The first season of Loki introduced Marvel fans to a handful of “variants” of beloved MCU characters, from a frog version of Thor to an alligator version of the trickster god himself. Unlike Marvel’s previous Disney+ releases WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki promised a second season in its mid-credits sequence.
While those previous MCU shows were conceived as standalone miniseries, Loki is just getting started. With the season 1 finale creating the multiverse and trapping Loki in an alternate reality, season 2 could feature even more variants of Marvel fan-favorites.
Thor
The first season of Loki had a few mentions of Thor. He appears in the Ragnarok/Infinity War recap in the pilot episode, Kid Loki brags about having killed the Thor of his timeline, and a frog version of Thor can be seen trapped in a cage underground, desperately trying to reach his hammer.
As fun as these little Easter eggs are, it would be great for Chris Hemsworth to cameo in a future episode of Loki as an alternate version of the God of Thunder.
Nick Fury
As a stern, paranoid bureaucrat, obsessed with maintaining order, Nick Fury would fit right in at the TVA. It’s possible that, in the universe where Loki is stranded in the season 1 finale, Fury’s work with S.W.O.R.D. led him through a multiversal wormhole, where he landed a high-ranking position with the TVA.
Samuel L. Jackson is as lucrative a guest star as any for a TV series, and he’s already proven with Spider-Man: Far From Home and What If...? that he’s capable of leaning into the subtle differences of an alternate version of Fury. It would be great if he could do it again for a third time here.
Wong
Since the first Doctor Strange movie, Wong has been staunchly against his fellow Master of the Mystic Arts going rogue and meddling in the timeline. He hammered that home in the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer when he told Strange not to cast the spell requested by Spidey.
Clearly, Wong is a stickler for keeping the Sacred Timeline in check. Benedict Wong was a welcome supporting player in Shang-Chi, and he would be a welcome addition to the second season of Loki.
Thanos
Thanos is essentially Loki’s boss at this point in the MCU timeline. After the Battle of New York failed, the Mad Titan might be wondering where his Asgardian underling disappeared to.
The Thanos-Copter was featured as an Easter egg in season 1 of Loki. This could be a tease from the writers that Thanos himself will appear in a future episode. “What If... T’Challa Became a Star-Lord?” and its good-natured debates about the semantics of genocide proved how different an alternate version of Thanos can be.
Hank Pym
Hank Pym’s experiments with the Quantum Realm have had a significant effect on the MCU’s spacetime continuum throughout the Ant-Man movies, and especially in Avengers: Endgame. The zombie-infested What If...? episode demonstrated the devastating ramifications Pym’s meddling could’ve had.
The TVA doesn’t seem to mind Pym’s timeline-altering antics too much, because they ultimately led to Scott Lang inspiring the creation of time travel that allowed the Avengers to fix the Sacred Timeline. But a time-bending genius like Pym would at least be a person of interest at the TVA.
Valkyrie
In Thor: Ragnarok, the God of Thunder assembled his own makeshift superhero team to escape from Sakaar and reclaim Asgard from Hela (or at least try to). “The Revengers” consisted of Thor himself, the Hulk, Loki, and Valkyrie.
Loki and Valkyrie shared a fun dynamic in that they were both reluctant to join the team and have similarly biting personalities. As Loki faces the unraveling of the universe head-on, Valkyrie could reluctantly team up with him once more.
The Fantastic Four
Marvel’s first family has yet to be introduced to MCU viewers, but a solo movie from Spider-Man director Jon Watts is on the way. The Fantastic Four work best when they’re among the oldest, most seasoned superheroes of the Marvel universe, offering sage wisdom to their younger peers.
The only way that will work is if a multiverse-hopping prequel introduces them in their ‘60s heyday. Loki would be a great catalyst to get the Fantastic Four from a ‘60s-set solo movie to the wider MCU.
Steve Rogers
Steve Rogers seriously messed with the Sacred Timeline when he returned to the 1940s, lived out his entire life, and somehow crossed back over into his original timeline to give Sam his shield.
It’s possible the TVA let it slide because Cap prevented untold multiversal carnage by returning the Infinity Stones to their rightful homes, but he could still appear in Loki as a significant piece of TVA history. Marvel shouldn’t overuse returning figures like Chris Evans and Robert Downey, Jr. to avoid cheapening their iconic characters’ departures, but the odd cameo here and there wouldn’t hurt.
Kang The Conqueror
The final episode of Loki’s first season introduced a variant of Kang the Conqueror into the MCU. Jonathan Majors, who’d already been cast to play Kang in the third Ant-Man movie, guest-stars in Loki’s finale episode as “He Who Remains,” the diabolical mastermind behind the TVA.
After season 1 introduced Marvel fans to a version of Kang, season 2 can raise the stakes by including the real Kang. With his monolithic control of time itself, Kang has the potential to be the Thanos-sized big bad of the MCU’s next saga.
Deadpool
Technically, Deadpool isn’t an MCU character yet – but he’s about to be. It’s a no-brainer for Marvel Studios to keep Ryan Reynolds in the role of Wade Wilson and carry on his wildly successful Deadpool solo series from Fox’s now-defunct X-Men franchise. But it does present the unique challenge of explaining to audiences that he’s crossing over from one familiar cinematic universe into another familiar cinematic universe.
After flagrantly altering the timeline in the mid-credits scene of Deadpool 2, provoking the ire of the TVA could be the perfect way to introduce the Merc with a Mouth to his new cinematic home.