Loki's Time Travel Should Introduce Thor's Kids In Phase 4

The new Loki series will take its title character on a time-hopping adventure, giving the God of Mischief the perfect opportunity to mess with his brother Thor's life and legacy, including his future children. The Disney+ original is set to premiere in May 2021, with Tom Hiddleston returning as the fan-favorite trickster. It is set after Avengers: Endgame's time heist, in which the 2012 version of Loki managed to steal the Tesseract and escape S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. He traveled away from the scene via wormhole, creating an alternate timeline in the process.

After a rough landing in what looked to be Mongolia, Loki was discovered by the Time Variance Authority. Though most plot details are still unknown, the Loki trailer featured the Asgardian traveling through an eclectic mixture of mysterious settings spanning space and time, causing mayhem wherever (and whenever) he went. The trickster will toy with human history itself, apparently even taking the place of plane hijacker D.B. Cooper. Along with altering the past, Loki could also set his sights on the future, particularly his brother Thor's legacy.

In his toying with Thor's fate, Loki could potentially encounter the God of Thunder's future children from the comics. Odin's line of succession is somewhat fraught since Loki is not his biological son and Thor gave his right to rule Asgard to Valkyrie in Avengers: Endgame. Meeting Thor's kids, and finding out whether or not they are royalty, would provide insight into Odin's lineage and Asgard's future as a whole.

Thor has had several children in Marvel's comics, although they have mostly been from continuities outside the main 616 universe. However, the "real" version of Thor Odinson did have two sons, Magni and Modi. The brothers sacrificed themselves after their grandfather Odin was killed during Ragnarok in order to bring him back to life, but have yet to be reborn as the Ragnarok Cycle began anew. In a parallel universe, Thor has a daughter, named Torunn Thorsdottir, who takes up her father's superhero mantle and fights on a team assembled from other superpowered kids of other well-known heroes. In a third alternate future, it is Magni who inherits the hammer as the God of Strength. Marvel's Ultimates universe features a villainous Modi who attempts to use the Mind Gem to topple America and establish New Asgard in its place.

While Thor's children are somewhat obscure and under-explored within the comics, this gives the MCU a blank canvas to work with when it comes to their personality and powers. Having multiple kids across continuities also allows Loki to explore further branching timelines. Even making minute changes could result in entirely different futures for Thor and his family. Perhaps one timeline could feature Odin's descendants taking back New Asgard's throne, but another could see Thor's kids removing themselves completely from the royal lineage. Their mothers could vary by timeline as well, being either Lady Sif's or Jane Foster's kids. This would also keep Thor's "true fate" a mystery, leaving room for more of his story to be told in his own movies.

Loki could even explore the destinies of characters other than Thor, giving Marvel a chance to introduce some of its future-based heroes to the MCU, even as quick cameos. Shows like The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and Armor Wars will explore the legacies of some of its most iconic characters, but Loki's time travel could introduce a world where all of its established characters have long passed away, and answer the question of who will replace them when they're gone.

Next: Every Upcoming Marvel Movie & Show That Continues Endgame's Story