MCU's Biggest Bombshell: What Does Latest Loki Episode Mean for the Universe?

Summary:

• The last episode of Loki ended on a massive cliffhanger that saw the death of Tom Hiddleston’s character and the explosion of the Temporal Loom.
• With that, the Sacred Timeline is effectively no more, and the events of the upcoming MCU entries, especially Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, are set up.
• Despite being an absolute game-changer on a larger scale, this episode doesn’t change much for Loki who has already died several times over.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe, despite its recent decline, definitely knows how to shake things up from time to time. The last huge game-changer happened with Avengers: Infinity War as Thanos snapped half of life from existence and changed the course of the MCU — but the latest episode of Loki threw an even bigger curveball than that.

Loki, the standalone series about Tom Hiddleston's God of Mischief, has clearly been setting up grounds for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty for quite some time now. However, even this realization couldn’t have possibly prepared the audience for what happened in the latest episode: Loki died (again), and the Sacred Timeline exploded.

What Even Happened in Loki S2E4?

Long story short, the Temporal Loom was the one thing that kept the Sacred Timeline together — and under control. The powers of the universe were contained through it by He Who Remains who could then get rid of unwanted timelines and prevent the Multiverse from being completely overtaken by chaos and instability.

In the latest Loki episode, the Temporal Loom exploded. On a grand scale, it effectively means that the Sacred Timeline is no more, and He Who Remains lost all control over the Multiverse. The chaotic forces will break out and reign freely now — specifically, the Council of Kangs who seek to overtake and control every timeline.

How Does This Affect Upcoming Marvel Titles?

With the Temporal Loom gone and the Sacred Timeline no longer preventing them from a full-blown invasion, the Council of Kangs is no longer contained outside other timelines. However, since time doesn’t work the way we’re used to there, the Kangs will not launch their assault immediately. First, we’ll watch the lesser aftermath.

For instance, the explosion of the Temporal Loom could help Deadpool 3 ’s rumored insane multiverse make actual sense, with variants freely traversing different timelines amid the chaos. Another title that’s likely to be directly affected is the new Fantastic Four as this multiverse mess would allow them to join the main timeline.

But Is Loki Gone Forever?

As we’ve mentioned, the God of Mischief himself died in the Temporal Loom explosion. This does not necessarily mean that he’s gone for good, though: by far, Loki has died four times, including in the previous season of his standalone series. Since these deaths were virtually reverted, we’re positive this one will be, too.

Despite the huge scale of the events in the last episode of Loki that certainly set up a fair share of mayhem for the upcoming MCU titles, there’s no reason to believe we won’t see Tom Hiddleston reprise his iconic role then. In fact, it seems like Loki will be pretty instrumental in dealing with the aftermath of the Sacred Timeline’s tragedy.