Loki Season 2 Trailer Breakdown: Time Is Running Out On The God(s) Of Mischief

If time travel were truly possible and fans today could travel back 15 years to tell their younger selves that Loki, the God of Mischief, would end up becoming one of the most popular characters in all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — big enough to merit two seasons (and counting) of his own show — well, they'd probably get laughed back into their regular timeline again. But with the benefit of hindsight, the recipe for success behind "Loki" is easy to see. Take one of the most talented and charismatic actors currently working in Tom Hiddleston, add in a buddy comedy dynamic with Owen Wilson's Time Variance Authority agent Mobius, and wrap it all up in a "Doctor Who"-inspired romp through different timelines in a setup for Marvel's newest and baddest villain, and it's no wonder why "Loki" took off like it did.

Amid all the hijinks of season 1 of "Loki," the spin-off from "Avengers: Endgame" introduced another instant fan-favorite in Sophia Di Martino's Sylvie, a Loki variant with an immensely tragic backstory who finds herself caught up in a much bigger adventure than she ever could've anticipated. Between hints of a very quirky romance between the two Lokis, the discovery of a conspiracy embedded deep within the core of the TVA, and a finale that ended on the cliffhanger involving our first look at Jonathan Majors' Kang, viewers have had to wait over two years to find out how the irreparably fractured timeline could possibly be resolved. With the release of the first trailer for "Loki" season 2 this morning, the answers are finally starting to come ... along with a whole lot more questions, naturally.

The footage teases all sorts of unexpected plot developments, new characters, and, above all, the looming threat of Kang.

No, that's not Loki doing his best impression of one of those inflatable tube men from Jordan Peele's "Nope." The new set of problems to kick off this new season are made apparent right away, as the "situation" Mobius refers to ends up rearing its head right in front of OB. Loki is apparently suffering from some "time-slipping" shenanigans, which keeps throwing him from location to location at the most inopportune moments. Is this a nasty side effect of Loki and Sylvie breaking the "Sacred Timeline" in the season 1 finale by killing that variant of Kang? Is this Marvel's answer to the multiverse "glitching" featured in Sony's "Spider-Verse" movies? Or is this something else entirely? Either way, OB makes it clear that this is not supposed to be possible within the confines of the TVA, which means this isn't something he's equipped to fix.

The biggest consequence of this time-slipping isn't just the inconvenience of it all, however. It also appears to take Loki from the present to the past and back again, as hinted at when Loki is thrown back into what sure looks like a scene from season 1 when Loki first landed in the TVA. Left unchecked, this could potentially cause even more "incursions" in the timeline (as explained in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness") and hasten the destruction of reality as they know it. So, yeah, it's easy to understand Mobius and Loki would want to get this settled as soon as possible. But even that issue might pale in comparison to the encroaching threat of a major villain.

Some of the best moments of "Loki" season 1 came when Mobius recruited Loki into traveling across multiple timelines in order to hunt down one of his own troublemaking variants, which turned out to be Sylvie. Naturally, it seems like season 2 will try to recreate that time-traveling gimmick by having Loki and Morbius travel back in time with their fancy TVA gadgets to a very specific and intriguing moment in history — the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and the Midway Plaisance, an extensive mile-long carnival adjoining the fair that served as a secondary attraction. This town fair consisted of all sorts of shops, attractions, and rides (including, yes, the world's first Ferris wheel shown in the trailer), providing a colorful backdrop to whatever Loki and Morbius are doing here. The pair soon find themselves into a tricky spot, as Loki is forced to blast green magical energy at an unknown assailant in some sort of fight taking place at the base of the Ferris wheel. According to a highly-spirited voiceover by Mobius, this is all just a result of "good ol' fashioned legwork" to get to the bottom of whatever mysteries lie at the heart of season 2.

As the footage shows an oddly out-of-context shot of theatergoers lining up outside a showing of something called "The Zaniac" (diehard fans may have an idea of what that's about), there's also a glimpse of a returning Hunter B-15 in a yellow dressing gown, the former TVA soldier played by Wunmi Mosaku who later reformed her ways and helped our heroes once the truth behind the TVA was exposed at the end of season 1.

Someone over at Marvel must be a real big fan of Christopher Nolan. In a shot that looks heavily indebted to "The Prestige," the trailer returns to the post-credits tease from "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," which revealed Loki and Morbius attending some sort of magician's show starring none other than a variant of Kang. As Majors' voiceover describes the dilemma to "Make the hard choice," his face reveal in 1800s clothing — obviously taking place at that World's Fair — finally addresses the elephant in the room. Majors is currently dealing with multiple allegations of workplace misconduct, domestic violence, and abuse, which has had the secondary concern of putting Marvel in a real bind considering that Kang stands to play a Thanos-level role for years to come. The trailer avoids any real look at Kang for as long as it can, but it's difficult to imagine that the actor won't play a significant role in the season. While "Loki" had completed filming too early for any major restructuring, it remains to be seen how Marvel makes the "hard choice" to address Majors' presence moving forward.