This article contains spoilers for the entire Loki series.
Loki’s finale did not disappoint as the series wrapped up its six-episode run in a dramatically different fashion to its two predecessors to deliver a finale that led Marvel fans exactly where they expected but in a way they couldn’t have possibly foreseen, thus truly kicking off the start of the MCU’s Phase Four.
2021 did saw the launch of Marvel Studios’ Disney Plus initiative, a bold if predictable bet for the company to keep cashing in on one of the most profitable media properties on the planet, however, just like the Avengers only kept growing in numbers and might since Nick Fury’s initial pitch to Tony Stark, it seems like the MCU is doing the same thanks to every series that comes out with Loki truly raising the stakes for the multiverse.
While WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier both were unique shows in their way, and every Marvel fan probably has their own favorite, the approach between those two and Loki differs greatly. After all, the former pair premiered with clearer propositions: introduce the Scarlet Witch’s true powers and expose her personal loss after Endgame; and, show Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes’ personal struggle to accept Steve Rogers' death (or absence maybe) while introducing a new Captain America.
Aside from the core idea behind the two, the real consequences from these and Black Widow can be easily summed up in their respective post-credits scenes: the Scarlet Witch is brushing up on the Darkhold, Sharon Carter is up to something, and Contessa Valentina in rounding up the likes of U.S. Agent and Yelena Belova to execute morally ambitious missions. Loki on the other hand lacks a post-credits scene and that’s probably because the entire show’s first season works like one huge MCU teaser.
When WandaVision and Falcon and The Winter Soldier reach their penultimate episodes, most of the storytelling has been done, proof of this is that their finales focus on delivering action over narrative elements. Loki went six episodes barely without any action sequences at all, and instead gives us a 1v1 fight between Sylvie and Loki that feels more real and dangerous than any degree of high-flying stunts because the viewers have spent five episodes watching this couple get to know each other and develop feelings of love they never knew before, all to see it vanished with the swing of a sword.
When Thanos finally came around in Infinity War, the character had already been teased for years, yet Loki somehow achieves a similar effect for Kang the Conqueror thanks to the marvelous level of exposition the series gave audiences on things like the TVA, her probable lover Ravonna Renslayer, the sacred timeline, Mobius, Sylvie, and Loki.
Loki could appear in Doctor Strange 2 now, and given the show’s confirmed season two must now be in at least early development it’ll be interesting to see exactly where Loki’s plot intersects with the rest of the MCU’s movies, especially Spider-Man: No Way Home and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. By becoming the main vehicle for exposition in Kang the Conqueror’s story, Loki gives Phase Four's villain depth to a degree that Thanos never got due to the relative limitations the films in the Infinity Saga had.
Now that the lid has fully come off the Marvel multiverse, the possibilities are really endless for the studio to fully fledge out the kind of long-running stories that would have been harder to adapt to cinema without the aid of the more intricate exposition the TV miniseries format allows for writers. At the same time, with so many names and identities tied to Kang, Nathaniel Richards, He Who Remains, or whatever name he ends up being called, Jonathan Majors is surely lined up for more MCU work than Brolin ever had.
This is the other main aspect where Loki separates itself from its two previous Marvel predecessors, as the series paid off wonderfully the fan theories leading up to its finale because it served Phase Four bigger plot for the better. Instead of bringing over Doctor Strange for an unnecessary cameo in WandaVision, Marvel Studios would rather have those two characters meet up when their time comes in the Multiverse of Madness, but in Kang's case, his appearance makes perfect sense because of his previously unknown status in the MCU.
Kang the Conqueror is already looking like a charming, funny, and slightly deranged antagonist, even in the Inmortus form Loki presented, and yet his presence in the MCU as he carefully lined out finally gives Loki some glorious purpose to strive for. Up to this point it was believed that Loki would be Tom Hiddlestone's last appearance as Loki yet, besides the guarantee of a season two, it now looks as if he is one of the most important characters in Phase Four with his TV variant already reaching a level of maturity similar to that attained by mainline Loki before his death.
Nobody knew exactly what Loki was all about, the series could have just been a piece of good business and send-off party just like Black Widow, but somehow through brilliant writing and perhaps borrowing less from the established Marvel formula than any other movie or show, Loki just became the MCU's most important must-watch thing out there.