The TVA in Loki owns a phenomenal technology, the time twister, been their greatest asset and probably an extreme threat to the cosmos.
WARNING: If you haven’t watched Loki yet, following contains spoiler for Loki Episode 1, “Glorious Purpose”.
We have all enjoyed the MCU’s Disney+ offerings so far, but the first episode of Loki is a diverting treat. The whole system of powers is reversed in the first episode of Loki, as the title character is projected into the mind-bogglingly large world of time travel. Loki: The God of Mischief learns how little he and his powers become as he submits to the Time Variance Authority’s imprisonment, and along the briefly gains what may be the MCU’s most powerful weapon. The show played the implication of Time Travel subtly, but Loki possibly could be the one to put its power on full display.
Loki is all braggadocio when the TVA first apprehends him, but he only proves frustratingly impotent despite his unstoppable power. This is because of the TVA’s setting in a place where time moves differently, which not only robs Loki of his magic but also serves as an extension of just how powerful their technology is. The main among that technology is the Time Twister, a remote-controlled collar that repeatedly grabs him from any present moment and takes him back to where he was a moment ago.
The system is used by Agent Mobius to control the mischievous god through much of the episode, and he is so flared up about how he can use its power that it is not easy to miss just how powerful the device is. TVA also uses batons which are more ostentatious which are used to “prune” their target, erasing people from existence in seconds. But true power here is not only just in the destructive force but versatility.
Although between Loki and Thor, Mjolnir is considered to be most forbidding, Loki has proved in the past that the right tool, be it the Casket of Ancient Winters or Gungnir or the Tesseract, used with his cleverness can be used to devastating effect. In Loki, he gets a hold of the Time Twister himself for a moment and uses it for repeated escapes from the captors. After releasing his collar, he slapped it on Hunter B-15, trapping her in an endless time loop, a fate potentially more horrifying than the blunt device that the batons could be.
The Time Variance Authority may not fully realize how useful such a device can be, but Loki certainly knows. The name Time Twister even gets familiar from the comics. The Time Twister originated back in 1976 in Thor #243, where it was charged by TVA to survive the heat death of the universe and improve the following cycle of time with their knowledge. Instead, the Time Twister prove rebellious, traveling backward in time and leaving destruction in their wake. Now what Loki sets up could be very antagonist, as Loki himself seems to be the villain Agent Mobius is chasing. Here the horned coronal wearing antihero could very well become the MCU’s own Time Twister.
Loki’s premiere subdued the power system of the MCU, rendering inert the Infinity Stones so deeply coveted that they fueled the overarching plot to the mega-franchise for years before leading up to the destruction and rebirth of half of all the life in the universe. Shoved away in a desk jockey’s drawer gathering dust with countless other Infinity Stones, it’s only natural that new weapons should come to the fore to contend themselves as the real weapon of power in the MCU. And Loki could realize that the Time Twister could just be that very weapon.
Loki premiered on June 9, 2021, and will consist of six episodes. Loki stars Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Owen Wilson as Mobius M. Mobius, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ravonna Lexus Renslayer, Wunmi Mosaku as Hunter B-15, and Sophia Di Martino, Richard E. Grant, Sasha Lane, and Eugene Cordero in undisclosed roles. New episodes air Wednesdays on Disney+.
