WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Loki Episode 1, "Glorious Purpose," streaming now on Disney+.
The first episode of Loki kicks off the series by introducing the Time Variance Authority, aka the TVA, a group more powerful than the Infinity Stones or even time itself. The episode follows Loki as he’s brought to trial for crimes against the sacred timeline and by the end of the episode it’s suggested that Loki will be both the protagonist and the antagonist of the show.
Throughout the episode, TVA agents, called Minutemen, are being killed by an unknown opponent. Agent Mobius is attempting to discover who the killer is and ends up taking an interest in Loki. He tries to figure out Loki’s motivations by showing him flashes of his past and future life on a video screen. The revelation of what he will undergo -- his mother’s death, teaming up with his brother and his own death -- causes him distress and anger. He attempts an escape, learning how a TVA time device works and threatening an employee for the Tesseract, telling him, “I’ll gut you like a fish.” However, he’s stopped by the discovery that the Tesseract and the Infinity Stones are powerless in the TVA, meaning he is too.
Loki has seen what the future holds for him. The videos that Mobius shows him are heartbreaking. Loki sees the destruction he will bring upon himself while simultaneously gaining a bond with Thor. The understanding that this is an inescapable fate and he’s powerless to do anything leaves him defeated. He confesses to Mobius that he doesn’t “enjoy hurting people… it’s part of the illusion.” He’s suddenly gone from wanting to burn down the TVA to reluctant acceptance of his circumstances. While this could be viewed as rapid character growth, it could also be a clever ruse.
In the time since the first Avengers movie, Loki’s character has developed into an anti-hero. During Thor: Ragnarok, he received a redemption arc and essentially teamed up with Thor only to later die at the hands of Thanos in an attempt to protect his brother. The Loki in this timeline hasn’t grown like that yet; he’s the Loki that tried to conquer Earth and was willing to kill people to get what he wanted. But he’s also confused and in over his head. His threats don’t have any real malice behind them. Once he understands that even the Tesseract and the Infinity Stones have no power in the TVA, he’s seemingly resigned to his fate there. While he seems to be accepting that now, it could be that he’s so desperate to escape that he plans to use what he’s learned about the TVA to his advantage.
The episode's final reveal is Mobius explaining that the killer the TVA is searching for is actually Loki. It is possible that the variant they’re hunting is a future version of this Loki, one trying to escape and either fix the mistakes that he’s made or trying to solidify his ability to actually conquer the realms. It could also be a different Loki-variant, either one from a different timeline unknown thus far or even a version of this variant in a super-meta twist. One popular theory suggests it could be Lady Loki or another version of Loki from the comics universe. With the number of surprising twists and turns already shown in Loki's Episode 1, it remains to be seen what will happen between Loki and the TVA.
Loki stars Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Owen Wilson as Mobius M. Mobius, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ravonna Lexus Renslayer, Wunmi Mosaku as Hunter B-15 and Sophia Di Martino, Richard E. Grant, Sasha Lane and Eugene Cordero in undisclosed roles. The series premieres June 9 on Disney+.
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