The Marvel Cinematic Universe is broken up into several “Phases.” Phase 1 (ending with “Avengers” in 2012) sort of acts as the introduction to the universe and the idea of connected continuity. Phase 2 built on the success of the previous films and introduced weirder concepts (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” for example). Phase 3 (ending with “Avengers: Endgame” and “Spider-Man: Far From Home”) was the culmination of everything and wrapped up various plot threads and stories. We are now in Phase 4. And judging by what we’ve seen so far, especially with what’s being described in “Loki,” this Phase seems to be a big victory lap for Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios, allowing folks to take big creative swings.
Speaking to EW, Kevin Feige, Tom Hiddleston, and the various other folks involved in the forthcoming Disney+ series, “Loki,” talked quite a bit about the series and what fans can expect. And regarding the aforementioned victory lap feeling, the dirty work that was done in the first three Phases of the MCU has allowed for “Loki” to have some fun with time and space, as the character goes through various time-travel missions to fix the timeline he broke after ‘Endgame.’
As Feige points out, when you have a character and a series that is allowed to play with time and the multiverse, that allows Marvel Studios to play around with some of the beloved characters in fun and interesting ways.
“Part of the fun of the multiverse and playing with time is seeing other versions of characters, and other versions of the titular character in particular,” teased Feige.
The Marvel Studios boss describes “Loki” as a “procedural” series, hinting at the episodic nature of the series, which is unlike previous MCU series such as “WandaVision” and “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” And with the time-traveling, multiversal aspects of the show, it has allowed for series writer Michael Waldron to play with the look and feel of each episode.
“Every episode, we tried to take inspiration from different things,” said Waldron. The writer teased that “Blade Runner” is a particular inspiration for one episode.
Even with the time and space manipulation, the series really does revolve around Loki himself, played by Tom Hiddleston, who has appeared in a number of MCU films dating back a decade now. And while we’ve seen the character die, come back, die again, come back again, and then really die in ‘Infinity War’ before, you guessed it, returning for “Loki,” Hiddleston isn’t ready to make any promises about the fate of his character after the new series.
“I’m open to everything,” he said. “I have said goodbye to the character. I’ve said hello to the character. I said goodbye to the character [again]. I’ve learned not to make assumptions, I suppose. I’m just grateful that I’m still here, and there are still new roads to explore.”
“Loki” is set to debut on Disney+ on June 9.