Marvel Confirms Nexus Beings & Events Are Key To MCU Phase 4

WARNING: The following contains SPOILERS for Loki episode 1, "Glorious Purpose."

The Loki premiere confirms so-called "Nexus" beings and events are key to the MCU's Phase 4 slate. WandaVision was a unique TV series, a superhero sitcom complete with enigmatic "commercials". Most of these seem to have been projections from Wanda Maximoff's subconscious, but the commercial in episode 7 was particularly odd. Rather than refer to Wanda herself, it focused in on a mystery drug called "nexus". According to the ad, Nexus is "a unique antidepressant that works to anchor you back to your reality - or the reality of your choice."

The term "nexus" is lifted straight from the comics themselves, where it actually has two different meanings. It can refer to the Nexus of All Realities, an area of the Florida Everglades where the fabric of reality is said to be "exceedingly thin," and where it's possible to jump between parallel dimensions. Alternatively, 1992's What If..? #35 saw a cosmic being called the Watcher introduce the concept of "nexus beings," described as "rare individual entities with the power to affect probabilities - and thus the future." Only a handful of nexus beings have ever been identified, but the Watcher singled out Scarlet Witch as one of them. It was unclear what exactly Marvel Studios meant by using the term in WandaVision, but back in 2013, actress Elizabeth Olsen noted Scarlet Witch is a nexus being in the comics, so that interpretation seemed likely.

The first episode of Loki confirms nexus beings and events are a vital part of the MCU's Multiverse. It featured an amusing animated presentation in which the Time Variance Authority outlined their understanding of the Multiverse, revealing a nexus event is a moment where a branched timeline is created. Based outside of time, the TVA monitor the entirety of history looking for nexus events, and then intervene to destroy the branches and make sure there is only one timeline. They consider this their sacred duty, a task they perform on behalf of the Time Keepers in order to prevent a Multiversal war.

It's still difficult to say for certain how exactly the word "nexus" relates to WandaVision. It's possible the cry of grief and pain that led to her trapping Westview in a sitcom-based reality, and ultimately transformed her into the Scarlet Witch, was not part of the original timeline; that her burst of emotion actually created a nexus, and a Multiverse is already being woven into existence.

Wanda wields Chaos Magic, and in the comics this energy is drawn from a powerful extradimensional being; if the same is true in the MCU, perhaps this entity is able to conceal her actions from the Time Keepers and the TVA, meaning they have no idea what's happening. Alternatively, it could also be that Wanda Maximoff's Chaos Magic - defined by Agatha Harkness as the power of "spontaneous creation" - means she is a nexus being whose every decision has the potential to create new branched timelines. The latter seems more likely, given the nexus commercial ended with the line, "Because the world doesn't revolve around you - or does it?"

Whatever the truth may be, it's now clear the idea of nexus beings or nexus events is central to the MCU's model of the Multiverse. That means we should expert future Multiversal stories - say, Spider-Man: No Way Home or, particularly, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - to deal with this concept as well. Loki has provided a little more detail, but a lot more is sure to be revealed.

Loki releases new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.

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