**WARNING MAJOR SPOILERS FOR LOKI EPISODE 5 AHEAD**
This week’s episode of Loki was truly a spectacle. And was filled with an abundance of Marvel Comics and MCU Easter Eggs and references. We’re gonna take a look at some of our favorite ones and explain what those references were and how they connect to Marvel Comics and the broader MCU. Whether it was the heads of the statue of the Living Tribunal or Throg himself. Let’s count down our favorite Easter Eggs and references.
10. The Living Tribunal
During the final moments of this week’s episode, Loki and Sylvie go on to attack Alioth in an attempt to enchant him and move him away from the end of The Void to reveal who is truly behind the TVA. As Loki and Sylvie look on and await a new branched reality to happen (which doesn’t), Sylvie suggests causing a distraction that doesn’t go quite as planned. As Classic Loki causes the real distraction by conjuring up Asgard, in the background in which Loki and Sylvie stand we see the beheaded head of The Livin Tribunal.
This episode makes it a point to focus on the faces on The Living Tribunal which just like its comic book counterpart are covered in a cloth. While the colors of the heads aren’t shown in gold nor is the cloth that covers them shown in their purple colors, seeing two faces (with the third buried in the ground) covered in a cloth makes the look distinct and rather unique to the only cosmic being in the Marvel Universe to have it, which is none other than The Living Tribunal.
How or why The Living Tribunal was pruned and what was the Nexus Event that caused The Living Tribunal to be pruned remains to be seen. This isn’t the first time The Living Tribunal’s name has been either referred to outside of the films but this does make the first time we see the actual heads of the cosmic being in its former living flesh in the MCU.
Who is The Living Tribunal?
The Living Tribunal is a cosmic entity from the Marvel Comics Universe created by the One Above All to oversee the multiverse. In the comics, The Living Tribunal is killed by the Beyonders (we’ll spare you the specifics since this delves deeply into Adam Warlock, Thanos, the Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War, and ultimately the Infinity Watch, and also, the Guardians of the Galaxy). Seeing that The Living Tribunal is dead here, it’ll be interesting to see is whether it was Alioth who killed The Living Tribunal after being pruned by the TVA or was his head just thrown into The Void by Kang the Conqueror.
9. Alioth
If you were like me and many others who were watching Loki this week and heard the name Alioth, you probably asked yourself “who tf is Alioth”? Don’t worry we got you covered, it what we do around here. As for Alioth, that’s another Marvel Comics character with ties to none other than Kang the Conqueror. While his appearance may have turned folks off and reminded them of the gas cloud Galactus was turned into when he appeared in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, don’t fret, that’s how Alioth actually looks in the comics.
Alioth just how Boastful Loki mentions in this episode is a Temporal Limbo that consumes all matter and energy that enters The Void. It’s very similar to what Alioth does in the comics without necessarily preventing Kang the Conqueror from expanding his personal Temporal Limbo. Needless to say, Alioth is a being that Kang the Conqueror truly fears, and the way he is presented in this week’s episode of Loki, he can either be the guard dog Sylvie presumes he is to be or he could be the very thing keeping Kang the Conqueror at bay…for now…
8. Qeng Enterprises
In a blink and you’ll miss it moment you’ll see what looks like Avengers Tower from Avengers: Age of Ultron but instead of reading Avengers Tower the building reads Qeng Industries/Qeng Enterprises. In the comics, Qeng Enterprises is a company to which Tony Stark sold Avengers Tower. Mr. Gryphon is the leader or rather the face of Qeng Enterprises, Mister Gryphon is later to be revealed as Nathaniel Richards aka Kang the Conqueror hence the “Qeng” in Qeng Enterprises. More connections to Kang the Conqueror…who would’ve thought.
7. Red Skull’s Escape Vehicles – Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Throughout The Void see a number of artifacts from throughout the MCU’s history. One prominent one is Red Skull’s Escape Vehicles which we last saw during the final act of Captain America. This leads us to our next massive Easter Egg that was almost too hard to not miss.
6. Ronan’s Dark Aster – Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
As I previously said it was almost too hard to not miss this specific Easter Egg but for the sake of those who don’t recall the ship itself, it’s Ronan the Accuser’s command ship the Dark Aster as seen in Guardians of the Galaxy. We see Ronan’s Accuser ship again in Captain Marvel but it’s not the same Accuser ship seen in Guardians of the Galaxy. The big question behind this Easter Egg would probably be, why is the Dark Aster here and is it the Dark Aster from 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. If so, what was Ronan’s Nexus Event, not stealing the Infinity Stone from Thanos?
5. Pyramids of Giza
The Pyramids of Giza are one of the biggest nods to Chronopolis, home of Kang the Conqueror. Geez, I keep mentioning Kang in this piece but it’s totally unintentional. At the same time, Marvel wants us to do this as Kang is indeed coming. Anyways, The Pyramids of Giza are often seen in Chronopolis, as part of Kang the Conqueror’s prize collection. The pyramids alone give more credence that The Void is actually a veil for Chronopolis so no one can actually invade it.
What if, Kang instead of fearing Alioth (and I know I mentioned this above when talking about Alioth), is in fact in control of Alioth just like Sylvie presumed. Hence why she was able to see a glimpse into what’s past The Void when Alioth first touched her?
4. The Void – Chronopolis: Home of Kang the Conqueror
There’s a lot of theories when it comes to Kang the Conqueror and the big one being that his homeworld Chronopolis in the small city seen in the Quantum Realm in Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018). I personally today’s episode of Loki adds a little more credence to that theory for the simple fact that when Sylvie was touched by Alioth and got a glimpse of what Alioth is essentially guarding. What she saw was in fact the Microverse or what is now known as the Quantum Realm in the MCU.
Not only did this vision have the same colors and hue of the Quantum Realm as seen in Ant-Man and The Wasp. We see everything grow in size just as fast as the scenes kept flashing. This could also be a metaphor, at least a visual one at how “time works differently here at the TVA” or rather Chronopolis aka The Quantum Realm.
3. President Loki and The Origins of the Other Lokis
This week we got Loki overload with the full introduction of Classic Loki, Kid Loki, Boastful Loki, Alligator Loki, President Loki, and his army of Lokis. With the inclusion of these Loki variants, we also learn more about their origins or rather the Nexus Events that caused their pruning. President Loki is simply a nod to the comic book storyline ‘Vote Loki’ a four-issue miniseries and satire of the 2016 Presidental Election. I think the only disappointing part of seeing President Loki is the fact that he’s a variant rather than our own Loki taking over whatever timeline he’s from.
As for the other Lokis, Kid Loki was pruned for killing Thor, Boastful Loki was pruned for killing Iron Man and Captain America, Alligator Loki was pruned for eating the wrong cat and Classic Loki is a future variant of Loki who managed to escape his death at the hand of Thanos during the events of Avengers: Infinity War. This is probably the best origin for a Loki and it’s good to see that Loki found a way to survive imminent death and living long enough to become his classic comic book counterpart.
2. Throg
And just like that, we have the official live-action debut of Throg. Throg or Simon Walterson first debuted in Marvel Comics in 2009 in ‘Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers #1’. Simon Walterson was a college football player until a knee injury ended his football career. After the death of his wife and unborn child, Walterson fell into a deep depression and eventually found a witch with a connection to the afterlife. Unable to pay the witch for her services, Simon Walterson is then turned into a frog.
Throg gains the power of Thor when he lifts a piece of Mjolnir which was broken off by Toothgnasher. In turn, this piece of silver turns into a miniature version of Mjolnir later dubbed Frogjolnir. Throg gains all of Thor’s powers thus becoming The Frog of Thunder. Despite his amphibian state, Walterson is able to maintain his human memories and strength all while wielding the powers of Thor but is unable to communicate with humans. As part of the Pet Avengers, Throg and the rest of the Pet Avengers are able to communicate with each other via a telepathic link courtesy of the Mind Gem.
1. Thanos Copter
This is probably the biggest meme-worthy Easter Egg in MCU history. While Thanos has used his copter less than a handful of times in the comics. Seeing that in some bizarre timeline Thanos indeed used the Thanos Copter is something truly great and a great job on Marvel Studios’ behalf to include that in this week’s episode of Loki. Will we see a timeline in which Thanos actually flies around in his infamous copter? Probably not, but I’d be lying if I said I did not want to see that. I totally do!
Did we miss anything? What were some of your favorite Easter Eggs and references from this week’s episode of Loki? Let us know!
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