Loki Season 2"s Ending Perfectly Flipped His Avengers Invasion 11 Years Later

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Summary

Loki's journey from villain to hero in the MCU is a result of his extensive character development over the course of twelve years, which saw him become one of the franchise's most beloved heroes.
In Loki season 2, the character's motivations are completely flipped as he evolves from a power-hungry villain to a selfless hero determined to protect the multiverse, even at the cost of his own life.
The significant time jump in the finale of Loki season 2 allows for a believable and poignant transformation for the character, as Loki's centuries of development into a hero are condensed into a short period.

The ending of Marvel Studios' Loki season 2 took the God of Mischief's original MCU plan and flipped it completely on its head, marking the perfect ending for the former villain over a decade after his debut. Tom Hiddleston has portrayed Loki in the MCU since 2011's Thor, and despite the original version of the character meeting his demise at the hands of the Mad Titan Thanos in Infinity War, a variant was freed from the Avengers' clutches in Endgame. This version of Loki, still played by Hiddleston, set out on a new adventure with the Time Variance Authority, which contributed to the villain's second redemption arc in the MCU.
Loki has seen more character development in the MCU than most other characters, taking him from bona fide villain in Thor and The Avengers, to ally in Thor: Ragnarok, to multiversal savior in his dedicated Loki series on Disney+. This growth, spanning twelve years, has seen him become one of the most beloved heroes in the superhero franchise, so the prospect of Loki's MCU journey coming to an end is an unfortunate one. However, Loki season 2 provided the perfect full-circle storyline for the God of Mischief, and took a lot of inspiration from his previous motivations as an original MCU villain to inform his transformation into a powerful hero.
Related: Loki's Powers Explained In Full: How Each Ability Is Different
Loki Season 2 Flips Every Aspect Of The MCU Character's Story Close An excerpt from the Avengers: The Art of Marvel's The Avengers book shines more light on Loki's motivations during 2012's The Avengers. The crossover film saw the Avengers come together for the first time to battle the God of Mischief, who had journeyed to Earth with his Chitauri army to assume control of the planet, desperate for a throne. His intentions back in the MCU's Phase 1 were purely villainous, but Phase 5's Loki season 2 took these same motivations and reversed them, giving Loki a truly heroic endeavor, not having a "thirst for power," but rather wanting to protect the multiverse, even if it means sacrificing his own life.

The mega-event in question is an all-out assault on Earth motivated by Loki's thirst for power and insatiable desire to occupy a throne - any throne - even if it means lording that power over humans, a race "made to be ruled" in his estimation. He can't do it alone, of course, even with the Tesseract, so the trickster forges an uneasy alliance with the Chitauri, an alien race that serves as his invading force.

Not only does Loki season 2 flip this by having Loki become a hero rather than a villain, but his "all-out assault" is now a desire to protect literally all of existence, and his "thirst for power" has become a thirst for friendship, connection and duty. Loki no longer views humanity as a race "made to be ruled," but rather as peers, and while he struggled to invade Earth alone, his new mission confines him to an eternity of isolation. Ironically, Loki does end up with a throne - perhaps the most powerful throne ever - yet this comes at a huge cost, marking the greatest sacrifice he could make.
Related: All 14 Loki Costumes In The MCU, Ranked

Loki Having escaped from a different timeline, Loki stars in his own titular series, where he learns about the life of his predecessor and discovers the truth of time and space. In the show, Loki reluctantly becomes a part of the Time Variance Authority (TVA), an interdimensional governing body that keeps time in order. On the chopping block, Loki is given a chance to save himself by helping the TVA hunt down someone more dangerous than himself - another Loki.
Release Date June 11, 2021 Cast Tom Hiddleston , Richard E. Grant , Erika Coleman , Gugu Mbatha-Raw , Sophia Di Martino , Owen Wilson , Wunmi Mosaku , Sasha Lane Genres Adventure , Action , Fantasy , Superhero Seasons 2 Why Loki Season 2's Story Flip Proves The Show Needed Its Time Skip

Loki season 2's finale featured a massive time-jump as centuries passed while Loki was learning everything there is to know about engineering and the TVA. This time-jump is much easier to comprehend when considering his character development, as a lot of time needed to pass for him to be ready to become the God of Time. From Loki's perspective, only days or weeks have passed since The Avengers, so Marvel Studios giving him centuries of development into a hero in a simple time-jump makes this dramatic shift from villain to hero much more understandable, and far more poignant, as Loki ends up sacrificing everything he worked for centuries to protect.

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