Loki Episode 2, The Variant, has arrived on Disney+ and is currently streaming.
This week on Loki, the trickster and Mobius went the buddy cop route as they worked together to solve the mystery of the Loki variant--and they actually made some fantastic progress. Episode 2 featured Loki and Mobius narrowing down the variant's location to doomsdays and apocalypses throughout time where the timelines can't branch because everyone in them is wiped out no matter what happens.
Unfortunately, tracking the variant down turned out to be the easy part--and was a trap all along. After cornering this alternate Loki in Alabama, 2050, the plan was set in motion and the Loki was revealed. Spoilers: It wasn't just Tom Hiddleston in different hair and make-up.
Now things are really taking a turn for the worst for the TVA and the sacred timeline, with this Loki variant in the wind and our Loki following close behind, which is to say nothing of the mess the TVA is going to have to clean up in the wake of the variant's plot.
Here are some Easter Eggs, references, and important moments to keep an eye out for in Episode 2.
Bonnie Tyler
It may be a Renaissance festival but it's also the '80s, and what better way to show that than by using Bonnie Tyler's 1984 hit, Holding Out For A Hero?
Alt-Lokis
We already saw a cartoon example of "variants" back in Episode 1 during Miss Minute's presentation, and in this episode we get the Loki version--everything from giant monsters to what looks like a full blooded frost giant. It's clearly some pointed foreshadowing to the reveal at the end of the episode. During Mobius's explanation, he points out that variant Lokis can have variations on their abilities as well, which could be important to remember.
Pompeii
One of the most famous natural disaster sites in history, the Roman town of Pompeii was buried under layers of volcanic ash after Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD.
Chekov's jet ski?
Mobius's love of jet skis could be a fun and totally non sequitur joke but that line about a "TVA agent showing up on the sacred timeline would create a variant for sure" seems like foreshadowing--here's hoping Owen Wilson gets to live this dream by the end of the show. Maybe he'll get to finally try riding a jet ski right before some apocalyptic natural disaster?
Loki's daggers
Mobius tries to give Loki his favored weapon--his twin daggers--but B-15 puts a stop to that before he can actually take them on the mission.
Roxxcart
In 2050, the TVA finds themselves at a big box store called Roxxcart in the middle of a massive hurricane. The name here is a nod to Roxxon Energy Corporation, a massive conglomerate from the comics that has existed in the background of the MCU for years now. They're basically a massive, evil-doing monopoly and it looks like, by 2050, they've gained such a chokehold on the economy that they're even providing disaster shelters for people.
Lady Loki
The Loki variant behind the attacks on the timeline is none other than--well, Loki, but as a woman this time. Known as Lady Loki, Loki's female form became a popular incarnation in the comics when Loki was resurrected into a female body, but as a shapeshifter, Loki has taken plenty of forms over the course of comics history. Notably, this version of Lady Loki bears no resemblance to her comics counterpart with short blond hair--so we might be in for a bigger reveal some time down the line, if the show dips into her backstory.
Multiverse incoming
Lady Loki's reset charges were used to "bomb" the sacred timeline, giving us a quick glimpse of multiple branches forming all at once and sending the TVA into a panic. This is the nightmare scenario Ms. Minutes warned about--the creation of a multiverse.
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