Loki season 2 episode 4 ending explained: is [SPOILER] dead and your biggest questions answered
Full spoilers follow for Loki season 2, episode 4. You have been warned.
Loki Episode 4 of Season 2 has been released on Disney Plus – and we suspect the shocking and bleak cliffhanger ending may have left you feeling slightly hollow.
We’ve gotten used to Marvel pulling the rug out from under us – we’re looking at you, Avengers: Infinite War And Avengers: Endgame – few of those moments have left us as speechless as the fourth entry Lokithe second season.
There’s plenty to unpack during the mic drop-esque final moments of episode 4, and by proxy we know you have a lot of questions about what happens next. To try to answer your most burning questions, TechRadar sat down with Loki executive producer Kevin Wright to find out what’s coming next.
This is your final warning: major spoilers ahead Loki season 2 episode 4 is coming soon. If you haven’t checked it out yet, bookmark this page for later and check it out right away.
Loki season 2 episode 4 ending explained: Is Victor Timely really dead?
Much has been made of the introduction of Victor Timely – he almost made his MCU debut in a previous Marvel project – in Loki season 2. The variant Kang the Conqueror, who joined the battle in episode 3, was expected to be the main villain of this season. Fans also believed that because of the brief cameo he made in a movie Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘s post-credit scene.
So far, however, he has proven to be anything but hostile. The 19th century introverted inventor appears to be a good guy indeed after agreeing to help Loki and company try to prevent the Temporal Loom from imploding and destroying the multiverse.
So it was a huge shock to see Timely meet his maker in the final sequence of Episode 4. Presumably, in an effort to prove that he’s not just another Kang in the making, Timely makes the brave decision to transfer his throughput multiplier to the Temporal Easy to connect to stabilize it.
However, he doesn’t even get a chance to attach his latest invention to the timeline loom. Despite being protected by a radioactive suit from the temporal radiation emanating from the Loom, Timely is immediately muscled and mauled by the radiation, which has increased exponentially since Mobius’ spacewalk in Episode 1.
It’s a horrifying moment that imbues the final scene with an immediate sense of fear and failure on the part of the group (more on this in the next section). However, given the time-bending nature of season 2, we have to wonder: is Victory Timely really dead? Is there still a glimmer of hope that he might have survived?
Understandably, Wright was hesitant to reveal anything about Timely’s potential return. Instead, he teased that viewers will see “everyone” in the fifth and sixth episodes of Season 2 (more on what this could indicate later), adding “reality has disappeared,” meaning Timely might not is the only one who will perish. Speaking of which…
Loki season 2 episode 4 ending explained: Wait, did the Temporal Loom just prune everyone?
Without the throughput multiplier to prevent overload, the Temporal Loom self-destructs and unleashes a wave of temporal energy that appears to kill Loki, Mobius, Sylvie, OB, and everyone else in the TVA. Well, that’s what the cut-to-black ending suggests. We don’t actually see them die, which begs the question: what happened to them?
We think the visual representation of the Temporal Loom explosion is key. Looking at the explosion again, the technicolor wave emitted by the Loom’s destruction looks like a plum stick used by the TVA. If we’re right, Loki and company could be pruned and sent to another location (or to locations if they were separated by the explosion). So did LokiDoes the team’s creative team imagine the explosion as a huge plum-based explosion? And are our heroes spread across the multiverse and time itself?
“We didn’t visualize the explosion that way,” Wright reveals. “It’s a bit of a coincidence. We discussed it as if it were a nuclear explosion accompanied by a slow volcanic eruption. But temporal energy is the same technology used in the TVA’s plum sticks, so you never know where everyone has gone.”
The ending of Loki season 2, episode 4 explained: Are Loki and company trapped in an endless time loop?
One of the biggest fan theories about Loki The official trailer for season 2 had the trickster god getting stuck in a Groundhog Day time loop, meaning he had to stop himself from letting time slip in an attempt to escape this temporary purgatory.
Loki’s time-wasting condition was seemingly resolved in this season’s first episode, but the destruction of the Temporal Loom – and that of reality itself – has breathed new life into this particular fan theory.
Excerpts from the first and second teasers of Season 2 might have ruined this major plot point before *ahem* time. We didn’t see Loki sneaking off to the jet ski shop (the one with the inflatable tube man in front of it), Sylvie working at a record store that’s falling apart, Loki saying “hello?” say. to another version of him flipping through the TVA handbook, or to Loki telling someone “what I’m about to tell you will be hard to believe… again”.
In another clip, Loki is reunited with his TVA allies (and Sylvie) as they attempt to repair the Loom. This means that they will try to save the day on multiple occasions, fail again and again, and use the knowledge they gain from each attempt to solve the problem, much like Bill Murray’s Phil Connors in Groundhog Day.
So, are fans on the right track with this hypothesis? Again, Wright was reluctant to confirm or deny this theory, but his response indicates that it will happen. “Well…reality is gone,” Wright teased. “Loki’s going to have to… bring reality back somehow, so I guess time will tell how he figures out how to do that.”
Loki Season 2 Episode 4 Ending Explained: Will We Visit the Void and See Season 1’s Loki Variants Again?
As we suggested above, the destruction of the Temporal Loom likely scattered our heroes (and villains) across time and space. If – and that’s a big if – the temporal energy wave pruned the show’s characters from existence, there’s a very real possibility that some of them were sent to the Void.
For those who may have forgotten, the Void is a place at the end of time where the TVA sends individuals and objects from pruned timelines. Sylvie, Mobius and Loki visited it Loki season 1, episode 5 after they were pruned, with Loki encountering more of his variants, including Kid Loki, Boastful Loki, Alligator Loki, and Classic Loki.
If the Loom’s temporal wave has pruned the series’ main characters, perhaps we’ll be able to revisit the Void in Season 2, Episode 5. In fact, we’re almost certain to return to this desolate realm for at least a scene or two, like Ravonna Renslayer did. pruned by Hunter X-5 in the fourth episode of this season. The second teaser for Loki season 2 even includes a scene showing Renslayer in the Void, so unless it’s a scene that was deleted at the last minute, we’re confident we’ll be returning to the Void very soon .
Even with all this evidence, we still felt inclined to ask Wright about the return of the Void and Loki variants. Unfortunately, Wright would only say “maybe,” so we’ll have to wait until episode 5 airs to know for sure.
Loki season 2 episode 4 ending explained: Does the Marvel TV show set up future MCU projects?
Almost certainly. Studio president Kevin Feige has already made a statement Loki The TV show acts as a throughline for the Multiverse Saga – i.e. Phases 4, 5 and 6 – so its importance to the MCU’s next big story is obvious.
Events that occur in Loki season 2 all but confirms that this will be the case. For example, if Loki and company repair and rework the Temporal Loom’s functionality, the device could potentially merge more universes onto the Sacred Timeline. If so, that raises the possibility that Fox will become defunct X Men universe, that of Sony Spider-Man universe, and Netflix’s Defenders-Verse officially becomes part of the MCU.
There is some evidence that some of this is happening. She-Hulk: Lawyer And Spider-Man: No way home previously hinted that Netflix’s Daredevil The TV show is partially canon in the MCU. Meanwhile, the appearance of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine has arrived Deadpool 3 – one of 2024’s Marvel Phase 5 films – could lay more groundwork for the long-awaited arrival of the X-Men’s MCU. There are indeed already rumors that Deadpool 3 will have great ties with it Loki season 2, so don’t be surprised if the last two episodes of this season delivered something ahead of that movie’s release.
Add Spider-Man: About the Spider-Verse‘s visual reference to the MCU’s Sacred Timeline and Tom Hardy’s Venom make a brief cameo in No way home, and it’s only a matter of time before all of these realities collide completely with the MCU. For Wright, that would certainly make for fascinating viewing, but unsurprisingly he couldn’t confirm whether that was the case Loki Season 2 would definitely make this a reality.
“I would love that,” he replied when asked if he would like to see Loki, Sylvie and the TVA appear in other Marvel films and TV series. “I can’t tell you what other people are doing with their projects. By creating this show and all this world-building through almost twelve hours of multiversal storytelling, we hope that these are topics that other creators will want to pick up. “