Highlights
- Loki's character arc in the Loki season 2 finale is well-executed and shows his growth from a self-serving villain to a hero who takes control of the timelines for altruistic reasons.
- Loki's newfound time-slipping abilities could potentially allow for the return of characters like Iron Man, whose sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame seemed permanent.
- Loki's role as the keeper of the timelines could potentially reverse deaths and bring back characters in the MCU, but this could cheapen impactful moments and raise questions about mortality in the comic book world.
The following contains spoilers for the Loki season 2 finaleWith Marvel Studios' shockingly poignant Disney Plus series Loki seemingly reaching a rather satisfying conclusion only recently, some fans may be surprised to learn that its influence may open the door to Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man comeback.
The Loki season 2 ending may have left some fans in that characteristically confused state that only a time-traveling god story can invoke. But to those who followed, it became what may be one of the most well-executed character arcs in the entire MCU. Tom Hiddleston's Loki eventually realizes that his efforts to fix the temporal loom are fruitless and that reality will collapse if he doesn't use his newfound time-slipping abilities to take control of the timelines to keep them from spiraling out of control. This leads to the once big bad of the entire franchise accepting his long-desired throne. But instead of self-serving power, his new position is altruistic, completing Loki's years of excellent character development.
The thing is, Loki's new position in the multiverse may also leave things open for certain events to become undone, as his time-based powers effectively give him access to everything that has happened and will happen. This could include Downey Jr.'s Iron Man, who nobly sacrificed himself for the greater good in Avengers: Endgame. At least, that's what the subject matter became when Hiddleston recently appeared on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon. Fallon was quick to bring up some ideas that were surely already on the minds of countless fans. "Since Loki knows how to time-slip now," he posed, "can he go find someone like Tony Stark, aka Iron Man?" Hiddleston replied with his characteristic charm before getting into it. "This guy. This is investigative journalism right here!" he answered with a smile. "I mean, time-slipping, technically gives Loki some interesting moves he can make."
"I suppose, yeah, he can move from past, present, future," Hiddleston added. "I know that I can time-slip. I don't know that other characters can time-slip." This adds a new dimension to the lively discussion surrounding his new power. Some have speculated that Loki's time-slipping will be the key to defeating Kang, at least before he took up his throne at the end of time. But even though he's taken up arguably the most important position in the MCU, that doesn't mean he can't take an active role in things. Anything he could do while simply time-slipping, he can likely still do with even greater efficiency as the keeper of the timelines.
That's not to mention Marvel's already shaky relationship with death. It's provided some truly impactful moments, from Tony Stark's noble sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame to the sad deaths in the Spider-Man movies. But with an effectively reformed Loki looking after the timelines himself, this could easily open the door to reversing any seemingly permanent demises in the MCU's past. Whether or not that's a good idea is another conversation entirely.
"Speaking for myself, Loki's died a few times. I'm still here. So I don't know that death is necessarily… I mean death is — death is up for grabs, as an existential question. That's all I can give you."
Fans are sure to have thoughts on this. Mortality is fickle in comic books, so when a death sticks it feels more impactful, like in several X-Men stories. Tony Stark effectively bookended the first big era of the MCU, serving as both the introduction to the franchise and the final "snap" that brought the Thanos story to a close. Bringing him back could cheapen that moment in the eyes of fans. That's not even to mention other losses like Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow and Zoë Saldaña's Gamora, the latter of whom was even more tragic given how it wasn't her own choice. Either way, time will tell how things go from here in more ways than one.
Loki seasons-1-2 are available to stream on Disney Plus.
Loki
Loki, the God of Mischief, steps out of his brother's shadow to embark on an adventure that takes place after the events of "Avengers: Endgame."
