Loki is one of the most beloved Marvel Cinematic Universe characters. And Loki is one of the best MCU TV shows of Phase 4 so far. But that doesn’t mean that Tom Hiddleston will play the trickster forever in the MCU. And that’s something the actor might have inadvertently warned fans about in an interview. There will come a time when his Loki’s death could be final. Again.
That’s not to say that Loki season 2 will kill the character. Or that the MCU will be deprived of the God of Mischief once Hiddleston steps down. But we might have to get ready for a world of MCU stories where we won’t have this actor playing the character. Before we explain, you should know that some spoilers from MCU projects that have already been released might follow below.
Loki’s death in the MCU was never final
How can Loki die at this point, especially with the multiverse now spinning out of control? We’ve seen Loki die a few times already in previous phases. Most of those Loki deaths were fake, and that’s because fans convinced Marvel to keep Loki alive for more adventures. Then Avengers: Infinity War happened, and the Loki in the main reality died trying to save the universe and his brother.
We now have a new Loki who has yet to interact with the Avengers that survived Endgame. Better said, this Loki hasn’t met the Avengers again after the TVA took him from an alternate reality that he created by stealing the Tesseract. Loki disappeared from the regular flow of time and embarked on a different kind of adventure in a place where there’s no sense of time.
The massive Loki cliffhanger will keep us on our toes until season 2 premieres. But we’ll have to wait quite a while for that. And we might see Loki in the upcoming Doctor Strange sequel. He might be just one of the Loki characters that show up in the movie.
That’s to say that we might be several years away from Hiddleston retiring from the role. But that’s a possibility we have to consider.
Hiddleston attended a panel discussion about Loki that the Royal Television Society hosted. Sophia Di Martino, who plays Sylvie in the TV show, also joined him. Loki writer Michael Waldron and director Kate Herron were also part of the event, per Variety.
When will Tom Hiddleston retire from the MCU?
It’s in this context that Hiddleston had the following remark about playing what’s easily the role of a lifetime.
“I’m a temporary torchbearer,” he said. “I’ve always thought that. It’s a great role. It’s an archetype, the trickster god, the agent of chaos. I’m just here interpreting that for the time being. Loki has been here for centuries and will be here for centuries more, and I’m just stepping into that silhouette for now.”
If anything, Loki does make that point. We saw additional Loki variants that looked like Hiddleston’s. But Loki can be anybody else. Sylvie is a female Loki who changed her name.
But the actor remark is also a reminder that fans will ultimately have to see him retire from the MCU. Just like RDJ and Chris Evans left. The same will happen with other beloved characters as Marvel moves forward to the story. And when this Loki retires, we might witness another heartbreaking death. But at least with Lokis, we’ll never know whether the deaths are real or fake.
The actor also implies that we might get other Loki variants in the story. Sylvie is one possibility. Then there’s also Kid Loki (Jack Veal), who might get to play with younger Avengers.
However, the point of the wide-ranging Loki panel wasn’t to announce any deaths or departures from the current MCU roster. And the entire discussion is worth following, as it gives us another look at what it means to adapt this character for a TV story. Also, while you wait for more Loki cameos, you can watch the first Loki season in full on Disney Plus.
