Warning: this article contains full spoilers for Loki's Season 2 finale!
Loki: Season 2 ended with a true bang, as Tom Hiddleston’s god of mischief made the ultimate sacrifice and proved himself every bit the hero his big brother Thor is. Before this episode, Loki already rivaled Josh Brolin’s Thanos as the best villain in the MCU. Now, he may just be the best character in the MCU, full stop. No other MCU character has come so far or been so fundamentally transformed over the course of so many movies and TV episodes.
As the dust of that epic finale settles, let’s take a look at how Loki: Season 2 brought the character full circle and delivered a fitting end to Loki Laufeyson’s story. And while we’re at it, is there still room for a Season 3?
Bringing Loki Full Circle
Loki’s Season 2 finale is truly all about bringing Loki full circle. It’s right there in the name. Both the finale and the series premiere are titled “Glorious Purpose.” We even see Loki revisit the events of the series premiere when he travels back to his original meeting with Owen Wilson’s Mobius. This episode is all about looking back to where Loki was before he finally becomes who he was meant to be.
In the process, the finale illustrates just how far removed Loki is from the vain, self-serving god of mischief he was in the early days of the MCU. We’re reminded of how badly he once coveted the throne of Asgard. And when his plot failed in 2011’s Thor, Loki settled for trying to rule Midgard in 2012’s The Avengers. But here, Loki specifically says, "The last thing I want is a throne." Ironically, only after rejecting a throne is Loki finally allowed to claim his rightful place atop one.
This episode features another callback to the first Thor movie when Loki bids his final farewell to Mobius and Sophia Di Martino’s Sylvie at the TVA. He tells them, “For you. For all of us.” Those words echo what Loki once said to Anthony Hopkins’ Odin when he attempted to destroy Jotunheim. The first time Loki spoke those words, he was a son spurned by two fathers, committing a deeply selfish and destructive act. The second time, Loki has become a truly selfless hero who’s willing to lay everything on the line for those he’s come to love.
No other MCU character has evolved quite so dramatically. Certainly, Loki stands head and shoulders above the other villains of the MCU in that regard. Villains like Thanos and Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger are compelling, but they don’t necessarily change. They die still holding fast to their twisted (if understandable) beliefs.
Even on the very opposite end of the moral spectrum, Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers is a character who doesn’t change much over the course of his MCU journey. From the very beginning, Steve is a fundamentally decent guy who wants to do good in the world and protect the weak from bullies. It’s as true when he’s a shrimpy kid in Brooklyn as it is when he’s leading the charge against Thanos in Avengers: Endgame.
The closest comparison here would be Robert Downey, Jr.’s Tony Stark. Tony begins his MCU career as a vain, self-absorbed narcissist who revels in making bigger and better weapons of mass destruction. He becomes a man burdened by the human cost of his arms-dealing empire, one determined to guide humanity along a better path. But even there, Tony undergoes the bulk of his character arc in the course of one movie.
No MCU character can match the complexity and nuance Loki has shown throughout the Thor franchise, multiple Avengers movies and now the Loki series. Who he was and what he wanted in the first Thor movie are completely at odds with what he’s become by the end of Loki: Season 2. He used to be a tyrant who craved a throne as badly as he craved his father’s approval. Now he’s a time-travelling adventurer who embraces the love he feels for his friends and struggles with the weight of the multiverse on his shoulders. And all of that is before Loki even makes that final journey toward claiming his throne.
Loki Becomes the God of Time
Loki’s Season 2 finale culminates in a powerful scene where Loki makes his final march toward the TVA’s Loom and risks his life to save the multiverse. Jonathan Majors’ He Who Remains believed he laid the perfect trap. The Loom was his failsafe. Either Loki saves He Who Remains and allows the single Sacred Timeline to continue existing, or he watches as infinite branching timelines eventually overwhelm the Loom and all of existence is wiped out. Loki vowed to find another way, and he made good on that promise before the finale ends.
As Loki marches toward the Loom, we see his TVA uniform stripped away, leaving only the humble, homespun fabric of an ordinary Asgardian. The only bit of clothing that denotes his divine, godly nature is the horned crown he wears. That crown is constructed from the same marble as He Who Remains’ shattered palace. This is a Loki who is humbled but still burdened by glorious purpose.
The MCU has always been vague about whether Loki and his fellow Asgardians are meant to be literal gods or simply aliens who inspired humanity’s myths and legends. In the end, it doesn’t really matter for Loki. He becomes a true god of time at this moment. He takes hold of the many broken strands of time and shapes and reenergizes them to form a vast tree upon which new timelines can grow and flourish. Loki has effectively created the mythical World Tree, Yggdrasil. Only this version of Yggdrasil is home to a lot more than just nine realms. It’s a place where infinite timelines can coexist.
One of the hallmarks of Norse mythology is that great power requires great sacrifice. Odin famously sacrificed his own flesh to achieve omniscience, throwing his eye into Mimir’s well, impaling himself on his spear, Gungnir, and finally hanging himself on Yggdrasil. That painful sacrifice unlocked full knowledge of the nine realms and a host of incredible powers.
Loki undergoes a similar sacrifice in the finale, albeit in a more metaphorical sense. For much of the series, Loki is motivated by his love for Sylvie and his attachment to his friends. He’s never able to bring himself to kill Sylvie and thereby spare the life of He Who Remains. But in the end, Loki sets aside these personal attachments. He casts his life away, damning himself to an eternity of solitude on the throne of time. Only by abandoning all attachments to the mortal world can he become the god of time and the savior of existence. His selfless sacrifice ensures that Sylvie, Mobius and countless others will be able to lead lives of their own. Loki grants free will to an entire multiverse of beings. Like his brother Thor, Loki has finally become worthy of the power he always craved.
Will There Be a Loki: Season 3?
Marvel has yet to confirm whether the Season 2 finale is also the series finale of Loki. That said, it certainly seems like the series has reached its endpoint. Where do you go when your title character has become a time god presiding over the entire multiverse? Loki can’t exactly go back to solving time capers with Mobius and the gang. There’s a definite sense of finality to the way this episode ties up all loose ends for Loki, Mobius and Sylvie.
That being said, there are some loose ends left dangling that we assume will be touched upon in future MCU projects. The TVA itself is still active, albeit pursuing a different agenda from before. No longer are the agents of the TVA pruning timelines. Instead, they’re doing what they can to help the multiverse flourish and stop those who would threaten the natural flow of time.
Rumors suggest the TVA will appear in 2024’s Deadpool 3, and it’s easy to see how that would be the case based on the Loki finale. Let’s not forget that Deadpool 2 ended with Ryan Reynolds’ Merc With a Mouth cavorting across time and rewriting events in the X-Men universe. The TVA may have a problem with the idea of Wade Wilson running amok in time.
And let’s not forget Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s Ravonna Renslayer. Ravonna’s story ends on a very ambiguous note, as she wakes up in the Void and is bathed in a strange purple glow. Is she about to be devoured by the Alioth? Or has someone shown up to rescue her? We’d put our money on Ravonna being rescued by one of the many variants of Kang.
Speaking of Kang, he’s still very much a going concern as the MCU slowly marches toward Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Loki may have saved the multiverse through his grand sacrifice, but he didn’t do anything to stop the war He Who Remains promised is coming. That’s kind of the whole point. The old TVA pruned timelines and maintained its version of order with little regard for free will. Loki has given free will back to the entire multiverse. He clearly has faith that, just as he defied He Who Remains and found another way, mortals will find a way to stand against the Kangs and prevent the next multiversal war from annihilating everything.
And who knows? Maybe we’ll see Loki take a break from his throne and join the fight against Kang directly. As much as this series delivers a fitting cap to Loki’s character arc, it seems only fair that he gets one last reunion with Thor before all is said and done. The Odinson would be so proud of how far his brother has come.
For more on the future of the MCU, read about the latest Marvel movie delays and brush up on every Marvel movie and series in development.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
