Warning: Contains spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Despite having a hand in breaking the multiverse, Loki didn’t make a single appearance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. With all of the focus given to the multiverse in the film, it can come off as odd that Loki, a character now deeply connected to the multiverse, didn’t appear, especially when multiple reports said he would. However, even with the way Loki ended, his absence is easy enough to explain.

As the title implies, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness dealt heavily with the multiverse, yet Loki was nowhere to be seen. Considering the arc his character went through in Loki, if there was any sort of trouble going on in the multiverse like what Wanda was causing in the film, then Loki - who should feel responsible for allowing there to even be a multiverse - should have gotten involved, but he wasn’t in the slightest. The film even expands on the multiverse by revealing that spending too much time in another universe can cause an incursion that will eventually destroy that universe, yet there’s no indication that Loki or the TVA ever did anything about them.

Related: Doctor Strange 2 Cast Guide: Every Marvel Character Who Appears

Loki’s lack of involvement in the film might seem strange, but it’s easy enough to explain. Loki season 1 ended with Loki completely broken after Sylvie’s betrayal and reality being changed so that Mobius doesn’t know who he is, so he’s probably too distraught to think about helping the multiverse, as a whole. Even if that weren’t the case, with Kang the Conqueror back, dealing with him would probably take priority over Wanda and the incursions, especially when Loki would have a personal investment in dealing with Kang.

Loki in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

The way that the TVA operates under Kang instead of He Who Remains could also factor into that. The Loki season 1 finale showed that the TVA under Kang’s rule is now willingly allowing the multiverse to expand, with at least 63 new timelines being formed by the end of the episode. It’s clear that the Kang the Conqueror in charge of the TVA wants the multiverse to expand indefinitely, so Loki is likely being prevented from dealing with the multiverse in some way, just like the rest of the TVA. The threat of incursions would likely interfere with Kang’s plans, but at the same time, the multiverse may be developing at a speed that makes incursions irrelevant.

While Loki is one of the key figures in the creation of the MCU’s multiverse, his absence in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is easy enough to explain. When the events of Loki season 1 are taken into account, Loki could easily not be in the right headspace to deal with the multiverse, and even if he is, Kang the Conqueror would probably be the bigger threat, and he could even be preventing Tom Hiddleston's Loki from dealing with the multiverse to keep his own plans in motion. Whatever the case, Loki season 2 is bound to shed some light on what Loki’s current involvement with the multiverse is.

More: Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness Ending Explained (In Detail)

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