Image: Courtesy of marvel studios
Just like the god of mischief himself, Loki has thrown a wrench in everything we thought we knew. Just when Episode 2 of the new Disney+ series looked to be following a procedural plot involving Loki and Mobius hunting a variant of the Loki we (sort of) know, its final moments revealed that the hunted variant is somebody (sort of) new: a female-presenting variant of Loki. A.K.A Lady Loki.
There were some hints leading to this reveal that only appear obvious in hindsight. Shortly before Loki‘s premiere, Disney+ confirmed that Loki is a genderfluid character in promotional materials for the show. Considering that Loki’s powers include shapeshifting into any form he wants, those forms can logically be any gender (or be genderless) at will. Loki’s male form is a presentation, not a constant, so another “version” of him that is similarly fluid and presents differently is kind of a given.
Also, the beginning of this episode begins with the variant Lady Loki pulling off a mysterious time crime to the kickass strains of Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero.” Right before the fight begins, an announcer for the Renaissance fair introduces the scrap as “a great battle,” the prize for which is “our princess.” Seconds afterward, the Loki variant— a princess of Asgard — takes over a TVA agent’s body and commences her attack.
So who is Lady Loki? In the comics, Lady Loki is a sort-of reincarnation of the god of mischief, born after Ragnarok rocked Asgard and caused Loki to reenter existence in the body of Lady Sif. This Loki went on to do all sorts of comic book villainy with a host of other baddies whose names are likely irrelevant for the Loki show (Doctor Doom! Norman Osborne!), but she crucially was Loki, complete with his shapeshifting powers.
Insofar in Loki, it’s impossible to know if the Lady Loki variant is simply a female-presenting form of the general entity that is Loki, meaning that our genderfluid Loki could become a Lady Loki if he wanted to and vice versa, or if the Lady Loki here is a gender-locked variant of the character who happens to be a woman in another timeline. Mobius’ mini slideshow showing alternate forms of Loki that the TVA has already pruned suggests that Loki is just different in other timelines, but whether or not that difference is because the “Loki entity” chooses those forms or is locked into them is another mystery.
There is, however, a third option. The character played by Sophie de Martino who is identified by the TVA as a Loki Variant may not be Lady Loki at all. Decider pointed out that the Castilian dub of Loki Episode 2 credits this character as “Sylvie,” which is also the first name of the Marvel character Enchantress/Sylvie Lushton. In the comics, Sylvie is a mortal woman with confusing origins: she was either a human woman who Loki gave Asgardian powers for fun, or a life form created by Loki to think she was a human woman who thought she developed Asgardian powers…also for fun. Either way, her powers and existence are tied inextricably to Loki, so there’s a high chance our Lady Loki is actually Enchantress. Or she’s both.
Loki has been described as having a huge impact on Phase 4 of the MCU and the final moments of this episode might explain why. Episode 2 ended with the Lady Loki character convincing our Loki variant to join her in some kind of scheme that resulted in the mass-scale splintering of the sacred timeline — it may finally be time to set our MCU multiverse countdown clocks to zero, with the chaos of multiple timelines actually becoming the multiple universes that opens the door to interdimensional mayhem for the rest of the franchise’s existence.