‘Loki’: 5 Huge Questions the Season Finale Needs to Answer
Marvel’s Loki rivals WandaVision as the studio’s most perplexing Disney+ series. Loki’s (Tom Hiddleston) story has raised numerous questions about time and reality within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s also given viewers more than a few mysteries to solve within the confines of its central plot. The show has kept those mysteries running through most of its episodes. However, with its season finale approaching, Loki needs to answer these major questions.
[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for the first 5 episodes of Marvel’s Loki.]
Who is running the Time Variance Authority?
This is the question hanging over every episode of Marvel’s latest Disney+ series. Loki introduces the Time Variance Authority as an organization dedicated to protecting one thing: the Sacred Timeline. They arrest Hiddleston’s character and other variants threatening to imbalance the timeline, a seemingly understandable thing to do.
However, as the series continues, it becomes increasingly clear that the TVA is hiding something. Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) believes everyone working at the organization is a variant — and that their motives aren’t as noble as they claim. Her theory appears to be true. Episode 4 proves the Time Keepers aren’t the ones pulling the strings. The Loki season finale needs to reveal who is.
Viewers have come up with a number of theories about who could be running the TVA, ranging from Marvel Comics’ Kang the Conquerer to Miss Minutes to Loki himself. Although Judge Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) seems to be a loyal servant of the TVA, there could be more going on with her character as well.
There are a number of ways the TVA storyline could pan out, but explaining what’s happening behind the scenes will likely be a priority of the Loki season finale. After all, it is the show’s biggest mystery.
Can a Loki really be trusted?
Loki and Sylvie grow closer to one another as each episode of Loki unfolds, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they can trust one another. Demonstrated clearly when President Loki’s minions turned on him during episode 5, deceit and trickery are built into the character’s coding. Since they’re both Lokis, one of them may betray the other during the season finale. It’s just what they do.
Episode 5 saw Sylvie questioning whether or not she could place her trust in Loki, a moment that could serve as foreshadowing. Thus far, the show has kept many details about Sylvie’s past and motivations under wraps. That’s a definite sign that something might be awry. The fact that the character also resembles the villain Enchantress from Marvel’s comics doesn’t help her case.
It’s also worth remembering that Hiddleston’s Loki isn’t the same Loki fans followed for most of the MCU. The original Loki underwent character growth and redemption, but this version of him hasn’t been on the path to betterment for quite so long. Could he betray Sylvie’s trust in the Loki season finale? Anything’s possible with a Loki.
What was Sylvie’s Nexus event?
Another question fans have been asking over the course of Loki has to do with Sylvie’s backstory. Every variant arrested by the TVA has a Nexus event, the action or decision that disrupted the Sacred Timeline. The Nexus event for Hiddleston’s character, for example, would be grabbing the Tesseract and snapping away from the Avengers team.
Being a variant, Sylvie has her own Nexus event — but the show has slyly avoided telling fans what it is. Viewers get a glimpse of Sylvie’s arrest as a child, but what she did to warrant the TVA’s pursuit is never revealed. Judge Renslayer claims she can’t remember Sylvie’s Nexus event, which means it was either something incredibly minuscule or she’s lying.
Sylvie’s Nexus event could hold clues to her central motivations, revealing things about her character fans don’t already know. The Loki season finale may finally clue viewers into how Sylvie strayed from the Sacred Timeline — although some fans believe the TVA wrongly arrested the character.
Who is the ‘Loki’s Big Bad?
The TVA is certainly hiding something, but that doesn’t automatically make the organization the show’s Big Bad. In fact, the majority of the characters working for the TVA at the beginning of the series now realize they’ve been lied to. That could mean Loki‘s villain is the one in charge of it all — Kang the Conqueror, Miss Minutes, or someone else entirely.
Having Loki‘s main villain be the person behind the TVA makes the most sense, but Marvel does love to throw a wrench in what’s expected. It’s equally as possible the Loki season finale will reveal someone outside of the TVA as the villain. Sylvie’s motivations could be more heinous than she’s let on, or another character could surprise everyone.
Will Loki and Sylvie open the doors to the multiverse in the season finale?
The Sacred Timeline — or the MCU as fans know it — is a central part of Loki‘s plot, but there are a lot of questions surrounding it. For one, it’s unclear if one ideal timeline ever truly existed in the first place. Miss Minutes tells Loki about the Sacred Timeline, but it’s unclear if the character can be trusted. The TVA may have its own motivations in keeping the timeline the way it is, and they may not be in everyone’s best interests.
The other question the Loki finale needs to answer is whether or not the Sacred Timeline will still exist once the season is through. All signs point to Loki and Sylvie opening up the multiverse, either as an act of defiance against the TVA or as a byproduct of their choices.
With Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hitting theaters early next year, there aren’t many Marvel projects left to create the multiverse the characters are likely to explore in the upcoming film. Reports suggest that Spider-Man: No Way Home may also see its characters dealing with the effects of the multiverse. That means Loki is well placed to kickstart the series of events that lead to these films.
Whether the Loki season finale will open the floodgates to more timelines — and more questions — remains to be seen. Fortunately, fans don’t have to wait too long to find out. Loki Episode 6 arrives on Disney+ on July 14, 2021.
