 blockbuster Avengers: Endgame.
The “real” Loki died at the beginning of Infinity War, after a noble last-ditch effort to stop Thanos ended with the Mad Titan choking him to death.
But if you thought that was the last we’d see of the God of Mischief, you are sorely mistaken; when the Avengers travelled back to 2012, he seized an opportunity to escape arrest when the Tesseract landed right in front of him.
He used the ancient cosmic force to teleport to whereabouts unknown, where he was quickly discovered by TVA forces and apprehended for his crimes.
This Loki is a variant in that he is not the version we know from the later Marvel films released post-2012, and his behaviour will be different as he will not have experienced the dramatic events of Thor: The Dark World, Ragnarok or Infinity War.
Every Loki variant in the Disney Plus series
There have been rumours that the main Loki variant featured in the Disney Plus show will not be the only one we’re introduced to over the course of its six-episode run.
Leading up to the series premiere, the most speculation has surrounded the introduction of Lady Loki, who many fans seem think will be played by former Casualty and Flowers star Sophia Di Martino.
We’ll update this page with every Loki variant in the MCU as the series rolls out on Disney Plus, with new episodes expected every Wednesday for the next six weeks.
Loki premieres on Disney Plus on Wednesday 9th June. Check out more of our Sci-Fi and Fantasy coverage, as well as our guides to the best movies on Disney Plus and best shows on Disney Plus.
Looking for something else to watch? Check out our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.
from Radio Times https://ift.tt/3g2yS1w
