Summary
- In S1 of Loki, the TVA was a sadistic organization protecting the sacred timeline, but S2 makes them more heroic.
- The creation of the multiverse in the MCU and the realization they are all variants changes their perspective.
- When General Dox launches the attack, Hunter B-15, Casey and others genuinely care about the branches and its people.
The following contains spoilers from Loki, Season 2, Episode 2, now streaming on Disney+.
For a series about multiverses and time travel, Loki on Disney+ doesn’t pay much attention to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. The high-concept time-travel and multiverse plot drives the characters to places and people that are important to them and not the next Avengers movie. The Time Variance Authority started as sadistic antagonists for Loki and Sylvie to take down. In Season 2, Loki is turning the TVA into genuine heroes while not losing any of that focus on its characters.
The biggest contribution to the larger MCU made in Loki Season 1 was the creation of the multiverse and the introduction of the new “Big Bad.” He Who Remains, himself a variant of Kang the Conqueror, was the creator of the TVA and author of the Sacred Timeline. The people tasked with pruning branch timelines and taking variants prisoner believed they were created by god-like beings called the Time Keepers to do divine work. Loki and Sylvie uncovered that all the agents in the TVA were themselves variants. To some, like General Dox and Hunter X-5, the gods may have changed, but the holy war remains the same. However, people like Hunter B-15 and new character Judge Gamble see people as more than variants on a “wrong” timeline. In trying to reconcile their mission and the truth, Loki is examining the role institutions play in people’s lives, for good and ill.
The Time Variance Authority Were Villains in Loki Season 1
Each villain is the hero of their own story, and the TVA agents were no different in the first season. When Loki and Sylvie confronted He Who Remains, the variant Kang gave them a choice. They could kill him and start the ugly cycle of war all over again, or the two of them could rule the TVA and preserve the Sacred Timeline. In the Season 2 premiere, Loki tells Mobius the devil they went to stop “made sense.” The harshness of the TVA’s methods softened when compared to a war of infinite versions of He Who Remains, Victor Timely and Kang killing billions.
Throughout the first episode of Season 2, Loki remains terrified of the war He Who Remains promised was coming. Were he not distracted by time slipping, Loki may have sided with General Dox and Hunter X-5 during the hearing in the War Room. If pruning timelines and variants meant preventing a thousand more like He Who Remains from showing up, so be it. Instead, it was Hunter B-15, one of the TVA’s most ruthless, convinces Judge Gamble that lives on branched timelines are no less important.
Hunter B-15, Mobius and Judge Gamble envision a Time Variance Authority that can stand against their former boss. Sylvie’s plan was to “free” the Sacred Timeline and hope the TVA died with Kang. All were equally surprised when General Dox betrayed their group and began to “bomb” branch timelines. The pain Hunter B-15 feels at the loss of more than 30 percent of the multiverse shows this is the “canon event” moment for Loki and the TVA. Instead of walking away from the responsibility, Hunter B-15 wants to build a just, compassionate institution that keeps everyone safe.
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Sylvie Has a Point When She Says the TVA Can’t Be Saved
Even though they are both Loki variants, Sylvie is different from the character Tom Hiddleston plays. She is, essentially, an anarchist looking to tear down the authority that gets in her way. Loki, on the other hand, is an institutionalist so long as he controls the levers of power. He Who Remains makes Loki a true believer of a sort. He begins to believe in the TVA and the Sacred Timeline is the “best bad option.” When they fail to see General Dox’s attack coming, Sylvie tells them the institution is not worth saving.
Loki and the others remain committed to the TVA and its mission, even more so after their failure. He wants to stay with Mobius, possibly the best friend he’s ever had. If enemies are coming, Loki wants his friend by his side. Except, rather than wanting to rule the TVA, Loki’s motivations are more selfless. He told Sylvie in Season 1 that he just wanted her to be “okay.” If working at a 1980s McDonald’s is what that looks like, he wants to protect that timeline, too.
After Sylvie storms off, Loki feels the immeasurable weight of the lives lost on the pruned timelines. The old Loki might have run off with her, but instead, he tries to tell her running away is easy and staying is more difficult. Sylvie is right the TVA is a flawed institution failing to protect those it’s supposed to. The literal machinery of the organization is falling apart, and TVA engineer Ouroboros doesn’t know how to stop it. Despite these failings, Hunter B-15, Mobius and Loki still believe the institution is worth saving.
The New TVA Is Already on the Right Track to Becoming MCU Heroes
Outside of Loki, the Time Variance Authority has no real MCU presence. A new rumor suggests the TVA will be in Deadpool 3, which isn’t that surprising. The former 20th Century Fox Marvel universe is one of the many MCU branch realities, after all. Still, how they behave in the larger MCU will depend on how Loki Season 2 turns out. The people who make up this mystical institution are fighting for its soul and the fate of the larger multiverse.
Loki always wanted to rule something, anything, really. Ironically, when He Who Remains tempted Loki with control of the TVA, getting a throne isn’t what made him consider it. On the Sacred Timeline, Loki Laufeyson died a heroic death. With his second chance, Variant Loki hopes instead for a heroic life. The first step on the Marvel Universe hero’s journey is choosing to care about strangers. For perhaps the first time in his life, Loki does. Hunter B-15 and Sylvie changed his perspective, convincing him the threat of He Who Remains is not worth erasing infinite timelines. It’s “harder to stay” with the TVA because even if they do everything right, they could still lose.
Loki debuts new episodes Thursdays at 9 PM on Disney+.
