‘Loki’: Why Weren’t There Any Aliens in the TVA?
Loki was yet another popular streaming series on Disney+ taking place within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But apart from being well-received, it also had far-reaching implications on the future of the MCU. There were some major moves made on the show that will likely lead to sweeping changes throughout the rest of the MCU.
The majority of the show takes place in the offices of the Time Variance Authority, and that body and its members played an important role in the plot development. It led one fan online to ask: why weren’t there any aliens in the TVA?
‘Loki’ and the Time Variance Authority
In the first season of Loki, Loki attempts to travel through time using the Tesseract. He’s intercepted by TVA agents, who bring him back to their headquarters. There, Loki is convinced to help locate another “variant” who has been disrupting what the TVA agents refer to as the “Sacred Timeline.” The TVA is watched over by mysterious, celestial beings known as the Timekeepers.
In a stunning twist, Loki discovers the Timekeepers aren’t animatronic imposters, and all TVA agents are simply other variants stolen from their own timelines. Loki and his variant, Sophie, meet the person responsible: a man from the 31st century known as He Who Remains.
Loki attempts to dissuade Sophie from killing this man, but he’s unsuccessful. She transports him back to his timeline and murders He Who Remains, setting off a chain of unending multiverses. Back in his own timeline, Loki finds out that one of He Who Remains’ variants has become the ruler of the TVA.
Why weren’t there any aliens in the TVA?
While the TVA agents had different backgrounds and attitudes, they all had one thing in common: all of them were human. That included Owen Wilson’s Mobius along with all the other agents encountered during the first season.
A Marvel fan on Reddit had a theory as to why the TVA didn’t have any aliens. It seems like the best possible explanation for this otherwise inconsistent plot point:
“All the TVA agents have to look like the same species (He Who Remains chose humans because he himself is one) to fit the narrative that they were created from scratch by the Time Keepers.
If they weren’t, then the variants (especially someone like Loki) would be bound to question why the Time Keepers went through the effort of making different species, which could potentially expose the fact that the agents are actually variants themselves.”
This logic checks out. Beyond being much easier for the show’s production team to not have to create CGI and/or prosthetics in multiple roles, it also aligns with the fact that Jonathan Majors’ He Who Remains is also a human.
What will the future of the TVA hold in the MCU?
What can Marvel fans expect from the TVA moving forward? Well, it’s certain that what happened on Loki will definitely impact the rest of the MCU. Standalone films from Doctor Strange and Spider-Man are sure to feature some sort of multiverse disruption. It’s unclear whether or not they’ll actually feature any TVA agents, however.
There’s one place fans should expect the TVA to resurface again, though, and that’s in the next season of Loki. A short post-credits scene in the Loki season 1 finale featured a note that Loki will be returning for season 2.
With the end of this season acting as a cliffhanger, it’s almost a certainty that fans will be right back in the TVA offices at the beginning of next season. Rest easy, Marvel fans who enjoyed Loki: you haven’t seen the last of the TVA or its agents.
