Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Loki season 2, episode 5
Summary
- Loki gains a new superpower in episode 5 of Loki season 2, allowing him to control his time-slipping to travel along his own personal timeline at will.
- This power breaks the established rules of MCU time travel, as Loki can now rewrite and undo events in the present, creating a new narrative going forward.
- Despite defying the rules, Loki's newfound ability is significant because it symbolizes his character development and his refusal to let his story play out as it always has.
"time-slipping" affliction he'd seemingly gotten rid of in the premiere. However, Loki ends up finding a way to control this new ability, granting him the incredibly new power of personal time travel unlike anything seen before.
By the end of Loki season 2, episode 5, all of Loki's friends from the TVA were unraveled along with the branches that are gradually dying, leaving Loki alone. However, the God of Mischief chose to rewrite the story and the assumed narrative that Lokis are meant to lose. Refusing to let his friends die Loki gained a newfound control over his time-slipping, meaning he can now time travel at will. This is quite a remarkable and game-changing new power for Loki with massive ramifications considering how MCU time travel has worked in the past.
How Many Episodes Are In Loki Season 2 & When The Finale Releases
Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson Sophia Di Martino and Jonathan Majors return in Loki season 2, one of the shows that's part of the MCU's Phase 5.
Loki's Time-Slipping Superpower Breaks All Established MCU Time Travel Rules
The God of Mischief Can Rewrite And Undo MCU History However He Wants
While Loki's time-slipping was originally seen as a painful affliction and curse that sent him back and forth on his personal timeline involuntarily, it's now become a brand-new superpower the God of Mischief can seemingly use whenever he wants. Now he can rewrite any timeline, going back in time to undo all that has happened in the present, creating a new present and future such as the TVA's Temporal Loom being repaired before it ever explodes. While exciting, it does fly in the face of the time travel rules established in 2019's Avengers: Endgame.
If Loki's new control over his time-slipping sticks around for the long term in the MCU, he's essentially going to have one of the most powerful abilities out of any other superhero. Unlike what was claimed in Endgame, Loki can go back in time to rewrite his present and future. While this was something that has already been seen in Loki's premiere as well as with a collection of paradoxes throughout the TVA, the newfound control is what's so significant. The possibilities of all that Loki can now do are staggering, though the main idea is that he seemingly now has access to an infinite amount of do-overs.
Why It Doesn't Matter That Loki's Superpower Breaks The MCU's Time Travel Rules
It's The Culmination of His New Purpose
Ultimately, it doesn't matter that Loki's new time-slipping powers break all the known time travel rules. This is because it's so crucially tied to Loki's culminating development as a character as seen in Loki season 2. It pays off his entire arc of feeling that he had no purpose, rejection by his family, and ultimately feeling alone. Loki can control his time-slipping now because he refuses to let his story play out as it always has, choosing instead to write a new Loki story with those he cares about going forward in the MCU. It's not unlike his redemptive arc in the comics where Loki chose to become the God of Stories rather than Mischief.
New episodes of Loki release every Thursday at 6pm PT / 9pm ET on Disney+.
