The Marvel Cinematic Universe's Phase 4 is focused on aftermath of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
While shows like WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier use the events of those movies to drive their characters and stories, Loki is a completely different animal.
When the Avengers go back in time to the Battle of New York from 2012's The Avengers, Loki finds himself escaping with the Tesseract instead of being shipped off to an Asgardian prison. But in the premiere episode of Loki, it was revealed that the God of Mischief actually knew more about what was going on than anyone thought he did.
TWO TONY STARKS
When asked how he pleas for his time crimes, Loki tells TVA prosecutor Ravonna Renslayer that they have the wrong person, noting the Avengers are actually the ones responsible for breaking the time law:
"I only came into possession of the Tesseract because they traveled through time. Surely in a last-ditch effort to stop my ascent to God King."
Renslayer calls Loki's rebuttal a "loft accusation," but viewers know he's right. That said, how would 2012 Loki know the truth about what happened?
"Trust me, you can smell the cologne on two Tony Starks."
YOU RUINED THE TIME HEIST!
Tony Stark did a lot of things right in the process of going back in time. He captured the Infinity Stones, forged a gauntlet, and directed Hulk in snapping everyone back into existence.
That said, he did have his failures.
Between dropping the Tesseract, allowing Loki to escape, and now tipping their hand to the God of Mischief himself, there is a chance Stark also did the most to foil this plan.
All kidding aside, this does add a new layer of intrigue to that scene in the Endgame, as we see future Tony walk past Loki mere moments before Hulk gives him the chance he needs to escape. This could mean that once Loki knew the Avengers were performing the Time Heist, he was alert and searching for any opportunity to take advantage of. This would explain how Loki reacts so quickly to his chance and escapes before anyone can even see what was going on.
Just like the MCU is known to do, they have answered every question that could stem from these happenings. Fans now know that Stark's cologne gave him away in that scene, and can blame Axe body spray specifically (shoutout Scott Lang for the detective work).
Loki is streaming every Wednesday on Disney+.
