Loki's third episode, "Lementis" went full sci-fi for an apocalypse in space.
This week's episode of Loki pivoted focus from the buddy-cop dynamic of Loki and Mobius to the new, contentious relationship between Loki and, well, himself. Kind of. While Episode 2 dropped the Lady Loki bombshell, Episode 3 made things even more complicated--but at least we have a name for this new Loki to keep things from getting too confusing.
After making a surreptitious escape from the Roxxcart, Loki and Sylvie were able to make a brief attempt on the TVA before being forced to retreat--but unfortunately for them, they wound up in yet another apocalypse. The alien moon of Lamentis-1, where the episode gets its name, is on a collision course with another planet and about to be entirely destroyed. To make matters worse, Loki and Sylvie's TemPad, their ticket to anywhere else in time and space, is out of batteries, leaving them stranded.
Of course, desperate times call for desperate measures and the two begrudgingly struck up a partnership, if only to save their own lives. Along the way, between intermittent bouts of fighting and attempts to betray one another, they learned some interesting facts about their very different lives, and some of the things that make them the same.
Here are 9 Easter eggs, references, and nods to Marvel comics to keep an eye on in this episode.
1. The danger flip
Loki has plenty of cool moves in his repertoire, but his twin dagger flip (most memorably featured in slo-mo during Thor: Ragnarok's big Immigrant Song showdown) is one of his coolest.
2. Lamentis-1
Purple-tinted planet Lamentis-1 does exist in the comics, though not for long and not in a major way. It has a grand total of one comic book appearances to its name--Annihilation Conquest: Prologue #1. In the book, it plays a role in the conquest (get it? Like in the name?) of a race of war-like aliens called the Phalanx. It also sets up a cosmic force called the Annihilation Wave (again, like in the name). While all of this might point towards big plans for MCU movies in the future, it's far more likely that Lamentis-1 was just a convenient apocalyptic event for the showrunners to pull from comic book history.
3. That's no moon
The apocalyptic event happening on Lamentis-1 is a full on collision with a planet--something we've seen a few times both in the MCU and in Marvel comics. Remember the fight with Thanos in Infinity War where he threw a moon at Iron Man? Similarly, during the Secret Wars event, planets were colliding into one another all the time because they were trying to occupy the same position in time and space. Of all the apocalypses to showcase, this one is definitely meant to trigger some memories.
4. Sylvie
Okay, this one's a little confusing so bear with us. Loki spends the bulk of this episode probing at the "variant" and her identity, asking questions like "are you sure you're a Loki?" which are met with her bristling at the thought and vehemently denying it, until she finally admits she's using a different name: Sylvie.
This is a nod to a character from the comics named Sylvie Lushton, who actually isn't a version of Loki, but a mortal from Bronxton, Oklahoma who Loki either tricked or wholly created (it remains unclear) to have Asgardian powers, simply because he liked the idea of a mortal who thought they were Asgardian. Comics Sylvie was based at least partly off another Asgardian--Amora the Enchantress--though the two of them can and do exist simultaneously with one another.
Obviously, Loki in the show didn't create Sylvie as a fun little experiment, so it's unlikely we're going to see a 1-to-1 translation of this comic book backstory, but it does seem likely that Sylvie is being set up not as a "replacement" Loki, but as the MCU version of Amora. It's even possible that she really isn't a Loki variant afterall, but an incarnation of Amora playing a game.
5. We love a space train
The surreal, sci-fi passenger train trope is one as old as time--or at least as old as the genre--but this episode's obvious inspiration from cult genre classics like comic-turned-film-turned-show Snowpiercer, anime Galaxy Express 999, an even the recent animated series Infinity Train seems apparent. Also, did you catch the names of the two ticket taking soldiers before Loki and Sylvie boarded? They called each other Hudson and Hicks--nods to Bill Paxton's Hudson and Michael Biehn's Hicks from the movie Aliens. Lots of sci-fi DNA in this episode, to be sure.
6. Relationship with a postman
Sylvie is clearly making a joke here about her lack of time for any sort of romance but it's also a very obscure nod to one of the biggest gags in a specific run of Thor comics. When Asgard was moved to Earth following its destruction in space, it became a floating castle on the outskirts of Broxton, Oklahoma--and the residents of the town were surprisingly chill about it. The introduction to Asgard's new status quo came as a local mailman very casually delivered a letter to Asgard into a mailbox driven into the ground outside the floating castle's walls.
7. Another!
Hey, remember back in the first Thor movie when Thor shattered a coffee cup and demanded more after Jane took him to a cafe? Apparently it runs in the family.
8. Enchantment
Even more evidence for Sylvie's status as the MCU's first Enchantress, throughout this episode both Loki and Sylvie take to calling Sylvie's abilities "enchantments" rather than magic, or powers, or even tricks.
9. Before the TVA
Now this is an interesting one. According to Sylvie, everyone who works at the TVA is actually a variant, but none of them know this. It's unclear just how far this extends--is Mobius also a memory wiped variant? Is Revona? Or does it only include their foot soldiers? But things are looking a little bleak in terms of the Time-Keepers and their agenda. Maybe they're not as powerful and benevolent as the TVA seems to believe.
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