Warning: Contains MCU spoilers

Marvel Phase 4 has begun in grand fashion. Following the release of the wildly successful Avengers: Endgame, Marvel fans were left to wonder where the studio would go next. To some people’s surprise, Marvel announced a series of TV shows that would go on Disney’s streaming service, Disney+. The original plan for the studio was to release these TV shows along with a series of movies, but when the global pandemic hit and halted many productions, schedules were shuffled around to make the TV shows air before the movies.

As such, WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier have been released before the Black Widow movie, with WandaVision coming before Falcon and The Winter Soldier, unlike the original plan. With The Falcon and the Winter Soldier now wrapping up its episode releases, Marvel’s next big show is Loki, starring none other than Loki himself.

Loki’s story in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been a wild ride so far. He was the main villain of Thor and The Avengers; he appeared as a minor antagonist and deuteragonist in Thor: The Dark World, faking his own death by the end of the film; and he briefly took over the world of Asgard before being redeemed in Thor: Ragnarok. Thanos then killed him in Infinity War, but he appeared in Avengers: Endgame, thanks to the time travel plotline of the movie. His role in Endgame is the most important to understanding this trailer.

In the world of Marvel, time travel creates alternate timelines. Loki, in the past timeline of Endgame, escaped from the Avengers with the Tesseract, which contains the Space Stone. That is the timeline where the show takes place. As described in the trailer, by escaping from the Avengers and stealing the Space Stone, Loki created a time paradox. The goal of this TV series will seemingly be to restore balance to the timeline, with Loki acting as both the protagonist, trying to stop time from being destroyed, and the antagonist, trying to use the situation for his own benefit.

To most, this sounds like a very interesting premise: a time hopping action-comedy starring the God of Mischief himself. What could go wrong? Despite this, fans do have some concerns. Some wonder if this newly created paradox would mess with the already flimsy time travel rules established by Endgame. Endgame explicitly stated no paradoxes would be created, and yet the events of Loki are taking place. Although it was said in Endgame that messing with the Infinity Stones causes timelines to be changed, Loki merely took the Space Stone from the Avengers, he did not remove it from the timestream like what was described in Endgame.

Though reception to the trailer seems generally positive so far, fan theories have sprung up wondering what will happen. Some hope to see Loki return to the prime timeline, while others want to see Loki officially establish the multiverse after it was teased in Spider Man: Far from Home. Many just want to see more of their favorite Marvel villain again.

We asked some Pine Crest students what they thought of the trailer.

Shaun Satija, a freshman, says, “Intriguing. Evidently this is Marvel’s first dive into multidimensional stuff. An Avengers 1 version of Loki is a very very interesting character choice to take this first step.”

Max Maister, a Sophmore, says, “I think it looks good. Multiverse Loki goes stab in the back.”

What do you think will happen in Loki? Make sure to tune in to Loki on June 11th, 2021 on Disney+ to find out.

Sources:

The Verge

Screenrant.com,

Insider.com,

Slashfilm.com.