Loki is set to bring time travel to a whole new level in the MCU. The Tom Hiddleston-led series will dive heavily into the Time Variance Authority and the Mobius M. Mobius character, played by Owen Wilson.
In the MCU, time and reality work hand-in-hand. It was shown in Avengers: Endgame that by traveling through time and altering that timeline, rather than that timeline being affected, a new branch reality is formed. Due to the 2012 variant of Loki escaping with the Tesseract in Endgame, Mobius is entrusting Loki in helping restore the flow of time.
Another upcoming MCU project, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Madness will see the return of the Sorcerer Supreme and Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch. The film is being directed by Sam Raimi and is rumored to have Shuma Gorath serve as the “primary antagonist.” While it's been confirmed that Spider-Man: No Way Home crosses over with the Doctor Strange sequel, Loki has remained in question.
Marvel CCO Kevin Feige revealed during a 2019 interview with Bloomberg that "[Loki] does" tie in to Multiverse of Madness. Since then, director Scott Derickson left the project, and the tie-in now seems less certain.
FEIGE WON'T CONFIRM LOKI AND DOCTOR STRANGE CONNECTION
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Feige declined to confirm if Loki would connect to Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness. This leaves any crossover between the two MCU project in question.
However, he did tease seeing other versions of Loki:
"Part of the fun of the multiverse and playing with time is seeing other versions of characters, and other versions of the titular character in particular."
Head writer of Loki and Multiverse of Madness, Michael Waldron said their team "tried to take inspiration from different things" for each episode. The story will jump around in different times and realities, Waldron cited Blade Runner's noir aesthetic as one inspiration.
DOES LOKI CRACK THE MULTIVERSE?
With the connection between Loki and Multiverse of Madness unknown at this point, let's go over some evidence that points to a potential connection.
Michael Waldron wrote both the upcoming Disney+ series and the Doctor Strange sequel. Alongside his obvious talent, which has led to even more job opportunities at Disney, a reason to have him write both of these properties is to help keep the multiverse and time travel continuity solid between multiple projects. Branched realities and messing with time are complicated events to keep organized, especially in an ever-expanding cinematic universe.
It also seems clear that the plan to have the two franchises crossover was at least in the works at some point. As the projects approach, perhaps Feige didn't want to set expectations too high after the speculation overload that happened with WandaVision.
In this live-action Marvel universe, connections are not always obvious and audiences may not be aware of any connection until Multiverse of Madness releases on March 25, 2022. As Loki travels through different realities, causing mischief as he goes, he's sure to cause madness for Strange in his next adventure.
The journey of Loki begins Wednesday, June 9 on Disney+.
