The Road to Doomsday Part 7 — Loki (2021, 2023)

In the outstanding series finale, Glorious Purpose, the protagonist chooses to sacrifice himself and hold the position of the God of Stories, responsible to maintain the stability of timelines. That is an arc that seemed completely unimaginable 15 years ago, but which now establishes the character as one of the MCU’s most powerful beings. His character development throughout the 12 episodes is impressive and greatly written, supported by Tom Hiddleston’s exceptional portrayal of the character since 2011. 

As shown by the alternate ending of Avengers: Endgame, Loki interrupts Peggy and Steve’s dance and says that he can help both of them. The most reasonable scenario is that Steve going back in time disrupts the Sacred Timeline and Loki needs to correct his place to avoid – or fix – an Incursion. As shown in other promotional material, Loki will definitely be on the front lines against Doctor Doom given his new mission of protecting timelines. 

Loki gives us a first impression of the most important institutions in the MCU: the Time Variance Authority (TVA). About 9 minutes into the first episode, audiences get a humorous animated introduction featuring the terrifying Miss Minutes explaining the TVA’s purpose. The second post credit scene featured in Avengers: Endgame Encore could also serve as context regarding the institution and its role. The series introduces us to charismatic TVA personnel such as Mobius and O.B (played by the phenomenal Ke Huy Quan); both now oversee the TVA, as shown in the post credits. In the new scene, Miss Minutes states that the TVA’s current mission is to “keep [the multiverse] tidy and safe”, asking people to “do [them] a favor and stay in your universe”. The TVA team starts seeing incursions and wars between universes; the number of universes being destroyed escalates to 3000 in the span of minutes and O.B says that “the multiverse is collapsing”.