“Loki” was not more of the same God of Mischief antics of old. The series traded the character’s Asgardian royalty and arrogance and opened his eyes to greater stakes when he was charged with overseeing the greatest and most undefeated power of all: time itself.
The first season of “Loki” worked because it was so different from anything we’d seen the character in before. The series took Hiddleston, a relic of Marvel Studios’ glory days, and made him new again within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This Loki somehow had a conscience. Not even Robert Downey Jr. has been given a baptism to come back as something so completely different within the MCU (not yet, anyway). The result was simple. Loki as a time cop, alongside the never-not-funny Owen Wilson, was simply good television.
Now it’s time to flex again. “Loki” is back for a second season, streaming on Oct. 5. And based on the first four episodes made available to critics, it’s the best Disney Plus original from Marvel Studios since … “Loki.”
In a series that is all about time, the timing of “Loki’s” return can’t be understated.
The MCU isn’t under attack per se, but it’s no longer a critic-proof party either. Cries of superhero fatigue, whether you believe them or not, persist. Despite those cries, the threat of James Gunn, his new Superman and DC Studios is right around the corner.
For the first time ever, Marvel Studios’ power seems up for grabs. The timing of Hiddleston’s return couldn’t be more perfect, or more needed.
Whatever it is that has been ailing the MCU of late, this new season of “Loki” is the elixir for it and very much still a prime Marvel Studios viewing experience.
In Season 1, Hiddleston played the trickster god imprisoned by the Time Variance Authority, a policing agency created by an entity called He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) to protect the sanctity of time and make sure nothing alters it. At the start of Season 2, the timeline is in shambles, and Loki is glitching between the reality he knows and branches of time where he is a stranger even to those closest to him. The only way to fix things? Find one of the “variants” of He Who Remains and try to stop a flood of multiple realities busting loose.
Hiddleston’s out-of-character heroics as Loki this season are mixed with reminders that he’s one of the MCU’s greatest villains. Loki’s evil side is a hibernating bear that, once poked, proves why Hiddleston plays such a good bad guy to begin with. Hiddleston’s Loki isn’t about that life anymore. But he’ll show you the horns if you push him hard enough.
Wilson continues to be a shockingly perfect fit for the MCU as the TVA’s Agent Mobius. If your geek bingo card didn’t have the guy from “Zoolander” and “Wedding Crashers” rising up the ranks of your favorite Marvel characters, you’re not alone. Mobius learned in “Loki’s” first season his whole life as a time cop has been a lie. He was someone before the TVA. But he has no recollection of it. Now, instead of finding out who he really is, Mobius buries his head into being the best time cop he can be.
Wilson brings comedic gravitas to the character that makes you want to know more about who he really is — even if he doesn’t want that for himself. This could easily be a show where people just care about Loki. But it isn’t, because Wilson steals a good amount of the scenes he’s in.
Sophia Di Martino returns as Sylvie, a variant of Loki that he is in love with (because, of course, the only person Loki could love more than himself, is himself). Sylvie’s significance is in who lies at the wrong end of her blade. She killed He Who Remains at the end of last season despite a warning such an act would release multiple versions of him, or variants, onto the universe.
One such variant is here now in Season 2, played by Majors, who returns to “Loki” as Victor Timely, a man in the 1800s trapped in an era where technology can’t match the power of his genius. Victor Timely is a potential reflection of Kang, the ultimate Avengers villain Majors is scheduled to play in future “Avengers” movies after debuting as the character in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” The mystery is whether Majors will continue to play the character after his recent legal troubles.
“Loki” was always meant to be a bridge to the next big Avengers movie, with Majors’ involvement as the variants of He Who Remains being a part of the journey. Neither Majors nor Marvel Studios has mentioned his future as Kang since his arrest earlier this year. At least for now, he appears to remain an active part of “Loki.”
Season 2 of “Loki” is a return to form for what fans expect from Marvel Studios. Hiddleston can’t do the heavy lifting for Marvel Studios forever — eventually someone else has to step up — but there’s nothing wrong with him saving the day right now.