Even as they’re tuning into the adventure of Captain America’s right hand men in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, fans of the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe are already looking forward to the solo shenanigans of another popular B-team character: one Loki of Jotunheim (played by by Tom Hiddleston). The first look at Loki’s upcoming Disney+ series promises hijinks worthy of the God of Mischief himself as well as a plot line that is giving superhero experts déjà vu.
Loki will be the next live action comic book story to hit Disney+ after The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and given the events that led up to the series, its storyline is a bit twisted. Like WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we’ll be reuniting with Loki after the chaos of Avengers: Endgame, but the Loki we’ll be following is technically from a different universe — the one we knew was killed by Thanos in Infinity War — traveling through time and space after acquiring the Tesseract/Space Stone.
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Unfortunately for Loki, time travel is highly regulated by the TVA, an organization dedicated to maintaining the chronological threads of the universe as we know it. Things were already weird thanks to the Avengers’ time traveling, but Loki’s jaunts through reality are a step too far. In the new trailer for the exciting series, the trickster is apprehended by TVA agent Mobius (Owen Wilson) and recruited for an important high-risk mission: piecing the fragmented universal timeline back together. (Multiverse truthers, your time is almost here!)
The TVA is making its first appearance in MCU canon with Loki, but superhero fans are familiar with the idea of a time-regulating establishment, especially if they’ve watched any episodes of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy. The plot of the Netflix original series follows a similar thread when it comes to time travel, seeing the super-powered Hargreeves siblings prevent the apocalypse (on several occasions) by going forward and backward through time. Their actions to reset the timeline aren’t exactly appreciated by a top secret agency known as The Commission, created to protect the sanctity of time; as a result, the Hargreeves often find themselves in direct conflict with the time keepers.
Loki and the TVA seem to actually be on the same side — at least, until Loki inevitably does what’s in his nature and betrays the organization for his own means — but the similarity is definitely there.
Watched the trailer for Loki, it seems much bigger and better than just Loki, so i'm interested. Never cared much about the character, but this time travel agency feels like the agency from Umbrella Academy lol
— turned himself into a pickle (@BatkingFinalMix) April 5, 2021
Here’s the thing. I wasn’t that jazzed about this show, but planned to watch it bc I like Loki. However, this trailer has taken my excitement from a 4 to an 11, Spinal Tap style.
— Miss Miniver (@MissMiniver) April 5, 2021
As an Umbrella Academy fan, I’m always down for the trope of an org that manages the timeline. 🤣 https://t.co/gjTXCjRv7a
Loki and Umbrella Academy having the same kind of chaotic energy puts a smile on my face. I do not care😂
— Nite (@Ztars209) April 5, 2021
so is loki pretty much just five from the umbrella academy
— lydia! (@ASMRstanaccount) April 5, 2021
The Umbrella Academy remains one of Netflix's most popular series, so it wouldn't be a stretch to say that the comparison between the shows bodes well for Loki. Plus, with all of the world-building being done with its MCU predecessors on Disney+ already as well as the possible multiverse theories that will inevitably stem from the show when it does drop, Loki is already shaping up to be an exciting new drop for the the comic book franchise.
Loki premieres on June 11, 2021, only on Disney+.