The following article contains spoilers for Episode 1 of Loki.
The first episode of Loki premiered on Disney Plus amid much fanfare on Wednesday, and introduced the all-powerful Time Variance Authority, or TVA, for the first time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even though there is only one episode out so far, there is already a lot for MCU fans to unpack. But, while fans were busy getting familiar with the new characters, namely the TVA’s ruthless guards, they could have potentially missed a big reference to the series’ predecessor, WandaVision.
Only 10 minutes into the first episode of Loki, the series decides to drop a major Easter egg that forms an immediate connection with Marvel’s first series to premiere on Disney Plus. Remember the weird Nexus commercial from WandaVision that no one could seem to figure out entirely? Well, Miss Minutes, the cute cartoon mascot of the TVA, helps finally unravel that mystery.
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The sequence of events begins when Loki steals the Tesseract back in 2012, a scene that fans have already witnessed in Avengers: Endgame, and escapes captivity. A glorious plan indeed, but little did he know that soon after he would be captured again, albeit by a different force. Landing in Mongolia after his escape, he comes face-to-face with guards from the TVA, led by Wunmi Mosaku’s Hunter B-15. Informing him of his crimes, they take him into captivity and he soon arrives at the TVA headquarters.
This is where the God of Mischief, wonderfully played by Tom Hiddleston as always, learns that the TVA is an organization that monitors the flow of time. Tasked with protecting the “sacred timeline”, the TVA is not pleased with Loki’s mischievous attempt to travel in time in order to escape, because this could potentially create an alternate timeline. In the first few minutes of the episode, Loki is seen navigating his way through the TVA’s rather large facility, dropping through floors most of the time. He finally arrives in a waiting area, which is where he first meets Miss Minutes, voiced by Tara Strong, who is ready with a lesson on the TVA.
During the crash course on what the TVA does to the “variants”, those who have committed a crime that affects the timeline, Miss Minutes mentions a Nexus event, which is an immediate reminder of one of the six commercials that aired in WandaVision.
Episode 7 of WandaVision, “Breaking the Fourth Wall”, had a commercial that featured 'Nexus' tablets, advertised as antidepressants. The product shows up at a time when Wanda doesn’t seem to have complete control over her powers and decides to take a day off from her reality. At the time, there were many theories floating around online about what that weird commercial could have meant, with many assuming it was a comment on Wanda dealing with her own feelings, or the fact that she suddenly didn’t know what to do.
However, comic book fans were already aware that Nexus is actually quite an important concept and that the commercial in WandaVision would eventually tie into the plot of Loki. Well, it seems like these fans weren’t too off target, because a Nexus event has been explained in the series that just started streaming on Disney Plus, and it is one that involves, wait for it, the multiverse.
Essentially, a Nexus event is one that is created by the variants when they don’t follow the chronological order of events created by the Time Keepers, three powerful beings (or space lizards as Loki refers to them) in charge of dictating how the timeline moves forward. If these Nexus events aren’t controlled, branch realities could be created that could lead to a possible war across the multiverse.
This debunks the mystery behind the Nexus commercial in WandaVision, which was clearly a comment on Wanda as a Nexus being in the MCU. In the comics, Nexus beings possess the power to travel through the multiverse and change the future and in the first Marvel series on Disney Plus, Wanda accepts the true potential of her power, appearing as her Scarlet Witch avatar from the comics.
In the final moments of the season, she is seen living in a solitary cabin, honing into the power that potentially makes her stronger than the Sorcerer Supreme. Sounds like “madness” right? No, it was a casual hint towards Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, which Wanda is confirmed to be a part of. This only goes to confirm that she is indeed a Nexus being and could potentially be responsible for creating another branch of reality in the Doctor Strange sequel.
With two of the three Marvel series mentioning the Nexus events so far, it seems like a good indication that these events will be further explored in the upcoming Doctor Strange sequel. It has already been revealed in WandaVision that the Scarlet Witch possesses the power to warp reality. That combined with Loki’s alliance with the TVA, which is bound to lead to time travel, is the perfect setup for Marvel’s next project and could cement the pathway for a multiverse showdown in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.
The only question that could perhaps bother MCU fans at this point is could Wanda be considered a variant? She has already created an alternate reality in the form of Westview, and she was seen attentively studying the Darkhold book that was found in Agatha Harkness’s creepy dungeon. In the quest to reunite with her missing children, she could possibly be seen jumping timelines in the future, which would be against the rules established by the Time Keepers.
However, in the first episode of Loki, it is already established that some events are meant to happen, and are approved by the Time Keepers. They clearly allowed her to use her powers to create the sitcom world of Westview and anything that Wanda does in the future, and doesn’t get caught for, would be with the blessings of the TVA. As more episodes of Loki are released, the story is bound to unravel more mysteries, leading into the multiverse, which is bound to feature some madness.