Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Loki season 2, episode 4
Summary
- The Temporal Loom’s explosion in Loki season 2, episode 4 may have sent everyone back to their original branch realities in the multiverse.
- Loki and Sylvie may have survived the explosion by using their magical abilities to protect themselves.
- Victor Timely’s willingness to enter the Temporal Loom with the Throughput Multiplier suggests that he may evolve into something more powerful, possibly becoming the next He Who Remains.
- Other ideas include everyone being pruned and sent to the Void, the TVA being caught in a probability storm as seen in Ant-Man 3, as well as Kang’s prototype being an early version of Kang’s engine core.
Loki season 2, episode 4 ended on a massive cliffhanger for the MCU. Naturally, this has led to some very exciting theories about what could come next for the titular God of Mischief and the Time Variance Authority. With an ending that literally explosive, there are several different narrative avenues that could be taken in the aftermath for the episodes of Loki season 2 that are still to come.
In Loki season 2, episode 4, the TVA enlists the services of Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors), a variant of He Who Remains. Requiring his aura signature to access the TVA’s Temporal Loom in danger of overloading with so many new branch timelines, a plan was in place to increase the Loom’s size to handle all the new branches in the newly expanding Marvel multiverse. However, the heroes of the TVA were too late and the Temporal Loom exploded, seemingly destroying everyone and everything at the end of Loki season 2, episode 4. To that end, here are six theories about what might be coming next for Loki season 2.
6 Every TVA Agent Was Sent Back To Their Original Branch
Will We Finally See Mobius’ Timeline?
Now that the Temporal Loom is destroyed and the TVA is seemingly no more, it’s quite possible that everyone was sent back to their original branch realities in the multiverse. After all, the agents of the TVA are variants themselves, though that was a secret that up until recently had been kept by He Who Remains. It was recently revealed that he continually wiped their memories so they wouldn’t question their purpose and mission to his Sacred Timeline.
This theory is definitely supported by Loki season 2’s trailers. In one particular shot, Loki’s time-slipping affliction is back and he’s standing in front of a dealership selling jet skis. Considering Agent Mobius (Owen Wilson) and his love of jet skis, it stands to reason that he works here with Loki visiting his branch timeline in future episodes of Loki season 2.
5 Loki and Sylvie Survived Using Magic
Did The Gods Survive the Explosion?
Just before the Temporal Loom’s explosion in Loki season 2, episode 4, O.B. rebooted the TVA’s systems to get rid of Miss Minutes who’d been locking them out of the network. However, this also removed the TVA’s safeguards preventing the use of magic within its walls. As a result, it’s possible that Loki and Sylvie were able to protect themselves and their allies using their magical abilities before the explosion reached them.
4 Victor Timely Will Evolve As A New Variant
Will He Become He Who Remains? Or Something Worse?
There’s something potentially strange about how willing Victor Timely was to be the one to fix Temporal Loom with the Throughput Multiplier, especially after Loki had already offered to suit up and go outside with all the dangerous temporal radiation. As such, it’s not a stretch of the imagination to wonder if Timely knew something the others didn’t. Likewise, there have been concerns that he’ll become the next He Who Remains or something even worse than the timid inventor he’s appeared to be. Although he was ripped apart by the temporal radiation in Loki season 2, episode 4, perhaps it was all part of his plan to evolve into something more powerful.
3 Everyone Was Pruned And Sent To The Void
Is Everyone At The End of Time?
It’s been hinted by Loki season 2 producer Kevin Wright that reality is now completely gone following the Temporal Loom’s explosion. Likewise, he’s also confirmed that the temporal energy from the explosion is the same energy that allows the agents of the TVA to prune variants with their time sticks. This detail is particularly interesting regarding where Loki season 2’s entire cast of characters might have gone in the wake of such a massive cliffhanger.
If the Temporal Loom’s explosion was essentially one massive simultaneous pruning, it’s quite possible that everyone was sent to the Void of the End of Time as has been seen both in Loki season 1 and in Loki season 2. However, it also stands to reason that the breakdown and destruction of the entire TVA has resulted in an outcome that will be far more unpredictable. After all, the trailers have certainly hinted that Loki’s time-slipping will return in the wake of Loki season 2, episode 4’s cliffhanger.
2 The Temporal Loom Was In A Probability Storm
First Seen in Ant-Man 3
The moment Victor Timely went outside to try and fix the Temporal Loom, he was ripped apart by the temporal radiation in Loki season 2, episode 4. Likewise, it specifically looked as though he unraveled like spaghetti before being vaporized completely. This is not unlike what happened when Ant-Man was caught in a probability storm as seen in Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania.
Attempting to shrink and repair Kang’s multiversal engine core, Scott Lang was faced with multiple versions of himself representing every choice and subsequent sequence of events that could have occurred, all existing at the same time. As such, one of these unique “variants” of Ant-Man was subsequently ripped apart like spaghetti as well. Perhaps the overloading Temporal Loom triggered a probability storm prior to its explosion. This could mean that Loki will have to face a variety of different outcomes for the TVA’s fate all at the same time in the final two episodes.
1 Timely’s Prototype Is A Multiversal Engine Core
Is There Still Time To Save The TVA?
As seen in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantunmania, Kang the Conqueror’s Multiversal Engine Core powered his Time Sphere which gave him the ability to cross timelines and travel the multiverse prior to his exile in the Quantum Realm by the Council of Kangs. Likewise, it’s been suggested that Victor Timely’s prototype device that was added to O.B.’s Throughout Multiplier was an early version of this same engine core. As such, perhaps the core has created an unexpected outcome that wasn’t planned for, explaining not only Timely’s surprisingly immediate vaporization but also giving the TVA the chance to somehow survive in the aftermath of the massive explosion of temporal energy.
New episodes of Loki release every Thursday at 6pm PT / 9pm ET on Disney+.