We had not seen a Loki post-credits scene, and now we learned they were saving it for something special. The fourth episode just hit Disney Plus, and it was an absolute shocker of an episode. In several senses of the word. Not only did the story take a huge leap forward after last week’s fairly plain performance, It also went somewhere completely unexpected.
And for the first time in this series, Marvel added one of its classic post-credits stingers — and one that may have some people a little confused. If you’re one of them, read on to find out exactly what this all means. Spoilers ahead, obviously.
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The episode, titled "Nexus Event," ended with Loki and Sylvie finally making their way to the Time-Keepers, and freeing themselves from the TVA’s shackles with the help of Hunter B-15. Then the mischievous duo found out that the whole thing was a fraud, and the Time-Keepers weren’t actually real (or at least those ones are not). Those were just androids, as we learned when sparks flew out of one's head when Sylvie decapitated it with a sword.
But before the two could make a plan, Loki was ‘pruned’ by Judge Renslayer, and seemingly condemned to an eternity of non-existence.
Except that’s not what happened. Loki was actually sent somewhere completely different. A desolated world that our anti-hero initially thought was Hel, somewhere we got a glimpse of during Thor: Ragnarok’s flashback sequences.
Instead Loki wound up in a desolate world, seemingly populated by a bunch of other Lokis. Variants like himself, from the looks of things, presumably among the many, many Lokis Morbius claimed had been pruned during his time at the TVA.
Well, at least two at first glance. I wasn't entirely sure who the guy on the left is, since the whole hammer aspect made me wonder whether he’s a variant of Thor. But the credits confirm him as “Boastful Loki”, so he is definitely a god of mischief. Albeit one that may take more than a few character cues from his brother.
This is the multiverse we’re talking about, and with infinite possibilities there will be more than a few versions of the character that wields a hammer (possibly Mjolnir) — and also ones that are not the skinny white guy most people recognise.
The others? Undeniably Loki, pulling versions of the character straight from the comics. Front and center is Kid Loki, what may or may not be a Lizard Loki (or just an alligator in a crown), and behind him is a classic-looking version of the character played by Richard E. Grant.
Kid Loki is a more recent version of Loki from the comics, and is actually a heroic character that went onto join the Young Avengers. The classic version of Loki is generally portrayed as a far more villainous and nefarious character than Tom Hiddleston's roguish take on the character. So it looks like some dastardly shenanigans may be on the cards.
As for the location, our guess is that this is some sort of limbo dimension or a multiversal ‘dumping ground’ that deleted variants get sent to when pruned by the TVA. You can see the ruins of Avengers tower in the background too, which we first spotted in one of Loki’s first trailers:
Considering Classic Loki tells his MCU counterpart that he will die if he doesn’t come with the ragtag group of Lokis, it’s obvious that it’s not a particularly safe place to be. Our only question is whether this world is populated by Loki variants, or whether it’s every variant the TVA ever pruned. Either way it’s not the kind of place you want to be in alone.
This turn also makes me wonder whether the President Loki we saw in the trailer, based on the ‘Vote Loki' arc from 2016, is our Loki or just another variant.
My guess is that it’s a variant, since we see Loki and Boastful Loki fighting together in a pretty-similar location in the trailers. So we can guarantee that Boastful Loki won't be stabbing his other self in the back. Not particularly quickly, at least.
Loki episode 4, 'Nexus Event' is available to stream right now on Disney Plus.
