Loki Season 2 Trailer: Breakdown, Small Details, And Big Reveals
Throughout the pages of Marvel Comics, Loki has taken and abandoned countless titles and worlds. Why not? A chaos magic user doesn't follow rules! That's the God of Mischief most of us know and the version we've seen Tom Hiddleston play within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For Loki, alliances are fuzzy. Priorities shift due to his whims or as a last-minute way to apologize for flippant moves like stealing an Infinity Stone or plotting to murder his brother. However, "Loki" Season 1 best paved the way for the MCU to explore Loki's contradictory character.
Loki's most fitting moniker comes from Al Ewing's "Loki: Agent of Asgard" comic, where he deems himself the "God of Stories." After centuries of meddling with time, wreaking havoc, and obliterating the Marvel Universe, Loki learns there is more lasting and meaningful power in creation than destruction. The revelation that he can build worlds ultimately leads him to a heroic-ish path — embracing the role of a multiversal protector of sorts.
Following the Season 1 finale of "Loki," the multiverse is a mess — thanks to Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) choosing violence. Season 2 seems prime to explore similar thematic grounds as Ewing's run. Now that everything has shifted into a Multiversal War with the promise of ruination around every corner, will Loki find hope in crafting time anew? Based on the Season 2 trailer, it seems like Loki and Mobius (Owen Wilson) are opting to take more risks to prevent the demolition of existence. Here we delve into each clue as to how they — hopefully — succeed.
Ke Huy Quan is stuck in a multiversal mishap again!
The trailer for "Loki" Season 2 opens with an extended sequence that focuses on an interaction between Mobius (Owen Wilson), Loki (Tom Hiddleston), and an entirely new character unofficially identified as Ouroboros (Ke Huy Quan). (Although in the trailer we do hear him referred to as "OB.") Now, there's a lot going on here! There's the messy antique shop of an office that the scene takes place in, and the poor Prince of Lies glitches out of existence as if he's auditioning for a cameo in Sony's "Spiderverse" franchise. However, the star of this cold open is unquestionably Ke Huy Quan.
While his role's name is officially under wraps, Huy Quan's character seems to function as an innovators' help desk. Daniel Rihctman, the same individual who leaked what they believe to be Huy Quan's character name back in 2022, referred to Ouroboros as the "Q of the TVA." While we wonder what that means, it's fun to smile at how Huy Quan is back in another multiverse.
In 2022, A24 released "Everything Everywhere All at Once," a now critically acclaimed multiversal drama starring Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, and Huy Quan. If that film is any indication of how Huy Quan will be in the MCU, it's no wonder Feige is teasing us about his potential here. Otherwise, Q/TVA would down the Council of Kangs (Jonathan Majors) all by himself. Maybe he will!
Sylvie's name tag has hidden Miss Minutes clocks
We expected plenty of mind-bending things to appear in "Loki" Season 2, but a Marvel hero working at McDonald's wasn't on our bingo card! However, with multiple Gods of Mischief messing up the TVA's multiversal plans, we should've remembered anything is possible. But there may be more to the MCU's McDonald's than meets the eye.
At 1:17, we see Sylvie rocking a vintage McDonald's uniform. She's seemingly working at the fast food chain but judging by her worried look, things aren't going according to plan for the rogue Loki variant. Upon closer inspection, there are five Miss Minutes clocks clipped onto Sylvie's name tag like a five-star rating. While we're sure the service is excellent, this visual clue could hint at how Sylvie found herself in this situation.
"Loki" Season 1 showed that Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) answers to He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), who ultimately reshaped the TVA into his image. What if Season 2 traps Sylvie by having Miss Minutes create McDonald's as a prison for her? It doesn't get much worse than being forced to work in the service industry forever, so it's a fitting punishment for someone who meddled with the multiverse. McDonald's even replied to Marvel's trailer on Twitter, further proving the TVA's mascot has something to do with the restaurant's appearance in the MCU.
Who is Zaniac & his connection to the Dark Dimension Explained
In a scene at a movie theatre, the film name "Zaniac!" hangs above the marquee. Zaniac debuted in "Thor" #319 by Doug Moench, Keith Pollard, Brett Breeding, George Roussos, and Diana Albers. In the issue, movie star Brad Wolfe portrays a blood-craving creature named Zaniac: He wears a costume that makes him appear monstrous. Unfortunately, an accidental explosion on set (connected to the Manhattan Project) transforms him into becoming a host to a mystical entity. Zaniac would take on other hosts after leaving Wolfe's body.
The comics later reveal that Zaniac jumped through different hosts for centuries, including being responsible for the Jack the Ripper murders in the late 1800s. While Zaniac isn't directly referenced as being from the Dark Dimension, his connection to the serial killer confirms his origin. In "Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme" #23 by Roy Thomas, R.J.M. Lofficier, and Lee Weeks, it's revealed Jack the Ripper was under the control of Dormammu, the ruler of the Dark Dimension. Considering Dormammu is already an established figure in the MCU — making his live-action debut in "Doctor Strange" — Zaniac's appearance could hint at bigger things coming from the dark underbelly of the Marvel Universe. "Loki" has played with history before, as Season 1 revealed the trickster god was DB Cooper, so any bending of time is possible here!
So who plays Wolfe?
Much of the "Loki" Season 2 trailer centers around this old-timey movie premiere and its teases of Zaniac. From the looks of it, the event will be the focal point of at least one episode, as we see Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), Mobius (Owen Wilson), and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) all in attendance. However, Rafael Casal's mysterious character may be the most important part.
We see Casal's character, presumably an actor, a few times in the trailer. But at 1:46, things get interesting. In the shot, eagle-eyed viewers will spot a fan holding a sign on the right-hand side which reads, "Marry me, Brad Wolfe." The sign is pointing at Casal's character: This suggests the actor will portray the in-universe actor Brad Wolfe, who's tied to Zaniac in several ways.
The "Loki" Season 2 trailer seemingly perfectly sets up Zaniac's origin story (as referenced above), as we see Wolfe exit the theater that's debuting "Zaniac." But we also later see Loki confront the actor, which seems to suggest some TVA mischief and timeline bending is afoot. In Deadline's report noting Casal joining the "Loki" cast, the outlet said Marvel was keeping his role under wraps. However, the outlet also reported that there's been online speculation that he's tied to Zaniac, which seems to be likely.
Jet skis!
In the time-traveling, reality-altering end of "Loki" Episode 6, the season finale left a lot of threads up in the air. Can Sylvie and Loki make it work? Will Mobius remember his best friend in the universe? Though we don't know for sure quite yet, we may get an answer to one burning question: What is the deal with Mobius' inexplicable love of jetskis? There is nothing inherently wrong with a love of water sports, but the TVA agent's fixation with it was so specific that it has to be addressed. And it looks like fans could get the moment they've been waiting to see.
As Loki continues to be thrown through time, he finds himself at the one place Mobius would love to go. Loki lands at Piranha Powersports, the one place for all your jetski needs. Letting the god of mischief land in front of a row of jetskis could conceivably only be a wink at the audience. One moment he's there, and the next he's gone. But that wouldn't be very fun and would squander a massive opportunity for the series. Since Loki travels through time because of the time slip, this location could hint at the origins of Mobius. Perhaps this is where a pre-TVA Mobius worked and cultivated his love of water sports? Viewers could see Mobius' past, and perhaps led him to start working at the TVA.
Is Loki S2 turning the Circus of Crime into 1893's World's Fair?
The "Loki" Season 2 trailer sees Loki and Mobius travel back in time to visit Chicago's 1893 World's Fair. The heroes are there to deal with the pressing issue of saving the world from possible annihilation. But why does this feel so much like the Circus of Crime?
In Marvel Comics, the Circus of Crime is a criminal organization whose members use their mind-control powers to rob carnival crowds. Led by Fritz Tiboldt, they were also active members of the Nazi Party who sought to stick it to the Americans by murdering government officials too. However, their plans were foiled by Thor, Captain America, and Marvel's other noble heroes.
The "Loki" trailer doesn't appear to feature any of their members, but the carnivalesque setting of the World's Fair is interesting. It's certainly the type of event that one could expect to find the Circus of Crime at, as there are plenty of people to rob and they resent tentpole American extravaganzas. Then again, there's another villain at the big show who seems intent to cause trouble for those in attendance. Toward the end of the trailer, Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors) appears and tells the crowd that they have a difficult choice to make. Afterward, he unleashes some powerful forces on the unsuspecting punters, which is quite reminiscent of Tiboldt's shenanigans.
Time slips!
In the wake of "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," ironing out issues with the MCU timestream seems to be a main priority of "Loki" Season 2. In the upcoming season, Loki finds himself in a time slip — unable to be at one place in time before flipping elsewhere. Fans of the MCU will find this plot device to be a familiar one. While slightly different, a time slip is extremely similar to what happened to Dormammu (Benedict Cumberbatch) when Doctor Strange (Also Cumberbatch) uses the Time Stones to freeze him in an endless time loop during "Doctor Strange." Strange's bid to stop Dormammu from merging the multiverse with the Dark Dimension ultimately works. But ever since then, the MCU's timestream has been less than stable.
It appears that Season 2 of "Loki" is similarly set to put its titular hero through a series of time warps, yanking him backward and forwards throughout the universe in a viscerally painful-looking way. In the Season 2 trailer, we watch him physically meet different versions of himself, go back in time with Mobius (Owen Wilson) to what appears to be the 1893 World's Fair, and cause general chaos wherever he lands. Loki looks to learn what the true costs are when you "play God" and don't expect consequences to be equally dire.
The Living Tribunal might appear again
The Living Tribunal is one of the most important figures in the Marvel Multiverse: They're the cosmic entity responsible for overseeing and arbitrating existence — the One Above All. The "Loki" Season 2 trailer has two potential references to the three-headed figure. When Loki travels back in time via TVA technology, he walks by a house with the number 157 on it. The Living Tribunal's first cameo appearance came in "Strange Tales" #157 in a story from Stan Lee, Marie Severin, Herb Trimpe, and Artie Simek. Later, the number 158 can be seen on a car, possibly referencing the Living Tribunal's first full appearance in "Strange Tales" #158 by Roy Thomas, Severin, Trimpe, and Simek.
The Living Tribunal has had three appearances in the MCU thus far. In Season 1 of Loki, he's easter egg inside The Void. In "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," we glimpse the faces of the Living Tribunal when America Chavez and Doctor Strange tumble through different realities. In "Thor: Love and Thunder," the character's faces can be seen in Eternity's temple as a statue.
Given the character's vast importance to maintaining the multiverse's balance in the Marvel Universe, it'd be appropriate for them to appear — especially with the recent damage to the timeline after Sylvie killed He Who Remains (Majors). The Living Tribunal showing up in "Loki" would emphasize how grand the cosmic universe is. Will Sylvie and Loki have to answer to them?
Casey is a full-fledged Hunter now - what does this mean?
Much has seemingly changed between "Loki" Season 1 and 2, including a rather large promotion for Casey (Eugene Cordero). In Season 1, the TVA employee who works a desk job and keeps Infinity Stones in his desk as souvenirs. But by the end of the season, the Disney+ series credited Cordero as "Hunter K-5E," signaling Casey's new role in Kang's revamped TVA. Now, the "Loki" Season 2 trailer has finally given us our first look at him in action!
Casey briefly appears at 1:44, walking through a dark alley with two mysterious figures behind him. Sadly, there's not much to go off here. But from the looks of things, he seems to be in a somewhat precarious position, hinting at the more serious tone for "Loki" Season 2.
As usual, Marvel has remained relatively tight-lipped on details regarding "Loki" Season 2, including Casey's promotion into a Hunter. Assuming he's still on the TVA's side, he could be the Hunter leading the charge to hunt down Loki or Sylvie. Or Casey could be working with the Loki variants to bring down Kang's new regime from the inside. Deadline first reported Cordero's real-world promotion to a series regular for Season 2, meaning the only thing fans know for sure is that they can expect to see much more of Casey when "Loki" returns to Disney+.
Miss Minutes' new look
In "Loki" Season 1, Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) serves two roles and one master. She's an AI program designed by He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) to function as the face and mascot of the Time Variance Authority, where she preaches its propaganda. She spreads false cheer to keep members of the TVA — and less fortunate variants trapped therein — thoroughly indoctrinated at every single turn ... even during coffee breaks. She's also the little snitch who rats on Mobius (Owen Wilson) to the higher-ups because even robots enjoy the taste of boot leather.
But Miss Minutes must have scored a promotion because none of her current job duties include transforming into a giant Pac-Man Ghost Monster. In the trailer for "Loki" Season 2, Marvel fans are treated to a clip of Miss Minutes growing into some sort of digital kaiju. With her size comes a commensurate level of rage to boot! The shot ends with Miss Minutes pursuing a fleeing crowd.
Now, does this mean that Miss Minutes will feature more prominently in the story of Season 2? Unclear. After all, the trailer intentionally obfuscates Majors' part in the narrative by only sneaking him in for a single shot so the depiction of Miss Minutes' transformation is no guarantee of increased screen time. Still, it's a cool visual! And, if these power upgrades are any indication of what's to come in Season 2, we're in for this wild ride!