How Loki’s New Timeline Plays Out After Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Endgame left some fans scratching their heads in regards to how time travel would alter the Marvel Cinematic Universe. One key moment which changed the past saw Loki vanishing from his 2012 path to Asgard as a prisoner as seen in The Avengers by using the Tesseract (and Space Stone) to head somewhere new. The directors of Avengers: Endgame have officially confirmed this will be a new timeline, different from the main timeline the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been on and will continue to follow and we have an idea of where it will play out.

“The intent was that he was going to correct the past timelines at the point that the stones left,” Joe Russo told Business Insider. “Loki, when he teleports away with the Time Stone, would create his own timeline. It gets very complicated, but it would be impossible for [Cap] to rectify the timeline unless he found Loki. The minute that Loki does something as dramatic as take the Space Stone, he creates a branched reality.”

The details might be explained when Tom Hiddleston reprises his role as Loki on a Disney+ series. Previously, the rumored details of the series hinted that Loki would be traveling in time throughout history to add to the depth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It seems this claim is close but not exactly on point. Loki might use the Space Stone to jump from location to location throughout the MCU, getting tangled up in scenarios which won’t necessarily effect the larger MCU which is now continuing on the big screen, as he will exist in a splintered alternate reality.

In addition, the branched reality will be one of several going forward. A branched reality will also spawn from the 2014 world where Gamora left for the future while Nebula and Thanos were both killed. The effects of multiverses and alternate timelines will be felt in Spider-Man: Far From Home.

“We’re dealing with this idea of multiverses and branched realities, so there are many realities,” Anthony Russo said.

Another such timeline created by the Avengers as they dabbled with time travel is one which saw Steve Rogers living in the past with Peggy Carter. In the present timeline, Steve arrived at the same place from which he left to return the Infinity Stones. However, he was an old man at this point, which would have required traveling from an alternate reality. “There’s a question of, how did this separate timeline Cap come to reappear in this timeline and why?” Anthony Russo points out.

For more answers to your Avengers: Endgame, watch ComicBook.com’s Game Over: An Evening With Joe Russo in the video above. Share your thoughts and questions in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram and Twitter.

Avengers: Endgame is now playing in theaters.