Will Thor and Loki Reunite in ‘Loki’ Season 2?
Loki, the Disney+ Marvel series centering on Tom Hiddleston’s charismatic God of Mischief, is thrilling to watch in part because it immediately severs its lead character from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, throwing him into a situation where all of his usual tricks are worthless and he has no choice but to change. Part workplace drama, part dimension-hopping science-fiction epic, the series sees a post-Avengers Loki enlisted by the Time Variance Authority (TVA), a bureaucratic organization that (seemingly) monitors and prevents anomalies in the universal timeline, and needs his help in hunting a dangerous rogue version of himself.
But though the events of Loki are removed from the MCU (literally, since the TVA exists outside of time and space), there are moments when it crosses over—Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania notably featured a post-credits scene set within the Loki-verse. And in light of that, with the Season 2 finale just a couple of weeks away, it’s worth considering what surprises could be in store. Fans have long hoped for a reunion between Loki and his adopted brother Thor (Chris Hemsworth), following their complex relationship and emotional final scene together in the MCU. Here’s the lowdown on Thor and Loki’s dynamic to date, and whether Thor could appear in Loki.
Related: Everything to Know About 'Loki' Season 2
When did Loki and Thor last interact in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Just like most questions about the MCU, the answer to this is a little complicated. There are two separate versions of Loki (actually, there are dozens of them and at least one is an alligator, but let’s not get sidetracked). One is the Loki who appeared in five MCU movies, beginning with Thor (2011) and ending with Avengers: Infinity War (2018). But the Loki who stars in his own series on Disney+ has experienced only the events of Thor (2011) and The Avengers (2012), which culminated in his “holding the whole of New York City hostage with an alien army” before being captured by Thor and the rest of the Avengers. The Loki pilot starts with him escaping from the Avengers in 2012 and going on the run via time travel, though thanks to the TVA, he doesn’t get far.
Meanwhile, the MCU Loki was killed by Thanos in front of Thor in the opening moments of Infinity War, a scene that was all the more heartbreaking because of the bond the brothers had forged throughout the previous few movies. And although the TV show Loki wasn’t there, he does find out about his alternate version’s grisly fate within the first episode of the series. After he’s taken into custody, TVA analyst Mobius (Owen Wilson) shows Loki how his original timeline would have ended in the hopes that it’ll inspire him to take a different path and agree to help the TVA. It works, because there’s nothing quite like being shown your own murder to make you reassess your life choices.
So, while the MCU Loki’s final interaction with Thor was an emotional and significant one, the same can’t be said for TV show Loki. In the movies, Thor and Loki gradually and warily repaired their relationship over the course of Thor: The Dark World, Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War—but TV show Loki didn’t experience any of that. And given how much Loki has now changed through the events of the series, essentially going from a villain to a reluctant hero, a reunion between the brothers would be pretty fascinating.
What did Loki say about Thor in Loki Season 2?
Aside from a couple of passing references, Thor and Loki’s relationship to him didn’t feature in the show’s first season at all. But in Season 2, Episode 4 (“Heart of the TVA”), Thor gets a more substantial mention. Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), a hardened and usually trigger-happy female Loki variant, is unnerved to realize that she’s developing empathy after sparing Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors), a variant of arch-villain Kang. In response, Loki recalls how Thor changed following his time in exile during Thor (2011).
“Some years ago, my brother was banished from Asgard and sent to Earth,” he says. “When he came back, he was different—changed somehow. I thought it was weakness. I mocked him. Said he’d gone soft.” Thor was transformed by his experience of spending time around humans, and specifically falling in love with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). The unspoken implication is that Loki has a new perspective on this story—he now understands Thor’s experience of being softened by humanity, thanks to the bonds he’s formed with Mobius and Sylvie. So, even though the brothers have never interacted in the series, their dynamic continues to evolve along with Loki’s understanding of himself.
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Will Chris Hemsworth appear in Loki Season 2?
There have been no announced plans for Chris Hemsworth to appear in Loki, though it would certainly be kept under wraps if it were happening. There have been plenty of surprise cameos in the Marvel TV shows to date, including Jamie Alexander, who reprised her role as Lady Sif from the Thor movies in the first season of Loki. Hemsworth himself actually recorded a voice cameo for Season 1 (playing Throg, an amphibian variant of Thor—it didn’t make the final cut), which suggests he’d be game to play in the Loki sandbox. But given how many loose ends and unresolved character arcs still have to be wrapped up in Season 2’s final two episodes, it’s hard to imagine there being room for the God of Thunder.
But even if Hemsworth doesn’t appear in the show itself, that brotherly reunion is very much still on the table. Shortly after Loki’s Season 2 renewal was announced, executive producer Kevin Wright was asked by Variety about the possibility of Loki rejoining the MCU movie universe after the series ends. “I don’t want to—yeah. I think the sun shining on Loki and Thor once again has always been the priority of the story we’re telling,” Wright responded. “But for that meeting to really be fulfilling, we have to get Loki to a certain place emotionally. I think that’s been the goal of these two seasons."
