The second episode of Loki brings him face to face with his evil variant Lady Loki and nothing is what it seems.
Loki has agreed to help Mobius track down his variant that is loose and is taking lives across different moments in time. But for that Loki needs to earn the trust of Mobius which he is unable to do, thanks to his Loki nature. On the other hand, the evil variant is on a killing spree which is leading to multiple breaches in the sacred timeline.
Marvel Studios’ Loki | Episode 3 Trailer | Disney+
Order and Chaos
Loki is slowly getting the hang of the TVA and his new “friend” Mobius. He is working with the TVA to catch an evil variant of him who is wreaking havoc across time. There is this wonderful debate between Mobius and Loki about order and chaos.
At a point, Mobius says, “…if you think too hard about where any of us came from, who we truly are, it sounds kinda ridiculous.” This is true to the last breath. Humans came from chimpanzees. The Marvel universe came from the mind of a handful of people which can be used as a metaphor for the Time Keepers who created the TVA and everyone in it. The universe itself took birth from a big bang before which there was nothing but a dot i.e. singularity. “..And it’s real because I believe it’s real,” he adds: exactly what we do. Loki is chaos. The TVA is order. And here we see both working together to keep the harmony of time.
This debate takes us closer to the MCU emotionally by not telling us what reality is but by helping us accept our own reality, a reality that each person prefers. It can also mean the reality that we as marvel fans live in.
Loki and Apocalypse
While going through the case files of the evil variant, Loki deduces that the variant hides in apocalypses. To test this theory, Loki and Mobius travel back to Pompeii, Italy in 79 AD, moments before a volcanic eruption is about to destroy the place. In the comics, the city of Pompeii was destroyed by the Hand, a powerful ninja clan that aimed to achieve immortality. They covered it up by saying that the eruption of Mount Vesuvius was the cause of the destruction. The mountain that we saw erupt is probably that same mountain.
But it was Mobius who realized that the candy Kablooie was another variable, along with an apocalypse, that could be used to trace the variant. This candy was sold on Earth from 2047 to 20151. Thus it must be that the variant is hiding in an apocalyptic event in that span of years.
The Roxxon Reference
When Mobius and Loki arrive in Alabama, they enter a Roxxcart store in a town called Haven Hills. This town is owned by the Roxxon Energy Corporation. This is a reference to the Roxxon Energy Corporation, an evil corporation that made its debut in Captain America #180 in December 1974. The Roxxon Energy Corporation has crossed paths with many superheroes over the years.
But its latest appearances in the last decade have been in writer Jason Aaron’s Thor. Here it was one of the chief villains led by its CEO Dario Agger. In fact, when Christian Bale was announced as the villain in Thor: Love and Thunder, the rumor was that he would play Agger. But later on, we came to know that he would play Gorr the God Butcher.
With Thor: Love and Thunder based primarily on Jason Aaron’s Thor, Roxxcart’s cameo in Loki maybe just an intro for a bigger role in the upcoming Thor movie.
Lady Loki: Gender-Fluid?
The end of episode 2 of Loki finally reveals to us the variant, Lady Loki (Sophia Di Martino). Or at least this is what we shall call her for now. And she appears like the version of Loki we first saw in Avengers (2012). With the horns, remember? This seems to be a hint at Loki’s gender-fluid sexuality that was a rumor about for long. It would make sense too.
There is also another theory. She might be Sylvie Lushton who, in the comics, received magical powers from Loki. She is also knowns as Enchantress. What supports this The IMDB credits show Cailey Fleming listed to play young Sylvie in episode 4. It may show us what happened to Sylvie, her life, and how she got the powers, if at all.
The episode ends with Lady Loki creating multiple branches in the Sacred Timeline using many reset devices, thereby throwing the TVA into a fit. She then escapes into a time door followed shortly by Loki. While we may think that Loki made a run for his escape, this judgement is based on Loki’s behavior. However, it might be that Loki followed her to keep a check on her and merely pretended to run away?
Glorious going, isn’t it?
