Why Loki Proves The MCU Can Last Forever

WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for Loki.

From time traveling to alternate dimensions, Loki throws a lot at Marvel fans and proves the Marvel Cinematic Universe has no end in sight. The MCU started in 2008 with Iron Man introducing Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark. Since that time, the MCU produced more than twenty films, with 2019's Avengers: Endgame helping to bring the third phase of the films to an end. In addition to numerous upcoming films with release dates through 2023, Marvel is also continually rolling out Disney+ superhero shows in an effort to give fans a fully immersive experience.

Endgame was a test for Marvel. In the film, the MCU introduces time travel, allowing the Avengers to go back in time and retrieve Infinity Stones before Thanos can do his deadly finger snap. Though the franchise already asked fans to buy into stories about seemingly invincible superheroes and Asgardian gods, time travel is another level. With time travel, the Avengers have the ability to erase any of their mistakes, seemingly meaning the MCU has no consequences. Of course, the gamble paid off, and Endgame went on to become one of the highest grossing films of all time. Despite killing off Iron Man in the film, a.k.a. the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist that started it all, the MCU just gained momentum.

If Endgame was a test, Loki is the MCU's result. In Loki, He Who Remain's TVA arrests Tom Hiddleston's God of Mischief for not adhering to its Sacred Timeline. The TVA apparently controls all of time, saving the universe from devolving into Multiverse chaos. Of course, the Multiverse seems to be the natural state of things, and Loki and Lady Loki (Sophia Di Martino) make it their mission to take the TVA down. With more time traveling, wacky alternate dimensions, and various variants of the God of Mischief, Loki asks viewers to go along with a lot, and they've seemingly accepted it all with open arms. And because of Loki - and specifically its explosive, timeline-shifting ending, the MCU could go on forever.

Loki gives the MCU ultimate creative freedom. Admittedly, when franchises reach the point of time traveling, it usually means they've jumped the shark. Sure, the Back to the Future franchise used alternate timelines and showed comical results of tampering with time, but time traveling is the point of those films. But in the MCU, it's just a side note. More than that, it's also a convenient excuse for Marvel to change or retcon all of its mistakes. For instance, Loki erases all the plot holes from Endgame simply by saying that the ridiculous situations were always going to happen due to the TVA's Sacred Timeline. And fans ate it up as Loki quickly became Disney+'s most popular show. If nothing else, the creativity of Loki and the way fans welcomed it - on the back of WandaVision's weirdness also striking a chord - offers proof that the MCU can throw away the formula once and for all.

Long-criticized as one of the things holding back the MCU from real creativity, the so-called Marvel formula has been held up as the reason for directors leaving properties and for the few comparative failures under the MCU banner. And with Loki offering a roadmap not just to multiversal expansion that could theoretically lead to endorsed recastings of original Phase 1 heroes but also to the kind of creativity that sanctions Thor's weirdest variant Throg appearing or an alligator Loki, the need to lean on that formula should now be gone. Just as the in-universe multiverse is open, so too is Marvel's creative licence to explore new worlds, even stranger new characters and to embrace the possibilities of time travel and alternate dimensions and characters. The future's bright, the future's strange.

More: Loki Ending & Future Set-Up Explained