WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Loki Episode 1, “Glorious Purpose,” streaming now on Disney+.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is no stranger to powerful forces, from the Celestials to weapons strong enough to call upon the power of the Bifrost. But through it all, the franchise has hidden a force that is more formidable than anything that’s come before: The Time Variance Authority. The first episode of Loki proves that the TVA is the most powerful entity the MCU has to offer, even going as far as to say it renders the Infinity Stones themselves useless.
Picking up during the events of Avengers: Endgame, Loki begins with the God of Mischief once again escaping Stark Tower using the Tesseract. He ends up in a desert in Mongolia, but several TVA agents swarm the scene before he can get away. They pick up the Space Gem and put Loki in chains before traveling to their headquarters, where they plan to process the variant. Upon arriving, one of the agents hands the Tesseract to a man at the reception desk, not believing it to be noteworthy.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view.
And if the nonchalant attitude about an Infinity Stone isn’t enough to impress, Loki is quickly introduced to a couple of the TVA’s gadgets. During processing, another variant is making a scene, and it prompts one of the agents to disintegrate him with a baton. Loki decides to fall in line after witnessing his colleague’s death, but his mood quickly changes after Agent Mobius vouches for him during his trial. Wanting Loki’s assistance with solving another case, Mobius takes the variant to a room to gauge his attitude but refuses to go in without a contingency plan, bringing with him a TVA device that reverses the flow time.
Unbeknownst to Mobius, however, Loki learns how to operate the device over the course of their conversation. Mobius gets called out of the room soon after, which allows Loki to escape. The variant finds himself wandering around TVA headquarters before he runs into Casey, the receptionist who knows the location of the Tesseract. Loki reacquires the gem with Casey’s help but also makes a shocking discovery: the Tesseract is just one of countless Infinity Stones in the TVA’s possession.
As Casey explains, the TVA picks up different versions of the gems more than anything else, so much so, many of the agents use them as paperweights. Given that the gems are the same power Loki tried to use to conquer Earth, Loki realizes the bureaucratic office-like building he finds himself in is the most powerful entity in the universe. Unable to escape, Loki goes back to the interrogation room, where he learns that, while in the TVA, Infinity Stones have no power.
This revelation flips a switch in Loki’s head. While he was hesitant to cooperate initially, he now understands the TVA can offer him control over the sacred timeline. It remains to be seen if this version of the God of Mischief will undergo the same arc his predecessor did, but if it’s power he craves, he’s put himself in a good position working with the TVA.
Loki stars Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Owen Wilson as Mobius M. Mobius, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ravonna Lexus Renslayer, Wunmi Mosaku as Hunter B-15 and Sophia Di Martino, Richard E. Grant, Sasha Lane and Eugene Cordero in undisclosed roles. The series premieres June 9 on Disney+.
About The Author