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Loki season 2 is a continuation of the first installment of the show that stars Tom Hiddleston as the titular character. The show attracted a sizable fan base with six episodes in season 1, which combined fantasy, folklore, and space, and played around with time.
Loki season 2 is set to release on October 6, 2023, and will be the second last release in the MCU for this year's slate following the delay of their other projects. A second trailer for the show was recently released and it offered fans some insight into key events to expect from the upcoming series.
The first season concluded on a cliffhanger that hinted at a subsequent season and officially introduced the Multiverse as a whole to Marvel fans. Loki season 2 is expected to be even more mind-boggling and bizarre than the first installment. It will introduce a menacing Kang variant and see the god of mischief have his hands full as he saves the multiverse and his friends from impending doom.
Loki's Timeslipping, battle with a Kang variant, and more takeaways from second trailer of Loki season 2
1) A Groundhog Day-style time loop
The bizarre yet awesome teaser for Loki season 2 hints that the charming Norse trickster may get stuck in a time loop similar to Bill Murray's character in Groundhog Day. The trope is seen in several films, especially in plots centering around the concept of time.
During the opening of the 45-second teaser, Loki can be heard stating, "What I'm about to tell you is going to be hard to believe... again." He's most likely speaking to Agent Mobius, implying that he's caught in a temporal loop where he needs to continuously explain his situation to a different Mobius every time the day resets.
The concept gives the show an exciting new dimension. It suggests that Loki will face difficult temporal obstacles where he will have to relive similar instances repeatedly with new information and try to get to the bottom of his predicament while at it.
2) Loki assembling an Avengers-like squad and pulling a time heist parallel to Avengers: Endgame
Loki seems to have assembled a new team, a group of associates from the TVA, something which can be compared to another famous team in the MCU, the Avengers. Toward the end of the clip, the lovable antihero amasses a group of allies to help him accomplish his goal.
The initial objective would be to stabilize Loki's body so that he can stop "time-slipping" and remain still.
The team seemingly consists of Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ravonna Renslayer, Ke Huy Quan as a Time Variance Authority archivist, Owen Wilson as Mobius M. Mobius, Eugene Cordero as Casey/Hunter K-5E, and Sophia Di Martino as Sylvie. Uncertainty surrounding the dynamics in the group also adds to the complexity of the plot.
Additionally, the teaser suggests a parallel between Loki's forthcoming goal and the famous Avengers' time heist from Avengers: Endgame. This connection to Endgame hints that fans can expect complex time-traveling storylines and mind-bending adventures in Loki season 2. Loki and his team may need to travel back in time to intervene at a vital point to rescue the multiverse.
Loki has never been a team player and it will be interesting to watch him interact with this new squad he forms. It also looks like the infamous antihero will need all the help he can get to fight this multiversal-level threat he is about to face in Loki season 2 and save those he loves.
3) Battling a Kang variant: Victor Timely and preventing the Multiverse's collapse
The trailer features Victor Timely, one of Loki season 2's anticipated antagonists and a variant of Kang. He is seen watching someone playing with a small Mobius figure as the scene cuts to Mobius, revealing him in a similar space suit as the figure as he travels through space into what looks like the different timelines that were first featured in season 1.
This makes Timely's motivations seem questionable. Since he is a Kang variant, he probably wants to hinder Mobius from interfering with his plans and stop the multiverse from collapsing. It appears that he is one step ahead of the TVA, already knowing how events will unfold.
Another theory is that Victor Timely is assisting Mobius, Loki, and their companions in Loki season 2. This implies that it's likely for Timely to accept a request for more assistance with the timeline restoration from the TVA and the God of Mischief. If so, the question that remains is whether he will continue to support the major characters of the program or whether he will eventually betray them and find a way to exploit them.
4) Zaniac and Sylvie: A movie star and a McDonald's employee
Loki season 2 will feature a 1960s–1970s timeline where Loki meets actor Brad Wolfe (AKA Zaniac), however, Sylvie will appear in 1982. The teaser depicts two Lokis in their classic costumes confronting Zaniac, who could have possessed Brad Wolfe, an actor in the 1960s or 1970s. Zaniac is a demon from the dark dimension that was first introduced in 1982's Thor Vol 1 #319 (by Doug Moench and Keith Pollard).
Zaniac possession makes its victims more powerful than common mortals. It is unlikely for Loki to waste his time hunting Zaniac while dealing with timeslips because it appears that the creature is no match for him. He could possibly be pursuing the parasitic being for some other reason.
Therefore, it is conceivable that Zaniac, who has knowledge and access to powers from the dark realm of the MCU, has a solution to Loki's time-travel dilemma or knows where Sylvie is.
Sylvie is anticipated to be hiding in 1982 at the beginning of season 2. A press event transformed a McDonald's into its 1982 equivalent, and the teaser of Loki season 2 sees Sylvie working this establishment. This implies that in order to enlist Sylvie's help to repair the sacred timeline, Loki and Mobius would need to travel to this era.
5) Loki's Timeslipping explained
Loki season 2 introduces Timeslipping, a phenomenon that seems to have some similarities with "glitching," as seen in Sony's recent widely praised Spider-Verse animated movie. Time-traveling, however, seems to be linearly connected to the space-time continuum. Loki's time-traveling impacts the timelines of the show and the whole multiverse.
His timeslip glitch may be a result of the season 1 timeline being altered in the presently unraveling timeline. Given that the god of mischief quietly disappeared during Endgame, Loki may now be existing in a time stream off of an already branched timeline, which is probably the reason the ice giant-turned-Asgardian is glitching through time in Loki season 2.
If this hypothesis is correct, it may imply that the sacred timeline is actually made up of a number of other parallel realities. It would be necessary to clarify how if at all, the branching realities of the main timeline vary from the multiple multiverse realms.
Marvel fans can look forward to a season full of humor, intricacy, and epic adventures through time and space as Loki season 2 approaches its release date on October 6, 2023. The second installment of the Disney+ series is set to be a compelling addition to the MCU, taking viewers on a wild voyage across the multiverse and beyond with a set of mysterious characters and complex temporal storytelling.
