The Disney Plus Hotstar series stars Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Owen Wilson as Mobius M Mobius, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ravonna Renslayer and Wunmi Mosaku as Hunter B-15.
The Norse god Loki is known as the god of slander. So when Marvel’s version of this god gets its show, a delicious streak of trickery will clearly run through the action. Tom Hiddleston is the perfect lead for this riotously imaginative new series, possibly the strangest adventure ever in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Loki premieres Wednesday, June 9 on Disney Plus, with a new episode streaming each week.
The series opens with a scene from Avengers: Endgame, in which Marvel’s mightiest heroes have time-traveled back to the events of the first Avengers movie and bumped into the God of Mischief when he was still the scamp we first met all those years ago. This past Loki hasn’t sought redemption for his villainy because that stuff hasn’t happened yet. So when this Loki scoops up a stray magical cube and uses it to escape, he sets the past on a different path. This brings him to the attention of a previously unseen agency of timecops, all set to wipe everyone’s favorite demented deity from existence — unless he turns out to be the key to a time-bending threat that could rewrite the entire MCU…
From this opening scene, the show immediately takes a sharp turn away from you might expect from a Marvel story. Not only that, but it sets out its stall with a glorious visual that involves, perhaps appropriately, Loki getting punched in the face.
The first episode in particular is packed with information and ideas, some of them cosmically enormous in scope. It would be very dull if the main character just wandered around asking questions. But Loki is not under question. Thrown into the Gobi desert early in the show, his first reaction is to leap over a cliff and amaze the shocked locals with a grand godly speech. It doesn’t last long. As the show continues, you barely notice the exposition’s landslide as you are too busy enjoying Loki’s blatant ego against the shocking new reality of the Time Variance Authority.
A big part of Loki’s relatability comes from the charming chemistry between Hiddleston and Owen Wilson, inspired casting as time-twisting agent Major Mobius. They’re like a team-up between Hannibal Lector and Doctor Who. Wilson’s low-key intensity is an ideal foil for Loki’s thin-skinned hubris, their blossoming partnership giving weight to Loki’s actions.
