Just in time for Christmas, the trailer for the Disney+ Marvel series Loki has finally
arrived. Hold onto your helmet horns and melt into the multiverse as we break down some
of the small details you might've missed.
After a recap of Loki stealing the Tesseract in Avengers: Endgame and a scene of him waking
up in a desert, we see the mischievous antihero on an elevator with a lot of weird buttons
descending a huge building. We then see multiple shots inside this building, which seems to
be some kind of cosmic governmental headquarters, filled with strange statues, signs, and vaguely
threatening looking people. This would appear to be the headquarters of the TVA.
And we aren't talking about the Tennessee Valley Authority. In this case, "TVA" stands
for the Time Variance Authority, an organization first appeared in 1986's Thor #372. They've
popped up a few times in the intervening years, and their mission is to maintain the integrity
of the timeline and prosecute those who threaten to screw with it. They've tangled with time
travelling villains like Kang the Conqueror, who has himself been rumored to be coming
to the MCU soon. They're basically a bureaucratic force of time police.
In the authority's first appearance, one of the TVA's agents was chasing an immortal,
demonic bad guy named Zaniac back through time to stop him from causing massive chaos
in the future. Could Zaniac have something to do with the weird stained glass demon we
see later in the trailer? Or could that be some other devilish Marvel villain, like Mephisto?
Standing in the elevator next to Loki is none other than Owen Wilson, playing a mysterious
character whose name is never mentioned. But if you hit the closed caption button, it reveals
his character name without any guesswork: Mobius M. Mobius.
"How long have you been here?"
"I don't know. It's hard to say. You know, time passes differently here in the TVA."
It's a safe bet that most fans of comics both old and new have probably never heard of this
obscure character, who first appeared in Fantastic Four #353 in 1991. Mr. Mobius is in charge
of prosecuting the Fantastic Four for their time traveling shenanigans. That tracks with
what we see in the trailer. There's a high-tech looking film strip that seems to be evidence
against Loki, then Mobius sitting at a table with Loki, who's clearly being held prisoner
by the TVA. Mr. Mobius seems to be taking Loki to task for his crimes against time — and
possibly putting him to work to set some things right.
Three very ominous looking figures loom large in the offices of the TVA. First they show
up as three giant heads hanging behind Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who's playing an as-yet unnamed
character. We see them again as three gigantic statues. Who are they? As ever, the pages
of Marvel Comics hold the most probable answer.
These are most likely the Time-Keepers — characters whose origins are tied to the Time Variance
Authority. Their story is very, very complicated, and involves multiple timelines, imperfect
past versions of themselves called the Time-Twisters, and a guy named Zarrko the Tomorrow Man. Whether
we'll see or hear more of them or just see their statues in the background is unknown
at this point.
In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, a group of TVA agents, along with Loki, march into
a big-box store called Roxxcart. That name bears a striking similarity to one of the
many fictional corporations that have shown up in Marvel Comics over the years: Roxxon
Energy Corporation. If you've played through 2020's Spider-Man: Miles Morales video game,
you're already very familiar with Roxxon and its nefarious corporate misdeeds.
Roxxon has been in the MCU from the start, with their logo appearing on a building during
the climactic fight in Iron Man. The president even says the name in Iron Man 3:
"This is the Roxxon Norco."
Roxxon has also been a key part of several MCU TV shows, and the logo is on a gas pump
in the Marvel One-Shot short film "A Funny Thing Happened on the way to Thor's Hammer."
It's not entirely clear what larger role Roxxcart might even play in the overall show, but considering
how evil the corporation tends to be in the comics and games, don't be surprised if we
hear from this evil conglomerate throughout Loki, and beyond.
The trailer ends with a classic Loki smile and quip. Flanked by what appears to be a
group of battle-worn warriors from various historical periods, the trickster god opens
his arms, smiles, and says,
"Come on, what did you expect?"
Loki's not-so-merry band of fighters then immediately turns their weapons on him.
A telling detail is that Loki and a few of the warriors behind him are wearing red-white-and-blue
buttons that say "Loki for President." The buttons appear to be a callback to the 2016
comic book series Vote Loki, which finds the Norse god launching a controversial campaign
for President of the United States. Vote Loki is a satire of the actual 2016 U.S. presidential
election, and features fictional ex-Daily Bugle reporter Nisa Contreras working to expose
his web of lies.
So does Loki actually change history in the show? There's some evidence. At one point
we see Loki inside a massive plane, except he really doesn't look like Loki. He gives
the flight attendant a wink, grabs a bag from her, then jumps out of the plane, cash fluttering
in the wind behind him as he appears to zap to Asgard via the Bifröst.
This seems to be the god of mischief masquerading as Dan "D. B." Cooper, the pseudonym of a
still-unidentified man who hijacked a Seattle-bound plane on November 24, 1971. The man — who
wore black sunglasses, a black suit, and a black tie, just like Loki in the trailer — told
a flight attendant that he had a bomb, then managed to extort nearly $1.3 million in ransom.
He parachuted out of the plane and was never seen again.
The as-yet unfruitful investigations of D.B. Cooper have attracted the attention of millions
around the world, apparently including the folks at Disney and Marvel. Loki is said to
follow the titular character throughout time, and passing himself off as, or actually being,
the subject of one of the most bizarre unsolved mysteries in history is very Loki.
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