How Loki’s Ending Sets Up 5 MCU Phase 4 Movies & Shows

Warning: SPOILERS for Loki episode 6, “For All Time. Always.” 

The Loki series, particularly its finale, set up at least five MCU Phase 4 projects. Marvel Studios recently wrapped its third Disney+ series in the Tom Hiddleston-led project. After six weeks of building the mystery behind the Time Variance Authority/TVA, the Loki series finale, titled “For All Time. Always.,” unveiled He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) as the being who created the organization. His debut, as well as the events that followed after his death, will have significant ramifications in the universe moving forward. 

When Marvel Studios kicked off Phase 4 with WandaVision, there was an expectation that the Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany-led show was going to be franchise-changing thanks to Scarlet Witch’s ability to warp reality. But in the end, the sitcom-inspired series maintained its character-driven and mostly contained story, focusing on dealing with Wanda’s grief before laying the groundwork for the universe’s next big crossover. Thus was Loki that was tasked to set up the MCU’s multiverse as it outright tackles the existence of alternate universes. The concept was first explained by the TVA, which safeguards the Sacred Timeline in order to prevent a new multiversal war by pruning wayward variants and resetting Nexus events. 

Related: Loki: Every MCU Easter Egg In Episode 6

As hard as the TVA worked to ensure that the Sacred Timeline remains untampered with, Loki and his female variant, Sylvie (Sophia di Martino), eventually unleashed the multiverse. Following a grueling journey to get to He Who Remains, Sylvie successfully accomplished her goal of taking down the being behind the TVA. Loki was reluctant to take out He Who Remains, already having experienced what happens when power is removed only to be replaced by something worse. But Sylvie, who was motivated by revenge and pain and anger, ignored He Who Remains’ warnings about what would happen should he die and killed him anyway. The end of the Loki finale revealed countless timelines branching out, which now becomes the primary concern for the MCU’s heroes from here on out. 

What If…?

In conjunction with producing live-action content for Disney+, Marvel Studios is releasing its first animated show, What If…?. Based on the What If? comic book series, the show will revisit scenarios in the Infinity Saga and imagine how things would have panned out if certain elements in the stories were changed. For example, what if it had been Peggy Carter to take the Super Soldier Serum, not Steve Rogers? What if Loki hadn’t been adopted? What if Yondu had kidnapped a young T’Challa instead of a young Peter Quill? Jeffrey Wright plays The Watcher, who also serves as the series’ narrator. While the events of What If…? were initially believed to not have any ramifications on the MCU, after what happened in Loki, there’s now a chance for it to factor into the main franchise. Based on Loki‘s explanation about the multiverse, what goes down in What If…? could simply be deemed as incidents from other universes, with the possibility of spilling over to other realities.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Marvel Studios and Sony have been mum about plot specifics for Spider-Man: No Way Home. Despite the Jon Watts-directed film wrapping up production earlier this year, not much is known about it. But rumors have been persistent that it will be a live-action version of the Spider-Verse with previous incarnations of the hero played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield appearing. Meanwhile, other characters such as Jamie Foxx’s Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin from Spider-Man are also all but officially confirmed to return, with persistent rumors that Charlie Cox will also reprise his role as Matt Murdock from the Marvel Netflix shows. 

This is backed up by Alfred Molina’s confirmation of his involvement as Doctor Octopus from Spider-Man 2. Marvel Studios has also announced that Spider-Man: No Way Home will connect to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Now, the Loki finale has made all of this a greater possibility with various alternate timelines existing — all of them at risk of colliding with each other. 

Related: Theory: Phase 4’s Multiverse Spider-Men Are Variants (& Loki Restores Them)

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Long before the setup, the title of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness already gave away the idea that the MCU would tackle the concept of the multiverse. The Sam Raimi-directed sequel has been confirmed to have narrative connections to WandaVision, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Loki. But while there was an initial presumption that it would be Scarlet Witch who would kickstart the multiverse, it’s the events of  Loki that accomplished this storytelling task. Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), who is responsible for protecting Earth from inter-dimensional threats like Dormammu, is now facing a bigger issue with various branches of time chaotically co-existing. Especially now that there’s a risk of them crossing over with each other.

He Who Remains said it himself — while multiple realities once worked well for everyone involved, Kang the Conqueror changed that by causing a rift between alternate versions of himself. Doctor Strange’s primary goal will be to ensure Earth’s safety from any chaos that will ensue now that the multiverse has been unleashed, including from any other worse, more dangerous variants of Kang. Considering the fact that the God of Mischief was directly involved in this catastrophe, it also makes sense for Loki to be involved in Doctor Strange 2 as was recently reported. 

Loki Season 2

Marvel Studios officially announced Loki season 2 via the post-credits scene of its recent finale. However, it was already clear toward the end of the episode that the show’s narrative is far from over. After Sylvie bested and forced him out of the Citadel, Loki found himself back in the TVA. But upon approaching Agent Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson) and Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), he quickly realizes that he was transported to an alternate timeline where his allies don’t recognize or remember him. He soon discovers that in this timeline, Kang the Conqueror seemingly openly manages the TVA instead of using the Time-Keepers as decoys. This gives the trickster a more difficult task coming into Loki season 2. Not only does he have to start from scratch without any help from Sylvie or Mobius, but he will also have to do that under the nose of Kang the Conqueror, who could very well be a more ruthless version of He Who Remains. 

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Majors was originally cast to play the villain Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania but there were theories that the actor would pop up in other projects before the Peyton Reed threequel, which Loki confirmed. The version of the character that will debut in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will most likely be different from He Who Remains, however. Instead, the film will likely introduce a more ruthless version of the character, or the movie could even tackle his origins story as Nathaniel Richards, a scientist in the comics who accidentally discovered alternate universes. How Kang the Conqueror comes into contact with Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), Hank Pym (Michael Douglass), and Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) is still unknown, but it’s worth noting that in the Quantum Realm, there’s an outline of the city which might be the villain’s Chronopolis. 

More: Everything We Know About Loki Season 2

Loki will return for season 2 on Disney+.

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