Loki and the TVA (Time Variance Authority)

The last we saw Loki, he was stabbed and bleeding to death in Thor: Ragnarok. At least, that’s where his story should have ended. However, the Loki from the past in Endgame had used the Tesseract to escape, thus changing the timeline.

If he wasn’t caught and imprisoned, Thor would not have had the opportunity to ask for his help after the death of their mother. And if that didn’t happen, Loki wouldn’t have gone on that misadventure that ended in his death. Which means he would live! Hurrah for Loki!

Not so great for the rest of the time continuity though, but it’s just like Loki to do jeopardize the existence of multiple continuities just for the sake of something as petty as not dying. Ugh, what a selfish bastard. (writer’s note: I’m being satirical, living is great, we all love living).

And this is where the latest trailer comes into play. There was a single shot shown of Loki saying “I’m gonna burn this place to the ground.” So far so Loki, I see. He’s seemingly imprisoned, wearing a uniform that says TVA on it, and the positioning of his arms imply that he’s been cuffed. Personally, I hope the series will feature him in some new outfits. This one in particular, catches my fancy. A modern look from his titular comic series, Loki #1.

For the uninformed, the TVA stands for the Time Variance Authority. They are literally a faceless bureaucracy. Well, mostly, at least. The vast majority of the TVA consists of chronomonitors, agents that are cloned whenever a new divergent timeline is formed. And there are a lot of them, almost infinitesimal really. This is how they monitor every timeline and any timelines that are dangerous will be flagged.

Usually, suspects who threaten the stability of the timeline continuum will be put on trial.  A defendant who is found guilty in one of these trials is executed with a weapon called the Retroactive Cannon, or Ret Can, which erases the victim, deleting their existence from the universe by undoing their birth and entire history. Basically, these people are getting retconned, and I think that’s hilarious.

How Loki and the TVA will butt heads remains largely a mystery, but we can do some speculating. Of note, She-Hulk was once a defendant that was supposed to face the Ret Can. Fortunately, she helped the TVA defeat a villain, and in return, her sentence was lifted. This would be a perfect opportunity to bring the Savage She-Hulk into the MCU.

Another potential prospect is Kang the Conqueror, a time-travelling badass who’s basically another Thanos-level threat. Now that Thanos has been squared away, the MCU needs a new villain to pummel on and Loki might be the bridge to bigger, more dangerous things.

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