History Series / Loki2021

** For whatever reason, the dominant aesthetic of the TVA is based on styles from the 1970s, from its decor to its tech.

* CanonCharacterAllAlong: Season 2 has an instance where a fictional character turns out to be a real person, TVA receptionist Casey was revealed in the second season to be [[spoiler:real-life Alcatraz escapee Frank Morris]].
** The same episode contains an Easter Egg, revealing that Hunter B-15's real name was [[spoiler:Verity Wills.]]

A second season was announced at the end of the first season finale, and premiered on October 5, 2023, making it the first live-action Marvel Studios series for Disney+ to have a multi-season run.[[note]]''Series/WandaVision'' and ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier'' were intended as limited series, while ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021'' is an animated anthology series.[[/note]] Kate Herron did not return as director for the second season, having only been committed to the first season; Creator/JustinBenson, Creator/AaronMoorhead, Dan [=DeLeeuw=] and Kasra Farahani took over directing duties. Upon its completion, [[https://x.com/CultureCrave/status/1722827125487702331?s=20 the second season was revealed to be the last for the show]] by writer Eric Martin, who stated that the show was always planned to be a two-season story.

* UpTheRealRabbitHole: TVA workers reside in a place outside of time and were told that they were created by the benevolent Time Keepers to maintain the predetermined flow of events in the name of peace and order. But Loki declares that the TVA is "not real" as soon as he arrives. In "The Variant", Mobius argues that the TVA and its dogma are "real" because he believes it. By the end of season 1, it is revealed that He Who Remains kidnapped variants from the timeline, erased their memories and brainwashed them into killing untold trillions to maintain his grasp over the "Sacred Timeline." As the story goes on, more and more characters start to call the ordinary life on the timeline "real" instead: Hunter C-20 in "The Variant" and "The Nexus Event", Hunter X-05 in "Breaking Brad," Sylvie in the season 1 finale and "Science/Fiction".

* UrbanLegends: In episode 5, the VideoGame/{{Polybius}} machine, a fictitious arcade game claimed to cause BrownNote and MindManipulation effects to those who played it, can be seen in [[spoiler:the Void Lokis']] ramshackle lair.

*** The bowling alley hideout used by [[spoiler:Kid Loki and his fellow variants has a ''VideoGame/{{Polybius}}'' arcade machine, which can be seen a few shots. Notably behind Classic Loki while he's sitting and speaking.]]

* RaceLift: Season 2 subtly reveals that Hunter B-15 is [[spoiler:Verity Willis]]. In the comics, [[spoiler:Willis]] is portrayed as being Caucasian, where in ''Loki'' she is portrayed by British-Nigerian actress Creator/WunmiMosaku.

** Loki's final line in the original Film/{{Thor}} (not counting TheStinger) and Loki's final line in this show are the same: "For you. For all of us."

** In episode 1, after seeing that only after abandoning his AntiVillain ways did he get [[IJustWantToBeLoved anything he ever really wanted]], and even then he's "destined" to get killed in front of his brother Thor, Loki ruefully repeats his MotiveRant line from ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' about being burdened with "glorious purpose".

* RightForTheWrongReasons: While at his trial, Loki speculates that the Avengers went back in time in order to subvert his rule over Earth, assuming that he emerges victorious after the events of Film/{{TheAvengers|2012}}. He's entirely correct that they've gone back in time to change their timeline, but it's primarily to undo Thanos's work than anything that's really related to Loki (since he's, y'know, ''dead'').

** During "Glorious Purpose", footage from ''Film/{{Thor}}'', ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', and ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' is used to illustrate Loki’s past and the correct order of the timeline to him.

* VillainProtagonist: Loki is the main character and viewpoint character of this series, and this version of Loki comes from the immediate aftermath of ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', where he is still a villain and has not experienced any of his later character development towards redemption. Also, considering that this series involves ''variants'' of Loki, this trope is played with. The TVA want this Loki's help in catching another Loki who is causing trouble for them. [[spoiler:Then both Lokis join forces against the TVA, who is turning out to be villainous itself.]]

** Loki wears one of the [=TVA=]'s brown government suits, complete with the word "VARIANT" written on the back in big orange letters.

** In the [=TVA=], they have a drawer full of Infinity Stones and reveal people there use them as paperweights. This is similar to the comic version of the Infinity Gems which only function in their own universe.

*** The [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/marvelcinematicuniverse/images/5/58/Loki_apocalyptic_earth_1_-_ovni%3F.png/revision/latest?cb=20210706183947 large three-masted wooden shipwreck]] shown could be ''UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus''[='=] flagship: ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Mar%C3%ADa_(ship) Santa Maria]]'', which had reportedly sank down into the bottom of the ocean and was the target of modern shipwreck-hunting but it's still unrecovered.

** In "Lamentis", Loki says that getting rid of the TVA will only create a vacuum of power and implies that nothing good will come of it. [[spoiler:This is precisely what happens in the Season 1 finale when Sylvie kills the true leader of the TVA, He Who Remains, and allows his more evil variant(s) to start ''his'' multiversal conquering. In the show, this also proves to be part of [=HWR=]'s BatmanGambit, which he puts in place to ensure his own survival]].

* HypocriteHasAPoint: The things Loki claims to have deduced about the [=TVA=] in the first episode turns out to be, by his own admission, [[PsychologicalProjection things he knows to be true about himself.]] However, by the end of the season, it's clear that he nonetheless wasn't entirely wrong about them.

* RaceLift: Season 2 subtly reveals that Hunter B-15 is [[spoiler:Verity Willis]]. In the comics, [[spoiler:Willis]] is portrayed as being Caucasian, where in ''Loki'' she is. portrayed by British-Nigerian Actress Creator/WunmiMosaku.

* RightForTheWrongReasons: While at his trial, Loki speculates that the Avengers went back in time in order to subvert his rule over Earth, assuming that he emerges victorious after the events of [[Film/TheAvengers2012 The Avengers]]. He's entirely correct that they've gone back in time to change their timeline, but it's primarily to undo Thanos's work than anything that's really related to Loki (since he's, y'know, ''dead'').

** For other [=MCU=] properties:

* SoLastSeason: The Infinity Stones were the running thread of the [=MCU=] for years, being the most powerful objects of any singular universe. This series, which segues into the wider multiverse, casually dismisses them when Loki finds that they're powerless in the [=TVA=]'s realm, to the point that countless copies from deleted timelines are used as colorful paperweights.

** For Season 1:
*** [[spoiler:Season 1 ends with Sylvie killing He Who Remains, which also leads to Loki being pushed to a different point in time (by Sylvie) where nobody at the Time Variance Authority knows Loki, directly setting up the events of season two.]]

** For Season Two and the series as a whole:
*** [[spoiler:He Who Remains warns Loki and Sylvie that the Multiverse flowing as it pleases will lead to the rise of hostile variants of himself, some of whom may be far more evil and dangerous than he ever was, and an inevitable Multiversal War between them. They take this risk when Sylvie kills He Who Remains, and Loki destroys the Temporal Loom and uses himself as a means to stabilize the Multiverse. This sets up Kang the Conqueror's role as the antagonist of ''Film/AntManAndTheWaspQuantumania'', and sets stage for The Mulitverse Saga's main storyline.]]

*** [[spoiler:He Who Remains warns Sylvie that killing him will lead to the rise of hostile variants of himself, some of whom may be far more evil and dangerous than he ever was. This sets up Kang the Conqueror's role as the antagonist of ''Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania'', and the rest of The Mulitverse Saga's main storyline.]]
*** [[spoiler:Finally, the Sacred Timeline to splinter, giving rise to the creation of numerous alternate timelines, which sets up the events of ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021'', ''Spider-Man: No Way Home'', ''Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness'' and every subsequent Multiverse Saga entry that revolves around the use of alternate timelines and/or universes.]]

*** Because of [[spoiler:Loki destroying the Temporal Loom and using himself as a means to stabilize the Multiverse, he allows the Multiverse to flow as it pleases...at the huge cost of an inevitable Multiversal War to ensue by the other Variants of Kang]]. Oh, and [[spoiler:Kang the Conqueror himself might be still alive [[Film/AntManAndTheWaspQuantumania after his defeat at the hands of Scott Lang]]]].

** [[spoiler:Season 1 ends with Sylvie killing He Who Remains, which also leads to Loki being pushed to a different point in time (by Sylvie) where nobody at the Time Variance Authority knows Loki, directly setting up the events of season two.]]
** [[spoiler:He Who Remains warns Sylvie that killing him will lead to the rise of hostile variants of himself, some of whom may be far more evil and dangerous than he ever was. The WhamShot at the end of the episode shows a statue of Comicbook/KangTheConqueror in the TVA, indicating that he was right. This sets up Kang's role as the antagonist of ''Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania'', and the rest of The Mulitverse Saga's main storyline.]]
** [[spoiler:Finally, He Who Remains crossing the Threshold (the limit of his future knowledge) with the Lokis causes the Sacred Timeline to splinter, giving rise to the creation of numerous alternate timelines, which sets up the events of ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021'', ''Spider-Man: No Way Home'', ''Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness'' and every subsequent Multiverse Saga entry that revolves around the use of alternate timelines and/or universes.]]
** As for Season Two (and by extension, the series), it teases the fact that [[spoiler:The Void (where Renslayer is sent to be eaten by Alioth...[[AmbigiousSituation maybe]]) is in fact, a ''Variant'' of the TVA, be it from the current timeline or an alternate timeline]]. In addition, [[spoiler:Sylvie decides to go travelling to wherever she feels like going, which could allow for her to drop into Earth-616 for potential future storylines]]. And, because of [[spoiler:Loki destroying the Temporal Loom and using himself as a means to stabilize the Multiverse, he allows the Multiverse to flow as it pleases...at the huge cost of an inevitable Multiversal War to ensue by the other Variants of Kang]]. Oh, and [[spoiler:Kang the Conqueror himself might be still alive [[Film/AntManAndTheWaspQuantumania after his defeat at the hands of Scott Lang]]]].

* BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork: In "Ouroboros" and "Breaking Brad," [[spoiler: B-15 convinces Judge Gamble to stop all pruning of new branches because it's inhumane and ultimately (she hopes) unnecessary for the preservation of reality as a whole. Unfortunately, the new timelines being allowed to grow puts stress on the Temporal Loom it was never designed to handle, leading to a temporal meltdown, which "Science/Fiction" shows would cause ''everything'' to spaghettify one by one. General Dox goes rogue and Reset Charge-s the multiverse out of existence, leaving only the Sacred Timeline. Despite being PlayedForHorror, and rightly so (Dox's body count is canonically in the ''quintillions'' to the ''infinities''); her genocide wound up saving everyone because it delayed the Loom's inevitable temporal meltdown, allowing the rest of the season to have a setting in which to take place.]]

** [[spoiler:In the last episode of the second season, it was revealed that He Who Remains engineered a XanatosGambit - If he dies, the Temporal Loom will destroy the TVA and every branch in the multiverse except for the Sacred Timeline. Otherwise, Loki will have to kill Sylvie and the Sacred Timeline continues to be the only branch that's not being pruned. Loki TookAThirdOption by destroying the Temporal Loom and personally takes over the entire task of preserving all the branches in the multiverse, and so He Who Remains... remains dead, narrowly averting this trope. Even then, it is arguable that He Who Remains has been living a FateWorseThanDeath for eons and would be happy for Loki to take his place]].

** [[spoiler:In the last episode of the second season, it was revealed that He Who Remains engineered a XanatosGambit - If he dies, the Temporal Loom will destroy the TVA and every branch in the multiverse except for the Sacred Timeline. Otherwise, Loki will have to kill Sylvie and the Sacred Timeline continues to be the only branch that's not being pruned. Loki TookAThirdOption by destroying the Temporal Loom and personally takes over the entire task of preserving all the branches in the multiverse, and so He Who Remains... remains dead, perhaps narrowly averting this trope. Even then, it is arguable that He Who Remains has been living a FateWorseThanDeath for eons and would be happy for Loki to take his place]].

* EvilVersusOblivion: In "Ouroboros" and "Breaking Brad," [[spoiler: B-15 convinces Judge Gamble to stop all pruning of new branches because it's inhumane and ultimately (she hopes) unnecessary for the preservation of reality as a whole. Unfortunately, the new timelines being allowed to grow puts stress on the Temporal Loom it was never designed to handle, leading to a temporal meltdown, which "Science/Fiction" shows would cause ''everything'' to spaghettify one by one. General Dox goes rogue and Reset Charge-s the multiverse out of existence, leaving only the Sacred Timeline. Despite being PlayedForHorror, and rightly so (Dox's body count is canonically in the ''quintillions'' to the ''infinities''); her genocide wound up saving everyone because it delayed the Loom's inevitable temporal meltdown, allowing the rest of the season to have a setting in which to take place.]]

* SeriesContinuityError:
** [[spoiler:Sylvie's]] id in the TVA files Loki looks through is L0852. [[spoiler:Sylvie's]] id in [[spoiler:the script shown by He Who Remains]] is L1190. Either there were two [[spoiler:Sylvies who killed TVA cops and stole their reset charges]], or the production team made an error.
** "The Variant" establishes Reset Charges and related weaponry as unable to prune anything in a Nexus Event that has branched past redline. This is flatly contradicted by "Breaking Brad", in which [[spoiler:Dox successfully prunes ''the entire multiverse'' with what appear to be standard-issue Reset Charges,]] despite taking place two entire episodes ''after'' [[spoiler:He Who Remains' death caused literally every branch to pass redline in "For All Time. Always."]]
* SequelHook: Several for Season 1:

* SeriesContinuityError: [[spoiler:Sylvie's]] id in the TVA files Loki looks through is L0852. [[spoiler:Sylvie's]] id in [[spoiler:the script shown by He Who Remains]] is L1190. Either there were two [[spoiler:Sylvies who killed TVA cops and stole their reset charges]], or the production team made an error.
** ''The Variant'' establishes Reset Charges and related weaponry as unable to prune anything in a Nexus Event that has branched past redline. This is flatly contradicted by ''Breaking Brad,'' in which [[spoiler: Dox successfully prunes ''the entire multiverse'' with what appear to be standard-issue Reset Charges,]] despite taking place 2 entire episodes ''after'' [[spoiler: He Who Remains' death caused literally every branch to pass redline in "For All Time. Always."]]

* DeathVersusOblivion: In "Ouroboros" and "Breaking Brad," [[spoiler: B-15 convinces Judge Gamble to stop all pruning of new branches because it's inhumane and ultimately (she hopes) unnecessary for the preservation of reality as a whole. Unfortunately, the new timelines being allowed to grow puts stress on the Temporal Loom it was never designed to handle, leading to a temporal meltdown, which "Science/Fiction" shows would cause ''everything'' to spaghettify one by one. General Dox goes rogue and Reset Charge-s the multiverse out of existence, leaving only the Sacred Timeline. Despite being PlayedForHorror, and rightly so (Dox's body count is canonically in the ''quintillions'' to the ''infinities''); her genocide wound up saving everyone because it delayed the Loom's inevitable temporal meltdown, allowing the rest of the season to have a setting in which to take place.]]
* DeconReconSwitch: [[spoiler:In episode 5, AllianceOfAlternates is deconstructed when it shows Loki’s alternate selves difficulty with working together, especially with their ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. When Boastful Loki betrays Kid Loki by turning in to President Loki and his army to remove Kid Loki from his throne, this in return leads President betraying him so he can take the throne for himself, which in return leads to President Loki’s army betraying him as they want the throne themselves, ultimately leading to free-for-all between the Lokis. But it is also reconstructed at the end of episode with Classic Loki helping Loki and Sylvie by distracting Alioth long enough for them to find He who Remains’ base, at the cost of his life.]]

* TheAllegedExpert: The TVA is supposed to be the ultimate authority on time travel and the Sacred Timeline but its agents are on strict need-to-know so even senior agents like Mobius do not really understand how Nexus events truly work. They rely on their supposedly advanced technology to give them information without fully understanding what the information actually means. Loki quickly figures basic LoopholeAbuse that Mobius thought was impossible. [[spoiler:There's also the fact that most of the TVA's agents and employees are variants themselves, without any of them aware of this due to their memories being suppressed. Furthermore the "all-knowing" Time Keepers are just robots and not the omniscient god-like beings TVA propaganda portrays them as. Obviously, season two begins with the TVA staff having extensional crises about all this.]]