Warning! This article contains spoilers for Loki season 2, episode 5.
Summary
- Loki season 2, episode 5 continues the 'spaghetti-fication' theme, with characters and timelines being erased through this visual effect.
- The title card of Loki season 2, episode 5 hints at the story, as each letter disappears and reappears, symbolizing Loki's disappearing and reappearing throughout time.
- Loki season 2, episode 5 references various franchises, such as G.I. Joe and Marvel Comics, through Easter eggs like the 'Zartan Contingent' and Mobius' house number 1049.
By the time of Loki audio-based post-credit scene to fun references to the world of the TVA, here is every MCU reference and Easter egg found in Loki season 2, episode 5.
Loki's New Superpower Destroys All Time Travel Rules In The MCU
Loki has just gained a major superpower in the MCU, one that breaks all of the previously established time-travel rules that have been seen thus far.
13 Loki Season 2, Episode 5 Continues The MCU's "Spaghetti-Fication"
At the end of Loki season 2, episode 4, Victor Timely was destroyed by Temporal radiation, being turned into a spaghetti-like substance in the process. This effect has been lovingly dubbed "spaghetti-fication" by MCU fans online, something that continued in Loki season 2, episode 5. Throughout the episode, several timelines and characters are erased from time via "spaghetti-fication." Interestingly, this same visual effect was also utilized in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness when Scarlet Witch killed Earth-838's Reed Richards.
12 Loki Season 2, Episode 5's Title Card Foreshadows The Episode's Story
The title card for Loki is usually the same each week, with each individual letter of the word shifting fonts and styles until they land on the now-recognizable title. However, Loki season 2, episode 5 includes an Easter egg to the episode's events hidden within the title's animation. Before settling on the usual title for Loki, each letter disappears and reappears completely rather than simply switching styles as usual. This sets up the story of the episode, more specifically the plot point of Loki disappearing and reappearing throughout time.
11 Loki Season 2, Episode 5's Inclusion Of Alcatraz
While Alcatraz is a real-world tourist destination, the prison island has been utilized at length in Marvel's history. From being used in X-Men: The Last Stand as the final battleground to being utilized often in X-Men comics, the prison has been spotted throughout several Marvel stories. Loki season 2, episode 5 continues this by showing Casey's variant, Frank, as an inmate of Alcatraz prison who is planning an escape.
10 Loki Season 2, Episode 5's Casey Variant References Season 1
As Casey's variant, Frank, is shown enacting his escape plan from Alcatraz, he can be heard saying "If they catch us they're gonna gut us like fish!" This is a reference to one of Loki season 1's funniest interactions between Loki and Casey. In the show's premiere episode, Loki tells Casey he will gut him like a fish, prompting Casey to reply "What's a fish?" much to Loki's confusion. As such, Frank's exchange in Loki season 2, episode 5 calls back to Loki and Casey's first interaction in the entire show.
9 Loki Season 2, Episode 5 Continues Referencing Real-Life Events
Frank's escape attempt from Alcatraz in Loki season 2, episode 5 is interestingly set in 1962, the same year in which the real Frank Morris attempted to escape Alcatraz prison. In a fun twist on the show's time-travel, multiverse-based story, Loki season 1 introduced the idea of MCU characters replacing real-life figures when the titular god was revealed as D.B. Cooper within MCU canon. In Loki season 2, episode 5, this aspect is continued, this time through the reveal that Frank Morris was actually the life Casey lived on the Sacred Timeline before being recruited to the TVA.
8 Loki's Time-Slipping Represents The Show's Cast
While eventually utilized in the episode's story, the initial quick cuts of Loki's time-slipping were Easter eggs to the show's cast. Loki was shown time-slipping between Alcatraz, B-15's hospital, Ouroboros' lab, Mobius' jet ski store, and McDonald's which links to Sylvie. Before the reveal that Loki was being unwittingly pulled to points in the multiverse that represent each character's Temporal Aura, these quick shots served as a neat reference to the characters Loki thought he had lost and foreshadowed the eventual reveal of why Loki was found at these specific points in time.
7 Loki Season 2, Episode 5's Zartan Contingent
Upon showcasing the variant of Ouroboros on the timeline, or more aptly what his life was like before the TVA, it is revealed he wrote a book named The Zartan Contingent which is an Easter egg to multiple franchises. For one, the Zartan Contingent was first spotted in the credit sequence of Loki season 2, episode 1, meaning episode 5 was set up at the onset of the season. Secondly, Zartan is a reference to a G.I. Joe villain and is a master of disguise, somewhat like Loki himself. Finally, the Xartans are a race of shapeshifters from Marvel Comics, also referencing Loki's power-set.
6 Loki Season 2, Episode 5 Has Visual References To The TVA
Aside from the opening few minutes of Loki season 2, episode 5, much of the story takes place away from the TVA. Despite this, the episode features several visual Easter eggs and references to the organization. The main way in which this is accomplished is through A.D. Doug's timeline, the variant of O.B. The author's workshop is built almost identically to O.B.'s in the TVA, complete with a hanging structure similar in design to the Temporal Loom.
5 Loki Season 2, Episode 5 Calls Back To The Show's First Episode
At one point during Loki season 2, episode 5's story, the titular Norse god attempts to control his time-slipping. This results in a humorous scene that builds the tension of Loki's first attempt before showing him straining to accomplish the feat to minimal effect. This is an Easter egg to the very first episode of the show in which the exact same situation happens, only with Loki attempting to use his magic in the TVA when first encountering Ravonna Renslayer.
4 Loki Season 2, Episode 5 References A Fantastic Four Character
During Loki season 2, episode 5, Loki encounters Mobius' variant Dom at his house on the branched timeline. The door number for Mobius' - or more fittingly Dom's - house is 1049, a reference to Marvel Comics' Earth-1049. In the comics, this Earth was a reality constructed by Franklin Richards, the son of Reed Richards and Sue Storm, at the beginning of the Eighth Cosmos.
