Loki never got his own movie in the MCU, because he was mainly used as a villain and occasionally as a sidekick for Thor. However, he will be getting his own standalone story in the franchise, courtesy of Disney’s new streaming platform, Disney+.
Fans were relieved when they saw Avengers: Endgame and the time-traveling plot managed to bring back the Norse trickster god, who seemed to be gone forever after getting killed by Thanos in Infinity War. Little known about the plot of Loki’s upcoming streaming series, so here are 5 Things Confirmed For Loki’s Disney+ Series (And 5 Fan Theories).
Confirmed: It’ll follow the Loki who took the Space Stone in Avengers: Endgame
It’s been confirmed that the upcoming Disney+ series will follow the Loki we saw open up a new timeline in Avengers: Endgame. Earth’s mightiest heroes traveled back in time to the Battle of New York to retrieve the Space, Time, and Mind Stones.
However, they only managed to get the latter two as Loki nabbed the Space Stone and disappeared into an alternate timeline with it, which is where we’ll pick up. Many fans are happy about this, because Loki circa 2012’s The Avengers – the one who was a mustache-twirling villain under Thanos’ thumb and not an antihero who regularly teamed up with Thor to fight other bad guys – is their favorite incarnation of the character.
Fan theory: It’ll lead Loki to join Thor: Love and Thunder
There has to be a reason why Kevin Feige has been continually stressing the connections between the Disney+ series and the theatrically released movies. It’s been confirmed that WandaVision will be leading Scarlet Witch to join Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but maybe that won’t be the extent of it.
Loki’s series will be debuting sometime in early 2021 and Taika Waititi’s new Thor movie, Thor: Love and Thunder, is set to hit theaters on November 5, 2021, so maybe Loki’s six-episode storyline will lead him to join that film. It wouldn’t feel like a Thor movie without Loki.
Confirmed: Tom Hiddleston will reprise his role as Loki
This one is kind of a no-brainer, since fans would undoubtedly reject any actor who isn’t Tom Hiddleston trying to play Loki and it would be odd for the role to be recast to follow up a storyline from the movies in which he was played by Hiddleston, but just in case there was any fear that Loki would be played by another actor in his Disney+ series, he won’t.
Tom Hiddleston has been signed back on to play the character, and not only that, he’s thrilled about it, calling it “one of the most exciting creative opportunities I have ever come across.”
Fan theory: The plot will link to Captain America returning the Infinity Stones
At the end of Avengers: Endgame, Captain America returned all the Infinity Stones to where they came from on the timeline in an attempt to fix any screw-ups. While many fans have argued about the rules and logic of this, it’s clear that none of that matters. Cap appeared in the main MCU timeline after living an alternate life, so the time travel rules don’t make sense.
The Avengers collected the Reality Stone from Asgard in 2013, around the time of Thor: The Dark World. One fan theory suggests that Loki did really die in The Dark World and the alternate version from 2012 will be the one who decided to take over Asgard after Cap returned the Aether to its rightful place.
Confirmed: Rick and Morty’s Michael Waldron will be the showrunner
Michael Waldron has been hired as the showrunner for Disney+’s new Loki series, and will also write at least the first episode. Waldron’s best-known work is acting as a production consultant on the first season of Rick and Morty (specifically the episodes “Ricksy Business,” “Something Ricked This Way Comes,” “Rixty Minutes,” and “Raising Gazorpazorp”).
He has also worked with Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon on his other shows, Community (as a writers’ assistant) and the fantasy RPG-based animated adventure comedy series HarmonQuest (as a writer). So, “Harmon-esque” should give you an idea of the tone of the Loki series.
Fan theory: There will be multiple versions of Loki
As long as the Loki series is diving into the MCU’s multiverse – and not just dipping a toe or winking at the audience like the previous mentions have done – by following a character who went into an alternate reality, they might as well go all in.
One fan theory has suggested that with all the chaos of simultaneous timelines and the power of the Space Stone in Loki’s hands, there will be multiple interdimensional versions of the trickster god appearing in the show. Maybe playing several versions of the same character is what Tom Hiddleston meant when he said the series would be “one of the most exciting creative opportunities I have ever come across.”
Confirmed: The first season will consist of six episodes
The initial run of Loki’s Disney+ series will consist of six hour-long episodes. This places it as a lot shorter than Netflix’s Marvel shows. Six is the same episode count as Game of Thrones’ final season, which was criticized for rushing the plot, so let’s hope Loki doesn’t have that problem.
It’s been noted that Loki will be a limited series, suggesting that all we’ll get is these six episodes and there’s no chance of a season 2. But then, that’s what the producers of Big Little Lies said about their show and they ended up making a second season.
Fan theory: Infinity War’s hero Loki fixes past Loki’s timeline change
One confusing fan theory posits that the heroic Loki of the future – the one who became noble after finding out Thor respected him and was then immediately killed by Thanos – will have to go back in time to when his past self stole the Tesseract and disappeared through a portal, creating a new timeline, and fix it by reliving the events the way they happened, to ensure that the timelines remain solid. However, he will change the course of history when it comes to getting killed by Thanos.
Fans suspected that the Loki killed by Thanos in Infinity War was a projection (in time travel movie terms, this would be a little like Doc Brown wearing a bulletproof vest to his meeting with the Libyans in 1985 after finding Marty’s note in 1955) and this will be a way to answer that question.
Confirmed: Kate Herron will direct the series
It was recently announced that Kate Herron will be directing Disney+’s Loki series. Herron has worked on projects in both the comedy and drama genres (including episodes of Netflix’s Sex Education), which makes her a prime candidate for Loki, because the series will have some dramatic heft.
Tom Hiddleston has said that, since this series will explore a Loki from the past as he crosses the spacetime continuum, “there’s a lot of psychological evolution that has still yet to happen,” but it will also have plenty of humor. Herron is the right person to balance these two sides of the Loki coin from behind the camera.
Fan theory: He’ll be pursued by Thanos
The Loki we’ll be following in the Disney+ series has just disappointed Thanos with the failed Battle of New York, and this is a timeline where the Mad Titan is still alive – remember that in the post-credits scene of The Avengers, after Thanos’ plan to destroy Earth’s mightiest heroes with Loki, the Tesseract, and the Chitauri army went awry with Tony Stark’s sacrifice, he donned the Infinity Gauntlet and vowed to take on the Avengers himself – so maybe Marvel is hiding Josh Brolin’s casting and the show will revolve around an alternate Thanos pursuing this alternate Loki across the spacetime continuum.