Theory Suggests Loki’s Main Villain Isn’t Who The Show Claims (SPOILERS)

Warning: Spoilers follow for Loki episode two.

The second episode of Loki dropped a big bomb in regard to its main villain, through one theory suggests it’s not as clear as the show suggests. I know that’s probably not a shock to most people, as the titular character has never been particularly straight-forward. That said, the show seemed to make a big reveal at the end of the episode when Sophia Di Martino appeared as the Variant that the Time Variance Authority is following. After Loki and Mobius led a team to a doomsday event in 2050 in Alabama where The Variant was hiding, she proceeded to reveal herself to Loki and teleport “Reset” bombs all over the timelines, causing chaos at the TVA and then leaving through a TVA portal, with Loki reluctantly following.

Many are assuming this character to be Lady Loki, who was Loki reborn into a body intended for Sif after the events of Ragnarok in the Marvel Comics event. As Uproxx reports though, this could also very much be the character of Enchantress, and some eagle-eyed viewers waited through the full credits to find clues: which they did.

https://twitter.com/ashelynx22/status/1405075042438991873

While the main credits rever to Di Martino as “The Variant,” the Castellan Spanish language dub credits refer to the character as “Sylvie.” In the comics, the second Enchantress was Sylvie Lushton, who was a young girl in Oklahoma before Ragnarok happened and the Asgardians moved to Earth. She was given powers by Loki and became a superhero, joining the Avengers and taking on the name of Amora the Enchantress after the previous Enchantress. The theory also notes that Loki’s first episode ended with the Variant taking out a TVA response team in Oklahoma.

As evidence for the idea that Di Martino isn’t playing Lady Loki, the theory points out that the Variant didn’t seem to like Loki much and utilized different powers than Loki traditionally does, something made explicit when earlier in the episode Loki points out some technicalities of his own displayed abilities. The Variant also says during her confrontation with Loki to stop calling her by his name.

None of this, obviously, is concrete evidence. It’s entirely possible that in order to avoid the messiness of the comics resurrection of Lady Loki post-Ragnarok, the writers have used Sylvie as a way to explain how Lady Loki comes into being. Regardless, don’t be sure that we’re seeing Lady Loki until we get in-universe confirmation (and maybe not even then — it is Loki after all, and everyone is playing a long game in this show).