Loki is truly breaking new ground for the MCU as it continues show viewers such a drastically different version of a character that fans have already spent ten years with. Possibly the hardest thing to comprehend in the Disney+ series' time travel shenanigans is that this version of the God of Mischief is missing five years of memories, having escaped the flow of time after The Avengers.
Not only does this mean that the series' titular variant was last seen as an Earth-invading villain, but it also means he is yet to endure much of the tragedy that would've befallen him going forward. Over the years that followed, Loki would go on to lose his parents, half his civilization, and his home itself.
Much of this heartbreak occurred during 2017's ironically comedic Thor: Ragnarok as Odin passed away, leading to Hela's return and the eventual destruction of Asgard. While the Asgardians have since found a new home in Norway's New Asgard, the event was certainly a game-changing twist for the Thor franchise going forward.
As the first Thor film since Surtur destroyed the world, next year's Love and Thunder will likely dive deep into the consequences of the planet's destruction. However, the latest Loki epsiode revealed some new details surrounding the event.
LOKI REVEALS THOR: RAGNAROK DEATH TOLL
Episode 2 of Loki saw the God of Mischief doing some research in the TVA's expansive file room, in which the only files he was able to access pertained to himself. While browsing, Loki came across an intriguing document detailing Thor: Ragnarok's destruction of Asgard, something he never experienced having exited the timeline five years prior.
The game-changing event was classed by the TVA as a “class seven apocalypse” for “total planetary destruction.” Interestingly, the document reveals that Ragnarok led to 9719 casualties, oddly noting that the apocalypse saw “entire civilization annihilation.”
However, the entire population clearly wasn't annihilated as Thor and the Revengers managed to evacuate Asgard into space, only for Thanos to arrive and slaughter half the survivors when retrieving the Tesseract. Based on estimates of Asgard's original population to be in the tens of thousands, it can be assumed this death toll of 9719 includes those who died at the hands of both the Mad Titan and Hela, the Goddess of Death.
Despite the significance of the event, it doesn't seem it was something the TVA needed to get involved with in any way as it's noted that “zero variance energy” was detected.
Loki's discovery of Asgard's fate was certainly an interesting character moment for the Son of Odin as he is seen nearly breaking down into tears as he processes the file. Although, in classic crime-thriller fashion, reading a totally unrelated file quickly leads to a major realization regarding how exactly the timeline works.
Based on the information in the file, the titular variant realizes that timeline changes can be made just before apocalyptic disasters with no effect on the sacred timeline. This reveal makes it entirely possible that some time travel shenanigans could have happened during Ragnarok, and it wouldn't even be detected, something Loki could revisit down the line.
THE INFINITY SAGA CONTINUES TO IMPACT PHASE 4
Despite having come to a close almost two years ago, the Infinity Saga is continuing to have an impact on the MCU going into Phase 4. While the destruction of Asgard doesn't necessarily have a direct impact on the plot itself, it sets up much of the episode as Loki and Mobius visit Pompeii to confirm the God of Mischief's theory.
From Frigga's demise to his own death at the hands of Thanos, the Loki variant is now aware of most of the key events endured by his Sacred Timeline counterpart. It's certainly intriguing to see this Loki variant learn about the future he never got to live, something that has led to some amazing acting from Tom Hiddleston.
The first two episodes of Loki are streaming now on Disney+, with a third set to arrive next Wednesday.
