Any Marvel girlies in here?
I, like most of the world, enjoy a good superhero movie or show. This week, I finally watched the first season of Loki on Disney+ (yes, I’m very late to the game), and I have some thoughts—not just on the show, but on the culture surrounding the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general.
For some background: I was absolutely one of the Loki fangirls on Tumblr circa 2012, after The Avengers came out. Loki was the internet homicidal maniac bad boy everyone adored, and Tom Hiddleston had ladies swooning everywhere he went. But despite the amount of fanfiction I consumed, my interest in the character eventually started to wane.
It’s not that I didn’t enjoy seeing him on screen—Tom is a delight in this role—but it felt like his character was stuck in a repetitive cycle. We got his origin story in Thor, then his role as a full-on antagonist in The Avengers, followed by years of: “He’s a villain!” “No, he’s capable of good!” “Seems like he’s finally repenting…” “Oh no, he’s dead!”
But wait! He’s still alive—the trickster!
But is he friend or foe? A tragic figure or a nefarious villain? Oh, wait, he’s dead again.
SIKE!
Seriously, how many times can one character have a death scene?
I actually liked that the Loki series acknowledged his tendency to “die” only to somehow survive in the end. Still, I just couldn’t find the character that interesting anymore. His death in Infinity War was genuinely moving, but then Endgame introduced us to an alternate Loki who escapes custody during the time-traveling shenanigans, giving us a living version of the character once again. Cool.
All that to say, when a Loki TV show was announced, I wasn’t particularly intrigued. 2012 Eryn would have been foaming at the mouth, but current Eryn couldn’t imagine what the MCU could possibly have left to say about a character who had already been around for more than a decade.
I was wrong.
My boyfriend insisted I watch the series to prepare for Doomsday, since the show contains information that could be important to the movie. In fairness, he also recommended I watch it before we saw Deadpool & Wolverine back in 2024. I didn’t listen, which was ill-advised because I was definitely confused by certain parts of the movie, lol.
Since I had some free time, I finally gave Loki a chance—and yes, Deadpool & Wolverine makes a lot more sense now.
The show—or at least season one, since I’m still working on season two—was pretty good. I think it works especially well as a character study of Loki. He’s constantly talking about his “glorious purpose,” but what actually is his purpose? Why is he the way he is? Why does he do the things he does? And who is he underneath the facade?
Of course, the main plot revolves around The Multiverse™ and the larger implications of messing with the complexities of timelines. But by the end of episode six, I had a much deeper appreciation for Loki.
And dare I admit…I might have a little bit of a crush again?!
Giving Loki his own show and making him the central focus reminded me why the character was so intriguing in the first place. Beneath the God of Mischief is a deeply broken person searching for meaning—and, apparently, that’s all it took to make 2012 Tumblr me come crawling back.
But watching Loki also made me think about how strange the MCU has become as a cultural phenomenon. When I first became a Marvel fan, the appeal was pretty simple: watch a superhero movie, fall in love with the characters, obsess over them online, and wait for the next one. What started as a collection of interconnected superhero movies has become this massive multimedia universe that you’re expected to constantly keep up with. There are movies, Disney+ shows, post-credit scenes, alternate timelines, multiverses, important cameos, and increasingly interconnected storylines. Missing one project can mean missing an entire plot point in another, which is exactly what happened to me with Deadpool & Wolverine. It’s easy to get caught up in theories, timelines, Easter eggs, surprise cameos, box office numbers, and speculation about what a project means for the next project. Sometimes it feels like we’re consuming Marvel content less as individual stories and more as pieces of one enormous puzzle. Instead of asking, “Did I enjoy this?” the conversation can quickly become, “What does this mean for the multiverse?” or “How does this connect to the next Avengers movie?”
And yet, I think that interconnectedness is also what made Loki work for me. Yes, the show is deeply invested in the Multiverse™ and all the increasingly complicated mythology that comes with it. But underneath all of that, it’s still a story about a person. Loki spends the season questioning the identity he’s constructed for himself and what his life is supposed to mean. The show took all of the ridiculousness that had accumulated around this character—his deaths, alternate versions, time travel, the multiverse—and used it to actually ask something interesting about him. Instead of simply bringing Loki back because audiences love Loki, the show gave him somewhere new to go.
Maybe that’s what I’ve been missing from the MCU. I don't necessarily need fewer superheroes, fewer cameos, or less lore. I just want to feel like there’s a human story underneath all of it.
Because ultimately, that’s what made me fall in love with these characters in the first place. Before the multiverses and timelines and increasingly elaborate cinematic connections, I was just a teenager on Tumblr who saw a fictional character and thought, “Oh my God, I need to know everything about this guy!” After nearly two decades of Marvel movies and shows, nostalgia alone isn’t enough to make me invested in a character. But give me a genuinely interesting story about identity, purpose, and whether people can change? I'm all in baby!
Maybe fandom doesn't change as much as we think it does. The internet has changed, the MCU has changed, and I’ve definitely changed. But apparently all it takes is one emotionally complicated fictional man in a nice suit, and I’m 14 years old again, reblogging Loki gifs at 2 a.m.
Also, Alligator Loki? 10/10, real MVP. A storyline about Loki falling in love with an alternate version of himself? Also 10/10, I love a weird ass couple.
xoxo,
Eryn
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