Loki Episode 4 Steals A Fantastic Four Idea Back From Rick & Morty

Warning: SPOILERS for Loki episode 4, "The Nexus Event"

The latest episode of Loki introduced a group of Loki variants that has been dubbed the Council of Lokis by the fans of the show, in honor of the Council of Ricks from Rick and Morty and the fact that head writer Michael Waldron was a also a writer on Rick and Morty. While it was presumed by some that the group of Lokis was a nod to his former work, the Council of Ricks was originally a parody of a group from Fantastic Four called the Interdimensional Council of Reeds.

The fourth episode of Loki, "The Nexus Event," ended with the apparent pruning of the Loki variant who fled with the Tesseract following the events of Avengers: Endgame. However, a post-credits scene revealed that this Loki survived and that the TVA's trademark weapon had merely teleported him somewhere else rather than destroying him. The scene ended with a confused Loki, who thought that he had died and gone to Hel, being greeted by a group of four Loki variants in the post-credits scene, who told him that while he was not dead yet, he very shortly would be unless he went with them.

The scene was somewhat reminiscent of the Rick and Morty season 1 episode "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind," which introduced a group called the Council of Ricks that policed the multiverse. Being Ricks, they didn't do this out of any kind of moral imperative, but out of sheer practicality, trying to protect themselves from their mutual enemies and deal with those Rick variants who became too dangerous or unstable to be trusted. With their advanced technology and a society built on proving themselves superior to one another, it's easy to see how both the TVA's Time-Keepers and the Council of Lokis could both be seen as being a nod to the Council of Ricks.

Members of the Council of Reed Richards wield versions of the Infinity Gauntlet in Marvel Comics.

The irony is that the Council of Ricks was a nod in itself, inspired by an idea from the Fantastic Four comics. First appearing in Fantastic Four #570, the Interdimensional Council of Reeds allowed different versions of Reed Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic) from around the Multiverse to meet and put their minds together regarding issues that threatened all of reality. However, the group's intentions were far from peaceful, as they tried to force the Reed Richards of Earth-616 to abandon his family to join them. It was also revealed they had lobotomized multiple versions of Doctor Doom from across reality, merely to prevent them from becoming a power capable of opposing the Interdimensional Council of Reeds.

It remains to be seen what the so-called Council of Lokis wants and what their ultimate endgame is. It's entirely possible that they are the true power behind the TVA, one of Loki episode 4's biggest unanswered questions. Of course it's just as likely that they joined forces to destroy the TVA, much like how the Council of Ricks sought to eventually destroy the Galactic Federation. Perhaps, as one rogue Rick wound up destroying both groups in Rick and Morty, one rogue Loki will go on to destroy both the TVA and all the other Loki variants, proving himself the greatest of all Lokis.

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