Loki Appreciation 2021

[Raye]

Two things I thought of tonight:
1.A Nexus isn't what TVA says it is, it's not any violator of the sacred timeline, it's a person who is able to create realities, and TVA is actually after them. Loki might be the one who has this power, he will possibly make up stories/realities with Loki as a ruler, Loki as a president, etc and bring them to life.
2. TVA slogan “For all time, always" actually means (or used to mean, or will mean) "For all time, all ways".

I really like that play one words idea! I could definitely see that happening, where either the meaning has changed, or will change.

And yeah, I think the only people they bring in for a trial are the ones who are the ones who instigate a change, but I don't think that makes them all Nexus Beings in the same way that Wanda is. At least according to the Miss Minutes cartoon, where something like missing work could cause a branching timeline, and that we saw a rando skrull, Peggy Carter, and some random rich asshole, who apparently had no powers to speak of, they seem to be going with the more traditional scientific view of a multiverse. One where each and every action that could have multiple outcomes, no matter how big or how small, happens, but each outcome happens in a different universe. Billions of potential branching points occur every second, on Earth alone. Though they may find ways to make this a bit more manageable in the show. Like maybe not every outcome results in a whole new universe, there seems to be some threshold that needs to be met according to their scanners, maybe minor variances that end up inconsequential just kinda merge back in? But sometimes it alters things enough to create a branching timeline, either because the action itself is a big thing on it's own (the example used in Endgame being removing an Infinity Stone from that reality.) or a small action like being late for work creates a causal chain via the Butterfly Effect that builds to a larger change. (You leave late for work, but if you had been on time, your car would have blocked someone who then ran a red light because your car was now sitting further back, which in turn leads to a car accident that kills someone important, as a simple example) Then the TVA just prunes the timelines with outcomes they decide don't fit their sacred timeline. They would not need an organization as massive as depicted on the show unless they were dealing with many, many branching points, and with them having compressed things down to a single timeline (and maybe some supporting timelines deemed necessary for that timeline to progress) that means they are only dealing with branching points from the main MCU timeline, and in the comics, each timeline only has one Nexus Being. If they only had to deal with the actions of one Nexus Being, they would not need an organization as large as what was shown. I think a Nexus Being has additional power to alter the timeline above and beyond most, but clearly they are dealing with ordinary events as well. It may still be that this King Loki is doing some kind of 'story' thing, but maybe more by exploiting how the multiverse works somehow, rather than some inherent power.

Not that we've seen yet. But I think that will be something to watch for moving forward, since if they don't use them during "field" work, that is probably significant.



I really love the idea that the stones don't work not because they're not in their native universe, but because their native universes no longer exist. That makes just as much or more sense, and it does allow for shenanigans in the past and future of the MCU.

Though to be fair, we also know magic doesn't work in the TVA, so it may just be the power dampening the TVA uses as well. We will have to see if one of the Infinity Stones in evidence would work once taken through one of their time portals where magic works again to confirm if they are forever powerless once their universe is erased. Loki will likely oblige us there, later. You know he probably pocketed a stone or three and as soon as they let him through a portal he will try to use it.

Another complete tangent idea I had was...did Strange accidentally put the "dark dimension" under the authority of the TVA by introducing time? And on that note, I think you're right about some alternate dimensions/timelines not being pruned because they're necessary to the one they're actually protecting. The quantum dimension and mirror dimensions, besides the dark dimension are additional examples.

Maybe! but then, the TVA may only deal with the proper universe and the Dark Dimension may just be considered to be a part of the main universe.

Totally dense and full of set-up. Some things moved very quickly, and a lot of the mysteries were just touched upon, just enough to world build. It was super efficient.

As for time passing...this is part of why I think maybe time passes backward in the TVA. If Loki died for sure for sure, which all evidence points to, that means that the variant that is apparently the current big bad has to be from somewhere between 2012 and the Snap. If Cap's returning the stones didn't prevent branching, the TVA just pruned them, then maybe the Bad Variant Loki is from one of those branches? Maybe he's even from the 1949 branch with Cap. 74 years is a long, long time to muck with things. But there's also a universe out there where Strange couldn't stop Kaecilius and Dormammu, which might be an interesting opportunity for a Loki, a universe where Mjolnir just up and disappeared in the middle of The Dark World, a universe where Ego probably succeeds in turning or killing Quill, and several universes where Loki never has the Mind Stone for a variety of reasons. Just for some examples.

Very possible. the writer of the show strongly hinted that the timeline where Cap lived his life with Peggy would be addressed in the show: https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a...a-involvement/ so if King Loki is from one of the branched timelines related to Cap returning the stones.... my bet is it's THAT one.