by Conan Simmons – June 10, 2021 – 10:13 pm
Marvel’s latest series to tie-in with its hugely successful franchise of interconnected comic book adaptations focuses on the most popular villain of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Loki.
Played by Tom Hiddleston who originated the role starting in 2011’s ‘Thor’ and shared a scene stealing moment with Mark Ruffalo’s Incredible Hulk in the 2012 follow-up ‘The Avengers’, the new Disney+ series takes place after the climactic events in 2019’s ‘Avengers: Endgame’ which saw Loki escape after the events of the 2012 film.
By breaking away from the original timeline Loki is promptly arrested by the Time Variance Authority, or TVA. The TVA is essentially an interdimensional police agency that functions much like Marvel’s best known law enforcement agency, S.H.I.E.L.D. which had its own show from 2013-2020 on ABC.
As TVA officer Hunter B-15, played by Wunmi Mosaku, brings the time variant Loki before TVA judge Ravonna Renslayer, played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Judge Renslayer is just about to pass sentence on Loki for his crimes against time when TVA agent Mobius M. Mobius pops in to recruit Loki for a special assignment. As Mobius, Owen Wilson makes a good foil to Hiddleston’s pompous Loki.
It seems that there is a more dangerous variant than Loki running around the timelines and TVA agent Mobius feels Loki may be the key to stopping the time crossing murderer.
There’s a lot of setup to this pilot episode which is very well cast. Even with scant screen time, Mbatha-Raw makes an impression as Ravonna Renslayer, a character first appearing in comic books back in 1965 and having a major connection to the time hopping supervillain, Kang the Conqueror. The character of Kang is expected to appear in the upcoming third Ant-Man film, ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’, with Jonathan Majors recently cast for the role.
The real standout in this first episode is Wunmi Mosaku as Hunter B-15. She may not have a lot of dialogue but her scenes with Tom Hiddleston are the most memorable of the show. Her character immediately demonstrates the potential power of the TVA as a whole and how it presents a major challenge for the superpowered Loki.
Owen Wilson’s Mobius does well to counter Loki’s self-perceived grandeur with playfully critical banter. The pairing of Hiddleston and Wilson works very well and should keep this series an entertaining jaunt through an increasingly complex and at times confusing Marvel universe.
The plot of the series opener is pretty conventional. It’s been done many times before, perhaps most notably in ’48 Hrs.’ starring Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte. The plot device of a policeman teaming up with a criminal in order to bring down a bigger criminal is nothing new. ‘Loki’ tries to shake it up a bit by having a unique villain for the anti-heroic duo to take down.
The biggest problem with this show is if you’re not a big fan of comic book superheroes and the film adaptations it may be hard to engage with ‘Loki’. It does help to have seen many of the previous films, especially the ones featuring the Loki character. Critical scenes from those films are shown in order to help setup the plot of this series, so ‘Loki’ does act as a sort of spoiler recap for anyone who hasn’t seen the Marvel movies.
If you’re not the biggest fan of comic book adaptations you may still enjoy the show as the cast does very well in playing their parts. It’s best not to think too much about what’s going on as the many connections and references to previous franchise installments does make things slightly confusing even for the most dedicated Marvel fanatic. Subsequent episodes already have a significant task on their hands to explain how the main villain came to be while keeping with the already established rules of the Marvel universe.
Entertaining as ‘Loki’ is, it’s best for the ultra Marvel fan.