With a universe as vast and complex as the MCU, it’s no surprise when a stray plot point falls through the cracks. Marvel is not perfect, and the occasional plot hole — however small — is unavoidable. But one oversight has been bugging Marvel fans for months. The final episode of Loki suggested that Loki and Sylvie’s actions at the Citadel at the End of Time kicked off a new multiversal war.
And yet, in Spider-Man: No Way Home, we didn’t see any evidence that the events of Loki actually mattered. Was the fight with He Who Remains unrelated to the multiversal chaos in No Way Home? Not according to Kevin Feige.
A quick warning: Spoilers for Loki and Spider-Man: No Way Home follow below.
Is Loki connected to Doctor Strange 2?
On Monday night, Marvel held a red carpet world premiere event in Los Angeles for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Virtually everyone was in attendance, from director Sam Raimi to stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, and Rachel McAdams. And, of course, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige walked the red carpet as well.
The hosts of the YouTube red carpet show interviewed everyone before the premiere. But it was an answer from Feige that stood out. Here’s what Feige said when the hosts asked him about the multiverse teases in the MCU prior to Doctor Strange 2:
[…] Loki and Sylvie did something at the end of that series that sort of allowed all this to be possible. He Who Remains is gone, and that allowed a spell to go wrong in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which leads to the entire multiverse going quite mad in this.
You can watch the clip from the Multiverse of Madness premiere event right here:
What does this mean for the MCU?
It’s worth reiterating that Spider-Man: No Way Home completely ignores the existence of the Disney Plus series Loki. It certainly would make sense for the events of the two properties to connect, but Marvel has not made that connection explicit. At least not until now. This is the first confirmation we’ve gotten that the death of He Who Remains in Loki directly led to the spell that Doctor Strange cast in No Way Home breaking open the multiverse.
As a result, the Loki finale is apparently the inciting incident that led to Multiverse of Madness. We won’t spoil anything that happens in that movie, but you can read our review here. The question now is whether or not Loki will have a bigger role to play in an upcoming MCU movie. In the meantime, we know that Loki season 2 is in the works.
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