Loki season 2 episode 4 ending explained: is [SPOILER] dead and your biggest questions answered
Major spoilers follow, everyone!
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Full spoilers follow for Loki season 2 episode 4. You’ve been warned.
Lokiseason 2episode 4 has been released onDisney Plus– and we suspect its shocking and bleak cliffhanger ending has left you feeling slightly hollow.
We’ve become accustomed toMarvelpulling the rug from under us – we’re looking at you,Avengers: Infinity WarandAvengers: Endgame –but few of those moments have left us as speechless as the fourth entry inLoki’s second season.
There’s plenty to unpack from episode 4’s mic drop-esque final moments and, by proxy, we know you’ve got lots of questions about what happens next. To try to answer your most burning queries, TechRadar sat down with Loki executive producer Kevin Wright to find out what’s to come.
This is your final warning:major spoilers forLokiseason 2 episode 4 are incoming. If you haven’t watched it yet, bookmark this page for later, and go watch it immediately.
Loki season 2 episode 4 ending explained: is Victor Timely really dead?
Much has been made of Victor Timely’s introduction – healmost made his MCU debut in an earlier Marvel project– inLokiseason 2. TheKang the Conquerorvariant, who joined the fray in episode 3, was expected to be this season’s main villain. Fans believed as much because of the brief cameo he made in anAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s post-credits scene.
However, so far, he’s proven to be anything but antagonistic. Indeed, the 19th-century introverted inventor seems to be a good guy after he agreed to help Loki and companytry to stop the Temporal Loom from imploding and destroying the multiverse.
Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.
Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.
It was a huge shock, then, to see Timely meet his maker in episode 4’s final sequence. Presumably, in a bid to prove he’s not another Kang in the making, Timely makes the brave decision to attach his through-put multiplier to the Temporal Loom in order to stabilize it.
He doesn’t even get the chance to fasten his latest invention to the timeline-weaving device, though. Despite being protected from the temporal radiation emanating from the Loom by a radioactive suit, Timely is immediately spaghettified and ripped apart by said radiation, which has exponentially increased since Mobius' spacewalk in episode 1.
It’s a horrifying moment that imbues the final scene with an immediate sense of dread and failure on the group’s part (more on this in the next section). Given season 2’s time-bending nature, though, we have to ask: is Victory Timely really dead? Is there a sliver of hope that he might have survived?
Understandably, Wright was hesitant to give anything away about Timely’s potential return. Instead, he teased that viewers will see “everyone” in season 2’s fifth and sixth episodes (more on what this might hint at later), adding “reality is gone”, meaning Timely may not be the only one who’ll perish. Speaking of which…
Loki season 2 episode 4 ending explained: wait, did the Temporal Loom just prune everyone?
Without the through-put multiplier to stop it from overloading, the Temporal Loom self-destructs, unleashing a wave of temporal energy that appears to kill Loki, Mobius, Sylvie, O.B., and everyone else in the TVA. Well, that’s what the cut-to-black ending suggests. We don’t actually see them die, which begs the question: what’s happened to them?
We think the visual representation of the Temporal Loom’s explosion holds the key. Indeed, if you watch the explosion again, the technicolor wave emitted from the Loom’s destruction has the aesthetic of the prune stick used by the TVA. If we’re right, Loki and company could’ve been pruned and sent to another location (or locations if they’ve been separated by the explosion). So, didLoki’s creative team imagine the explosion as a massive prune-based blast? And have our heroes been scattered across the multiverse and time itself?
“We didn’t visualize the explosion that way,” Wright reveals. “It’s a bit coincidental. We discussed it as being like a nuclear explosion met with a slow volcanic eruption. But temporal energy is the same technology used in the TVA’s prune sticks, so you never know where everyone has gone.”
Loki season 2 episode 4 ending explained: are Loki and company trapped in a never-ending time loop?
One of the biggest fan theories concerningLokiseason 2’s official trailerwas that the trickster god would be trapped in aGroundhog Daytime loop, meaning he’d have to stop himself from time slipping in a bid to escape this temporal purgatory.
Loki’s time-slipping affliction was seemingly fixed in this season’s opening episode, but the Temporal Loom’s destruction – and that of reality itself – has revived this particular fan theory.
Indeed, snippets of footage in season 2’s first andsecond teaser might have spoiled this key plot pointahead of ahem time. We haven’t seen Loki time slip to the jet-ski store (the one with the inflatable tube man in front of it), Sylvie working at a record store that’s disintegrating, Loki saying “hello?” to another version of him flipping through the TVA’s handbook, or Loki saying to someone “what I’m about to tell you is going to be hard to believe… again”.
Heck, another clip sees Loki reunited with his TVA allies (and Sylvie) as they try to fix the Loom. This implies they’ll try to save the day on multiple occasions, failing over and over, and using the knowledge they acquire from each attempt to rectify the issue, just like Bill Murray’s Phil Connors inGroundhog Day.
So, are fans on the right track with this hypothesis? Again, Wright was reluctant to confirm or deny this theory, but his response intimates that’s what’ll play out. “Well… reality is gone,” Wright teased. “Loki’s going to… have to bring reality back somehow, so I think time will tell how he figures out how to do that.”
Loki season 2 episode 4 ending explained: will we visit the Void and see season 1’s Loki variants again?
As we suggested above, the Temporal Loom’s obliteration has likely scattered our heroes (and villains) across time and space. If – and it’s a big if – the temporal energy wave has pruned the show’s characters from existence, there’s the very real possibility that some of them have been sent to the Void.
For those who might have forgotten: the Void is a place located at the end of time where the TVA sends individuals and objects from pruned timelines. Sylvie, Mobius, and Loki visited it inLokiseason 1 episode 5after they were pruned, with Loki bumping into more of his variants, including Kid Loki, Boastful Loki, Alligator Loki, and Classic Loki.
If the Loom’s temporal wave has pruned the series' main characters, we might revisit the Void in season 2 episode 5. In fact, we’re almost certain to return to this desolate realm for at least a scene or two, as Ravonna Renslayer was pruned by Hunter X-5 in this season’s fourth episode. Loki season 2’s second teaser even contains a scene showing Renslayer in the Void, so unless it’s a scene that was cut at the last minute, we’re confident we’ll be heading back to the Void very soon.
Even with all of this evidence, we still felt inclined to ask Wright about the reappearance of the Void and Loki’s variants. Unfortunately, all Wright would say is “maybe”, so we’ll have to wait until episode 5 airs to know for sure.
Loki season 2 episode 4 ending explained: does the Marvel TV show set up future MCU projects?
Almost certainly. Studio president Kevin Feige has already gone on record to state theLokiTV show acts as a through line for the Multiverse Saga – i.e. Phases 4, 5, and 6 – so its importance to the MCU’s next big story is abundantly clear.
Events that transpire inLokiseason 2 all but confirm this will be the case, too. For example, if Loki and company fix and rework the Temporal Loom’s functionality, it might allow the device to weave more universes together on the Sacred Timeline. If it does, that sets up the potential for Fox’s defunctX-Menuniverse,Sony’sSpider-Manuniverse, and Netflix’s Defenders-Verse to officially become part of the MCU.
There’s evidence that points towards some of this happening as well.She-Hulk: Attorney at LawandSpider-Man: No Way Homepreviously hinted that Netflix’sDaredevilTV show is partlycanonin the MCU. Meanwhile, the appearance of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine inDeadpool 3– one of 2024’sMarvel Phase 5movies – may lay more foundations for the X-Men’s long overdue MCU arrival. Indeed, there are already rumors thatDeadpool 3will have major ties toLokiseason 2, so don’t be surprised if this season’s last two episodes set up something ahead of that film’s release.
Add inSpider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’s visual reference to the MCU’s Sacred Timeline and Tom Hardy’s Venom making a brief cameo inNo Way Home, and it’s only a matter of time before all these realities fully collide with the MCU. For Wright, that would certainly make for fascinating viewing but, unsurprisingly, he couldn’t confirm ifLokiseason 2 would definitely make this a reality.
“I would love that,” he replied when asked if he’d like to see Loki, Sylvie, and the TVA show up in otherMarvelmovies and TV series. “I can’t tell you what other people are doing with their projects. In creating this show and doing all this world-building through almost 12 hours of multiversal storytelling, the hope is that these are threads other creators will want to pick up.”
You might also like
As TechRadar’s senior entertainment reporter, Tom covers all of the latest movies, TV shows, and streaming service news that you need to know about. You’ll regularly find him writing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, and many other topics of interest.
An NCTJ-accredited journalist, Tom also writes reviews, analytical articles, opinion pieces, and interview-led features on the biggest franchises, actors, directors and other industry leaders. You may see his quotes pop up in the odd official Marvel Studios video, too, such as thisMoon Knight TV spot.
Away from work, Tom can be found checking out the latest video games, immersing himself in his favorite sporting pastime of football, reading the many unread books on his shelf, staying fit at the gym, and petting every dog he comes across.
Got a scoop, interesting story, or an intriguing angle on the latest news in entertainment? Feel free to drop him a line.
How to watch Gangnam B-Side online – stream the South Korean drama from anywhere
‘The stakes are so different’: Endurance filmmaker on finding Ernest Shackleton’s iconic lost ship in a new documentary on Disney Plus
Lego will let you build Sir Ernest Shackleton’s iconic lost ship, the Endurance, in its next Icons set
