WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for Loki episode 5.

Loki has numerous throwaway Easter eggs, but there may be a deeper reason for all the references to The Wizard of Oz. Loki episode 4 had the biggest twist in the series. In the episode, the Time Variance Authority captures Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Lady Loki (Sophia Di Martino), bringing them before the all-knowing Time-Keepers to be executed. The two Loki variants manage to fight their way free, and Lady Loki decapitates one of the time gods, revealing the Time-Keepers are a lie. They're just mindless androids.

In Loki episode 5, Lady Loki continues her quest to find out who's behind the TVA. Shortly after the Time-Keepers reveal, Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) prunes Loki, and the God of Mischief winds up in a void at the end of time. Lady Loki reasons that the person orchestrating everything at the TVA is hiding beyond the Void, so she prunes herself and reunites with Loki. The two Loki variants enchant a time monster called Alioth, who guards the Void, and the beast reveals a hidden citadel that exists outside of time. This citadel is presumably the home of the TVA's real ruler.

Related: Was That Kang’s Citadel At The End Of Loki Episode 5?

The God of Mischief's MCU series has multiple Wizard of Oz references, and there may be a reason for it. The reveal that the Time-Keepers are fake is a clear callback to the Wizard of Oz, which shows its powerful wizard is secretly just a con artist. On the way to see the Time-Keepers, the two Loki variants go down a path illuminated by yellow lights, perhaps giving a nod to the Yellow Brick Road. The movie is more directly referenced in Loki episode 5. In the episode, the villainous Ravonna Renslayer tells Lady Loki a prototype TVA ship could withstand the temporal void and take them to the end of time. Renslayer explains that the ship could help "find the man behind the curtain." The ship is apparently a lie from Renslayer to buy time for the TVA to surround Lady Loki, but the "man behind the curtain" quote is right from The Wizard of Oz. In the film, there's an actual man behind a curtain pretending to be the wizard.

Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion on the yellow brick road in The Wizard of Oz

The whole premise of Loki is a take on The Wizard of Oz. In the movie, the wizard is simply a trickster that fools everyone into thinking he's great and powerful. The same thing appears to be happening in Loki, with the all-powerful Time-Keepers being fake and someone else being secretly in charge of things. The MCU also has a history of associating the God of Mischief with the classic movie. In The Avengers, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) questions how Loki was able to turn "two of the sharpest men" he knows into his personal "flying monkeys," comparing  Hiddleston's character to the Wicked Witch of the West.

All of the comparisons hint that another twist is on the way. Though Loki fan theories speculate that a major MCU villain, such as Kang the Conqueror, is behind the TVA, perhaps the truth isn't so complicated. Loki's whole philosophy of taking away people's choices is perfectly aligned with the TVA, which wants everyone to adhere to its Sacred Timeline. The references may indicate Loki is behind it all. After all, The Wizard of Oz is all about a trickster pulling the strings, and there's no bigger trickster in Marvel than Loki.

Loki releases new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.

More: Loki Has Already Explained The Multiverse Of Madness - Theory Explained

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