You wouldn’t think the God of Mischief would take to working in the DMV of timeline management, but Loki seems to be settling in with all the enthusiasm of your average long term office drone, meaning he’s half-heartedly paying attention to the training videos while reading Mobius’s magazine about jet skis.
To the tune of “Holding Out for a Hero” by Bonnie Tyler, which is having a moment since it was also in the recent Masters of the Universe: Revelation trailer, this variant enchants one of the TVA commanders, C-20 , using her to take down the other team members before kidnapping her and a whole bunch of reset charges.
He might be toiling in a time bureaucracy for now but he still has the ego of a god and as B-15 updates the team on the latest attack, Loki wants to make it clear that he’s the superior Loki out of all the Loki variants they have been chasing.
Mobius cuts the bickering between the two off to point out that not all the variants look like the Loki we know and love .
The manipulation between the two continues apace, but Mobius knows how to keep his pet rabbit on task and drops a potential meeting with the Time Keepers as a carrot to entice Loki to behave.
Knowing that they only have a set amount of time to reset the timeline, Loki makes a play like he knows something about what the variant really wants and must see the Time Keepers immediately because they are in grave danger.
It’s obvious that there is a mutual admiration between the pair , but the judge isn’t sure about Loki’s worth to the TVA and thinks that Mobius just has a soft spot for broken things.
Loki scoffs that he’s 10 steps ahead of them, but much to his surprise, Mobius guesses correctly that he is planning to charm his way in front of the Time Keepers and take control of the TVA.
As upset as he is, a lightbulb goes off when he notes that there was zero variance energy detected during the event since it was supposed to happen.
Loki wants to test the theory but since his first field trip was a disaster and he has a long history of backstabbing, Mobius isn’t too keen on letting him loose on the timeline – but he eventually gives in.
Using naturally occurring apocalypses as their guide, they start searching the files , he seems to be truly fascinated by the contradictions in Mobius.
Considering there was that artifact from the 31st century at the end of the pilot and Renslayer has a comic history with the time-traveling Kang the Conqueror, it’s a strong possibility that the TVA is just a front for his eventual introduction into the MCU.
Eventually, through their discussion, Mobius remembers the boy with the Kablooie candy, and while candy seems to be a new invention to Loki , they quickly use it to pinpoint exactly where the variant might be hiding.
As Mobius finds C-20 bound up in the security office, freaked out that she’s revealed the location of the Time Keepers, Loki and B-15 come upon an enchanted customer who quickly reveals that the variant is indeed here but hiding by enchanting others, which Loki finds cowardly.
And while we’ve been wondering along with Mobius whether our Loki is willing to turn over a new leaf, he tells the variant that his work with the TVA has all been a ploy to eventually take it over, but he needs a lieutenant.
Instead of looking at another physical duplicate, Loki comes face to face with Lady Loki , who’s about to bomb the Sacred Timeline with a whole lot of reset charges.