Why The TVA Building In Loki Looks So Familiar
The fan-favorite trickster god of the MCU is off to a strong start on Disney+ in his new series "Loki," sending the allegiance-shifting, morally ambiguous anti-hero hurtling through time to try and hunt down another variant version of himself. All of the action in the 6-episode series takes place under the watchful eye of the Time Variance Authority, or TVA, who intercepted Loki after he took off with the Tesseract following the events of "Avengers: Endgame."
The TVA in "Loki" is a humorous study in contrasts. The organization is an all-powerful entity whose trans-dimensional authority can even reduce the fabled Infinity Stones to mere paperweights, but it exerts that authority through a dreary bureaucracy. Even the interior of the otherworldly TVA reflects that, as seen when Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is shown that the sweeping compound seems to essentially hide an endless complex of windowless offices, empty courtrooms, and nondescript cubicles.
However, fans may have noticed that the building in which the TVA was filmed is very real and has been featured in other movies and Marvel projects before. Here is why the TVA building in "Loki" looks so familiar.
The TVA building in Loki is actually the Atlanta Marriott Marquis
In the first episode of "Loki," Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson) walks Loki through the hallways of the TVA and reveals the true scope of the organization. While the set is enhanced by CGI effects such as massive statues and enlarged spaces, a few key details show the filming location for what it truly is — the Atlanta Marriott Marquis.
The famous hotel is even visible in the trailer for "Loki," such as when Mobius and Loki use its elevator, and in shots of the hotel's sweeping atrium with its curved, almost rib-shaped interior. The use of such a visually arresting piece of Atlanta architecture isn't entirely surprising, as many Marvel projects have been filming there recently, such as Ryan Coogler's upcoming "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever." Nor is it the first time it has appeared in the MCU. Fans on Reddit noted that the Marriot Marquis was also featured in an unused sequence from "Spider-Man: Homecoming,"
The MCU was far from the first to take advantage of the unique visual style of the Marriott Marquis. IMDb notes that two of the films in "The Hunger Games" series have shot scenes there, as have the 2012 Denzel Washington film "Flight," and the first film featuring the character of Hannibal Lecter, 1986's "Manhunter."