For a show so focused on time travel and the Multiverse, Disney+'s Loki didn’t venture into other time periods all that much.
There were certainly some moments in the first season, such as Tom Hiddleston's brief stint as D.B. Cooper or trying to find Sylvie in a 2050 climate apocalypse.
The biggest example of his visitations to other times was when he and Owen Wilson’s Mobius went to Pompeii before it blew itself out of existence. But, besides that, the former villain didn’t actually do much time-traveling.
Not that his time in the show was completely wasted. After all, he did go to a doomed planet, the void at the end of time, and Kang’s castle outside of the Multiverse itself.
But now, thanks to some newly released concept art, fans can see time-traveling that could have occurred in a different version of the series.
Loki's Cut Timeline Vacations
Marvel's Loki: The Art of the Series book was just released to the world, and some interesting new details were unveiled.
In this case, Marvel showcased concept art of Loki in various different time periods, all of which never made it to the final show.
Head of Visual Development Concept at Marvel Studios, Ryan Meinerding, noted that these moments were created when "they didn't really know what [the] show was:"
“One of the fun parts of being on this project early was that they didn’t really know what this show was when we started working... one of the earliest pitches that [Marvel Studios President] Kevin Feige was sharing with other people at Disney was, ‘Everybody loves Loki! Let’s see more of Loki! Let’s see him in different countries. Let’s see what happens... and I think that was some of the fun with that show, especially in the early stages. ’"
The first image showcases the former villain in ancient Rome. Maybe the show would have had him involved in the murder of Julis Ceaser.
Tom Hiddleston could have also spent some time on the Nile and around the Pyramids in Egypt.
The artist elaborated that it was fun to work with a character who could "exist in multiple places:"
"We were on board early enough that we were able to do work that was more wide-open, like seeing Loki on a boat on the Nile in ancient Egypt. To throw Loki into that situation where he is outside of time and can exist in multiple places is a really fun concept.”
Loki looks to be advising a Pharroh. Could this be Rama-Tut, aka a Variant of Kang the Conqueror?
Feudal Japan (see the katanas being held in the image) would have been an obvious choice when it comes to unique eras. Who doesn't want to see Loki in a legitimate sword fight?
It doesn't seem that Loki would have fared all too well in medieval times.
Many fans would probably kill to see Tom Hiddleston's Loki as a Wild West cowboy. Sadly, it just wasn't meant to be—at least, not yet.
In what seems to be a continuation of the scene above, Hiddleston uses his class charm to probably make some shady deals.
This image seems like it would have been during the Industrial Revolution.
Loki looks to have potentially sported a nice-looking cane as he did briefly in Avengers.
Concept Artist Alexander Mandradijev noted how they "[looked] into old films" from talents such as "Akira Kurosawa" and "Andrei Tarkovsky:"
“My inspiration was found looking into old films like Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s and Russian filmmakers like Andrei Tarkovsky’s,” Mandradjiev says. “There was a point where I did a frame for the ’70s and I looked at Photography and B movies from the ’70s. I wanted to capture that same something that Paul Thomas Anderson does in Boogie Nights.”
Finally, this image sees Asgard floating above what could be Earth. This might be a timeline where Thor was able to actually move and save Asgard from the threat of Hela and Surtur.
One Key Loki Complaint Could Have Been Fixed
One of the key complaints from fans about Loki is how many felt the show didn’t explore its own concept enough—i.e., time traveling. More specifically, going to other periods of time and not just alternate universes or planets.
It’s fascinating to see what could have been all the way before the show was even properly outlined.
The most notable of the above art are the two about Ancient Egypt. Oddly enough, that time period has a strong connection to Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror.
In the comics, the villain once embodied an Egyptian Pharaoh by the name of Rama-Tut. Seeing as Marvel was planning for Kang to be introduced in Loki for a long while, could the character have factored into that cut storyline?
Hopefully, when Season 2 does come around, the series will embrace time travel a little more. Given some of the set photos that have made it online, the odds are looking good.
Loki is now streaming on Disney+, while Season 2 is set to premiere at some point next summer.
