At long last, Marvel Studios just unveiled the first official look at Tom Hiddleston's God of Stories look in Avengers: Doomsday. The upcoming crossover will mark Loki's fourth Avengers appearance, following his very memorable turn as the villain in the 2012 original. Now, a lot has changed for the former Aguardian since then, and he's even died a few times. What's most important to the current arc coming on December 18 is his very own TV show, Loki, which spun off from Avengers: Endgame and then reconnected with itself seven years later when the Encore re-release recently dropped.
A new official Korean Avengers: Doomsday poster is the first crossover of its kind ahead of the film's release.
It features Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) looming over the team, with the heroes below him including Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Shuri (Letitia Wright), Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Cyclops (James Marsden), and Gambit (Channing Tatum).
But the biggest reveal is tucked away behind Gambit in the back left corner. That's where fans get their first real look at Loki as the God of Stories, the role he took on at the end of Loki Season 2 to hold the multiverse together. There was a past look at this version of the character, but not in an official movie poster like this.
Sporting his golden horned crown and green getup, he raises his hands as if he's casting a spell, or possibly even manipulating reality itself.
Loki won't just appear as the God of Stories in Doomsday, though, as he's also set to show up as a Time Variance Authority (TVA) agent. In the movie's official July trailer, he was spotted wearing his TVA jacket and handing out a TVA business card engraved with the multiverse's World Tree.
The Avengers: Endgame Encore extended ending then doubled down on that look. During Steve's dance with Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), the former trickster knocked on their door in full TVA gear and offered to help them both.
This raises some questions about whether the ending of Loki Season 2 happens after Loki goes to Steve, or if he can still somehow project himself out across the multiverse.
Regardless, the new Doomsday poster shows that sometime after that chat with Steve and Peggy, Loki will make his way off the (what was thought to be) eternal throne, and in the mix fighting doom.
One growing theory is that Doom will find the TVA and attack it. Which could be what happens next following the TVA Encore post-credits scene, which shows thousands of Incursions, and O.B.'s (Ke Huy Quan) chilling line: "The Multiverse is collapsing."
In a perfect world, sometime over the next two months, a new trailer for Avengers: Doomsday will be released that shows the God of Stories within the fight.
The main part of this movie, when it pertains to Loki, that needs to be kept a secret is his potential reunion with Thor. All the Doomsday footage so far has avoided the reunion-style moments, outside of Steve and Thor, where the former Captain America is still able to pull Mjolnir into his hand.
Given the confirmation that the TVA will play a big part in Doomsday, the expectations have only grown when it comes to Loki's expected role in the film. While he did make a sacrificial play against Thanos in Infinity War, this could be the first time Loki is truly part of the Avengers team in a meaningful way.
How Loki Could Play into Doomsday
By the end of Loki Season 2, the God of Stories' powers were some of the most powerful in the MCU. Loki mastered his time-slipping, revived the Multiverse's dying branches with his own magic, and replaced the TVA's time-weaving Temporal Loom at the end of time. This great power, now, is clearly putting a massive target on his back.
Loki is the backbone of the entire TVA, so if Doctor Doom wants to remake reality, he has to go through Loki first.
As Hiddleston bluntly put it previously, "Well, come on, I'm holding the timelines together." There's no getting around his importance to the movie, and his power could be the key to how Doomsday ends, and where Secret Wars heads.
One theory suggests Doom might be attacking Loki at the end of time to steal his power, which could explain why the villain seems so unstoppable. If Doom is able to obtain or destroy Loki's overseeing power, he could be impossible to stop.
Considering the future plans for the MCU, it's very likely that Loki will not wind up back on the throne holding all the strands of reality together. This is only going to end one way, but another Loki death might cause some fans to walk out of the theater this winter.
