The anticipation for Loki on Disney Plus has been building since its initial announcement, and with it, a slew of fan theories about what might happen in the show, which were only strengthened by fans gaining additional information through new trailers and featurettes. Because the show deals with time travel, there are endless possibilities as to what the show could do and where it could go, and it's possible that it could even affect the stories of past MCU movies.
One fan theory that has circulated suggests that Loki might undo a major part of the opening of Avengers: Infinity War. In this opening, Loki defies Thanos and attempts to stab him, only to be stopped by Thanos and killed himself. This was a shocking moment for fans, as Loki has been a fan-favorite since his introduction to the MCU, and it was strange to think he would be gone from the universe forever. Luckily, Marvel decided to give him his own show, and some fans have been speculating that this show might be how the Loki we knew in Infinity War gets back into the MCU.
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Obviously, no one is exactly sure what the plot of Loki is going to be, other than the fact that there's clearly a time travel element. So far, the running theory is that Loki is going to be recruited by the Time Variance Authority (TVA) to solve the rifts in time and space that he presumably created by leaving his original timeline with the tesseract in Avengers: Endgame. The trailers seem to depict him jumping through various time periods and even different timelines, and some have theorized that he will even encounter various other versions of himself along the way.
This is where Infinity War comes in. When Loki died in the movie, a lot of fans immediately went into denial mode and were convinced that Loki wasn't actually dead. This isn't a crazy theory, to be fair; he had already "died" twice in the MCU, and so what are the chances that he was really dead for good? Some fans thought perhaps he had performed his usual trick of duplicating himself, but the Loki that Thanos choked to death was solid, and not a projection. After the announcement of Loki, fans finally had a decent theory to support the "Loki-not-really-dying-in-Infinity-War" thing, and it involves all of this time travel.
There's a chance that by the end of the show, Loki will encounter himself on the ship in Infinity War, just prior to Thanos killing him. This fan theory posits that they will switch places, and that show-Loki will die by Thanos's hand, and the familiar version of Loki from the MCU will get away, perhaps snatched up by the TVA again (which would explain his absence from the rest of the film). Perhaps he was one of the people who got Blipped, which would also retroactively explain why he never came back during Endgame if this theory is true.
Of course, this begs the question, why would show-Loki give up his life for another version of himself? This doesn't seem in line with his personality as we know it. As previously mentioned, it seems as though Loki will be taking a look at alternate versions of the character, and perhaps showing him what roads he could have gone down in his life and how he could have ended up. Perhaps, after undergoing some character development in the show, he will see that Infinity War version of Loki and realize that that version of himself is a much better person, and should be the one to live on. This seems a little unlikely for the character, but at this point, anything is possible.
This theory is mostly borne out of the fact that a lot of fans feel like Loki was unfairly killed at the height of his character development, and that having his personality basically reset to The Avengers version of himself is going to be really unsatisfying. This may be the case, but on the flip side, it allows for interesting character exploration. Infinity War-Loki was developed as a character and was a much better person, yes, but that means he really had nowhere else to go other than being heroic. That's all fine and good, but the show is going to let fans see that mischievous, chaotic side of Loki again, which is much more entertaining, and it allows for him to have some deep character building moments as he (presumably) becomes a better person over the course of the show.
Loki hasn't gotten a lot of solid character development since Thor: The Dark World, so it will be interesting to see what the show does with him. At this point, there's still a chance that he could retroactively impact the events of Infinity War, and perhaps be instrumental in bringing back the version of Loki that most fans know and love. Either way, it will be really entertaining to see Loki contemplate his life and the many alternate versions of it, and hopefully, fans get to see a lot more self-reflection and character building from the god of mischief.
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