It Took A Year, But I"m Convinced Marvel Just Subtly Set Up Loki"s MCU Return With The Perfect Response To His Ending
Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for What If...? season 3
A little over a year ago, Loki"s story in the MCU came to a perfect end. Having survived original plans to kill him off completely in Phase 2, Thor"s adoptive brother ran the full spectrum from villain through anti-hero to bona-fide hero as he saved billions of lives by trading his own freedom.
In Loki season 2"s ending, the God Of Mischief ascends to a new role as God Of Stories, on a throne at the heart of the multiverse. The twist is the heartbreaking culmination of Loki"s entire arc, as Tom Hiddleston"s anti-hero reclaimed his own story and brought Odin"s prophecy about his son sitting on a throne to reality. There"s currently no hint that Marvel plans to make Loki season 3, but that doesn"t mean he shouldn"t be back in one of the MCU"s future releases. In fact, I"d say it was a necessity at this point.
Surprisingly, What If...? season 3 may have set the perfect path for Loki to return, despite Tom Hiddleston"s only appearance being as the Frost Giant variant of Loki whose current plan for fatherly approval is to transform Jotunheim into a luxury ski resort. That part has absolutely nothing to do with Loki"s future: instead, it"s the revelations of the finale that really matter.
Loki's Future In The MCU Is Essential, Despite His Perfect Ending The Multiverse Faces Another Great Challenge In The Coming Years Close Despite how final Loki"s "sacrifice" felt, there"s surely no way Hiddleston"s redeemed anti-hero can not return with the MCU"s Multiverse Saga headed towards its conclusion. If the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars follows anything like the roadmap offered by the original comics, then the entire Multiverse - in fact, all existence - will be in peril. Loki may have taken up his new role to allow all threads to coexist and realize their destinies, but allowing a total extinction event seems rather a step too far.
Thanks to the confusing lore of the MCU"s multiverse, threads, dimensions, planes of existence, and realities feel like interchangeable concepts that serve different storylines as the writers see fit. Secret Wars" writing team will have to navigate that, presumably taking a lead from The Marvels" post-credits scene that saw the "main" reality crashing into another containing Kelsey Grammer"s Beast and Maria Rambeau"s Proton variant, but Loki"s position at the heart of the multiverse is still not something that can be ignored.
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Related 10 Most Powerful MCU Characters Introduced Since Avengers: Endgame The MCU is populated by a wealth of hugely powerful characters, many of which did not appear until after the events of Avengers: Endgame.
Posts 6 There is, of course, the haunting possibility that Loki has to be removed from the picture for whoever plays the main villain"s role in Secret Wars. That could be part of Avengers: Doomsday"s story, and the perfect way to set up Doctor Doom"s threat, assuming he"s going to be the Multiverse"s last big bad. But Loki choosing to intervene would be way more exciting, and What If...? set up exactly the logic of how it could happen.
What If...?'s Watcher's Storyline Perfectly Challenged Loki's Ending Uatu Admits One Of The MCU's Most Destructive Villains Might Well Have Been Right![]()
For all its multiverse twists and colorful variants, the single most interesting idea introduced in What If...? season 3 is the challenge to the status quo of the Watchers. After intervening a couple of times in earlier What If...? episodes, Jeffrey Wright"s Uatu was hauled in front of his fellow Watchers - the Eminence, Executioner, and Incarnate - and made to answer for his crimes as a heretic.
Uatu takes a stand, rather than crumble under the God-like power of his fellow Watchers, proclaiming the flaw in their mission and their oath of refusing to interfere. In an eloquent exchange, Uatu says that a garden must be cultivated to thrive, and not just observed. His speech undermines the idea of any incredibly powerful force in the multiverse - Loki included - being passive in the face of huge threat:
[indent] Surely you must see that for a garden to thrive, it must be cultivated, so its trees grow higher, its flowers bloom brighter, and... and pests that threaten to destroy it all are weeded out.
[/indent]His point is that the right life must be encouraged, and the toxic elements - the multiverse"s weeds, in the analogy - must be pruned. In a shocking turn, the Watcher essentially admits that the TVA"s mission logic under He Who Remains was, in fact, correct. Yes, it was over-applied as Loki"s first villain played God for his own ends, but the idea of careful cultivation for survival in the bigger picture as necessary still fits.
![]()
Related 10 Ways Loki Can Return To The MCU After Loki Season 2’s Ending Despite his seemingly final fate in the Loki season 2 finale, there are still plenty of ways that Loki could return to the MCU in upcoming projects.
Posts What price would you get on Loki having the same revelation? He is not He Who Remains, and he"s not The Watcher at the other end of the spectrum, but the God Of Stories has a responsibility to preserve the multiverse"s multiple branches. It is particularly intriguing that Uatu uses the garden analogy in What If...? as Loki sits at the foot of a tree. Could we be set to see the same sort of abandonment of position for the greater good in Loki"s future?
All 8 episodes of What If...? season 8 are available on Disney+ now.
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6/10 42 8.2/10 What If...? What If… ? is an animated anthology series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe which features fan-favorite characters, including Peggy Carter, T’Challa, Doctor Strange, Killmonger, Thor, and more. The new series, directed by Bryan Andrews with AC Bradley as head writer, features signature MCU action with a curious twist. The show sees Uatu the Watcher, an omnipotent being that observes the events of multiple universes from afar as they unfold, unable to interfere. However, things shift when an entity peers beyond the veil, jeopardizing the multiverse.
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A little over a year ago, Loki"s story in the MCU came to a perfect end. Having survived original plans to kill him off completely in Phase 2, Thor"s adoptive brother ran the full spectrum from villain through anti-hero to bona-fide hero as he saved billions of lives by trading his own freedom.
In Loki season 2"s ending, the God Of Mischief ascends to a new role as God Of Stories, on a throne at the heart of the multiverse. The twist is the heartbreaking culmination of Loki"s entire arc, as Tom Hiddleston"s anti-hero reclaimed his own story and brought Odin"s prophecy about his son sitting on a throne to reality. There"s currently no hint that Marvel plans to make Loki season 3, but that doesn"t mean he shouldn"t be back in one of the MCU"s future releases. In fact, I"d say it was a necessity at this point.
Surprisingly, What If...? season 3 may have set the perfect path for Loki to return, despite Tom Hiddleston"s only appearance being as the Frost Giant variant of Loki whose current plan for fatherly approval is to transform Jotunheim into a luxury ski resort. That part has absolutely nothing to do with Loki"s future: instead, it"s the revelations of the finale that really matter.
Loki's Future In The MCU Is Essential, Despite His Perfect Ending The Multiverse Faces Another Great Challenge In The Coming Years Close Despite how final Loki"s "sacrifice" felt, there"s surely no way Hiddleston"s redeemed anti-hero can not return with the MCU"s Multiverse Saga headed towards its conclusion. If the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars follows anything like the roadmap offered by the original comics, then the entire Multiverse - in fact, all existence - will be in peril. Loki may have taken up his new role to allow all threads to coexist and realize their destinies, but allowing a total extinction event seems rather a step too far.
Thanks to the confusing lore of the MCU"s multiverse, threads, dimensions, planes of existence, and realities feel like interchangeable concepts that serve different storylines as the writers see fit. Secret Wars" writing team will have to navigate that, presumably taking a lead from The Marvels" post-credits scene that saw the "main" reality crashing into another containing Kelsey Grammer"s Beast and Maria Rambeau"s Proton variant, but Loki"s position at the heart of the multiverse is still not something that can be ignored.
Related 10 Most Powerful MCU Characters Introduced Since Avengers: Endgame The MCU is populated by a wealth of hugely powerful characters, many of which did not appear until after the events of Avengers: Endgame.Posts 6 There is, of course, the haunting possibility that Loki has to be removed from the picture for whoever plays the main villain"s role in Secret Wars. That could be part of Avengers: Doomsday"s story, and the perfect way to set up Doctor Doom"s threat, assuming he"s going to be the Multiverse"s last big bad. But Loki choosing to intervene would be way more exciting, and What If...? set up exactly the logic of how it could happen.
What If...?'s Watcher's Storyline Perfectly Challenged Loki's Ending Uatu Admits One Of The MCU's Most Destructive Villains Might Well Have Been Right
For all its multiverse twists and colorful variants, the single most interesting idea introduced in What If...? season 3 is the challenge to the status quo of the Watchers. After intervening a couple of times in earlier What If...? episodes, Jeffrey Wright"s Uatu was hauled in front of his fellow Watchers - the Eminence, Executioner, and Incarnate - and made to answer for his crimes as a heretic.Uatu takes a stand, rather than crumble under the God-like power of his fellow Watchers, proclaiming the flaw in their mission and their oath of refusing to interfere. In an eloquent exchange, Uatu says that a garden must be cultivated to thrive, and not just observed. His speech undermines the idea of any incredibly powerful force in the multiverse - Loki included - being passive in the face of huge threat:
[indent] Surely you must see that for a garden to thrive, it must be cultivated, so its trees grow higher, its flowers bloom brighter, and... and pests that threaten to destroy it all are weeded out.
[/indent]His point is that the right life must be encouraged, and the toxic elements - the multiverse"s weeds, in the analogy - must be pruned. In a shocking turn, the Watcher essentially admits that the TVA"s mission logic under He Who Remains was, in fact, correct. Yes, it was over-applied as Loki"s first villain played God for his own ends, but the idea of careful cultivation for survival in the bigger picture as necessary still fits.
Related 10 Ways Loki Can Return To The MCU After Loki Season 2’s Ending Despite his seemingly final fate in the Loki season 2 finale, there are still plenty of ways that Loki could return to the MCU in upcoming projects.Posts What price would you get on Loki having the same revelation? He is not He Who Remains, and he"s not The Watcher at the other end of the spectrum, but the God Of Stories has a responsibility to preserve the multiverse"s multiple branches. It is particularly intriguing that Uatu uses the garden analogy in What If...? as Loki sits at the foot of a tree. Could we be set to see the same sort of abandonment of position for the greater good in Loki"s future?
All 8 episodes of What If...? season 8 are available on Disney+ now.
Your Rating close 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Rate Now 0/10 Leave a Review Your comment has not been savedYour changes have been saved
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6/10 42 8.2/10 What If...? What If… ? is an animated anthology series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe which features fan-favorite characters, including Peggy Carter, T’Challa, Doctor Strange, Killmonger, Thor, and more. The new series, directed by Bryan Andrews with AC Bradley as head writer, features signature MCU action with a curious twist. The show sees Uatu the Watcher, an omnipotent being that observes the events of multiple universes from afar as they unfold, unable to interfere. However, things shift when an entity peers beyond the veil, jeopardizing the multiverse. Where to Watch stream rent buy Not available
Not available
Not available
*Availability in US Release Date August 11, 2021 Seasons 3 Writers Ashley Bradley , Matthew Chauncey Showrunner Ashley Bradley Upcoming MCU Movies
Your changes have been savedEmail is sent
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My List My Favorite Movies My Watchlist Success!
Captain America: Brave New World
Release Date February 14, 2025
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Thunderbolts*
Release Date May 2, 2025
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The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Release Date July 25, 2025
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My List My Favorite Movies My Watchlist Success!
Avengers: Doomsday (2026)
Release Date
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Spider-Man Homecoming 4
Release Date July 24, 2026
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Avengers: Secret Wars
Release Date May 7, 2027
