Loki’s Disney+ Series: Tom Hiddleston Teases Time Travel In The First Poster

Of the ten scheduled releases for Marvel’s Phase 4, half of them will hit the Disney+ platform. One of these five is a Loki series.

By Rick Gonzales

This article is more than 2 years old

Disney Plus series Loki

Phase 4 of the Marvel Universe is getting ready to kick off with the big-screen release of Black Widow on May 1, 2020. But with the new Disney+ streaming service now in play, Disney and Marvel will be taking a different route as Phase 4 continues. Not all releases will be on the big screen as Disney+ will get its share of Phase 4 material. Of the ten scheduled releases for Marvel’s Phase 4, half of them will hit the Disney+ platform. One of these five is a Loki series. Yes, a show about Thor’s brother, the god of mischief.

But didn’t Tom Hiddleston’s character die (and die a grisly death!) at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War? Why yes he did. So how is this Loki series even happening? We’ll explain.

LOKI PROMOTION

Here’s Tom Hiddleston grinning his way through the first ever poster for Loki. Note the clock in the background, it’s all about time travel.

The first ever trailer for Marvel’s Loki is here, and it features Owen Wilson too. Watch…

LET’S DO THE TIME WARP

Loki killed

When Tom Hiddleston first appeared on screen (2011’s Thor) as the trickster Loki, he became an immediate fan favorite. Loki, Thor’s nemesis who happens to be his adoptive brother, had big plans in that first film only to have Thor spoil those plans.

In Thor, Loki appeared to have died by falling into the abyss created when Thor destroyed the Bifröst Bridge. But during the movie’s post-credit scene, the scientist (Erik Selvig) who helped Thor was taken to a S.H.I.E.L.D facility and asked to study a cube-shaped object that could hold untold power. An “invisible” Tom Hiddleston forces Selvig to agree, which he does, thus starting Loki’s death-defying adventures through the Marvel Universe.

When we last saw Tom Hiddleston in costume it was during Avengers: Endgame, and of course, it had to be in a time jump since he had already met a gruesome death at the hands of Thanos in Infinity War. But the botched attempt by Tony Stark and Scott Lang to retrieve the Space Stone allowed for Loki to get it and escape. So now we’re working with different timelines which should get us to the Loki series and how he has been able to survive Thanos.

THE LOKI CAST

As it stands now, not much has been revealed about the cast of Loki. But with all the time-travel elements in play, the cast is sure to grow. Here is who they have presently.

Loki

Tom Hiddleston, of course, will be back as the title character Loki. The trickster with nine lives (at least) returns to wreak havoc wherever the Tesseract lands him, which could be practically anywhere and any time in history.

It’ll be interesting to see just what his character is all about because when he took the Tesseract to travel through time, he hadn’t gone through Thor: Dark World or Thor: Ragnarok where his character reformed. So the Loki that appears in this series should be the most mischievous version that fans love.

Loki's love interest

Lady Loki?

Sophia Di Martino (Into The Badlands) has been cast in Marvel’s Loki series. Di Martino is an English actress on the rise. While her role has not been officially disclosed, the trades claim she’s playing a female Loki. Photos of her shooting on the set of the Loki series seem to confirm this. Take a look…

Owen Wilson

Owen Wilson

In a great piece of casting, it was recently announced that Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb) will join the Loki series family. Here he is filming on the set…

Word is that Owen may be playing a character called “Justice Peace”. According to reports he’s “a time-hopping mercenary who was hired by The Time Variance Authority to become the leader of their Temporal Law Enforcement Department.”

The Time Variance Authority was teased during Tom Hiddleston’s appearance in the Marvel Super Bowl trailer. In that trailer we see Loki wearing what appears to be prison garb with the letters “TVA” stenciled on it. Most fans have theorized those letters stand for the Marvel comic book organization Time Variance Authority. Presumably they’ve captured and imprisoned the trickster god for the crime of meddling with the timeline. If Owen is Justice Peace, he’ll probably be the guy hunting Tom Hiddleston through time in an attempt to bring him to TVA justice.

LOKI’S BOSS

British writer/director Kate Herron will direct Disney Plus’s Loki series. Herron is best known for comedy and has been at the helm of two shows of note: the mini-series Five by Five and the hit Netflix series Sex Education.

THE PLOT

Loki in Endgame

Details of the Loki plot are scarce at the moment, but the series has brought on Michael Waldron to be head write. Waldron is best known for his writing on the Rick and Morty animated series.

What we do know is that the Disney Plus Loki series will take place after the character stole the Tesseract in Avengers: Endgame. That was an event that happened in 2012 (according to Marvel years) so it is hard to say where Loki’s first appearance will be in this new series.

The alternate timelines created in Endgame open up so much for the Loki series. Not only will Tom Hiddleston’s character travel through time, but his footprint on human history may be felt as well. In fact, the first image from Loki was recently released and it shows him crossing a busy street with a huge movie marquee in the background with JAWS on it, leading us to believe we are looking at Tom Hiddleston in a 1975 timeframe.

As part of this time-travel plot, director Herron told the D23 Expo of the plans for Loki, “We’re taking Loki to an entirely new part of the MCU,” she promised. Waldon also added that the series would “explore the questions we all have: where did Tom Hiddleston’s character go after he picked up the Tesseract? Could Thor’s villanous brother ever make a friend? And will the sun ever shine on him again?”

SIX EPISODES

Like the rest of the Marvel shows appearing on Disney+, Loki is set for a six-episode run and one season. Of course, this can easily change based on how well-received the series is and what Marvel has in store for Thor’s brother in Phase, if anything.

WHEN WILL WE SEE LOKI?

Tom Hiddleston as Loki

Tom Hiddleston will be back as Loki, on your streaming television screens June 11, 2021.

CONNECTING LOKI TO THE MCU

The expected release timing of Loki coincides with Marvel’s release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. According to Marvel President Kevin Feige, there is a tie-in to the series and the movie, though what that tie in represents we do not know.

There has also been word, not officially confirmed by Marvel, that the Loki series will also set up the events of Thor: Love and Thunder which will see Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster wield the hammer Mjolnir and become the Mighty Thor.