Today’s new episode of Loki on Disney+ revealed the rogue Loki that has been evading the Time Variance Authority for long enough that Mobius M. Mobius conscripted the time heist variant Loki to help track them down. The credits for the episode, titled “The Variant,” may reveal that this variant is something other than it seems. [SPOILERS for Loki episode two, “The Variant,” follow.] In today’s new episode of Loki, with Loki’s help, the TVA finally tracks down this elusive variant. Loki is able to deduce that the other variant has been hiding out in apocalypses where their actions wouldn’t affect the future, thus avoiding detection by TVA agents.
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The variant gets the jump on Hunter B-15 by using enchantment magic, which Loki notes as a “clever trick.” By the end of the episode, the variant takes off their cloak and reveals a woman dressed similarly to Loki, in green and with golden horns. Loki is taken aback. When the variant waves goodbye after bombing the sacred timeline with the TVA charges she had stolen and escaping through one of their portals, Loki follows.
The first assumption most fans will make is that this is a female version of Loki. Loki is confirmed gender-fluid and has presented as a woman in past Marvel Comics stories. But the Castillian credits for “Variant” list the character as “Sylvie,” which may be a reference to the character called Sylvia Lushton in Marvel Comics’ universe.
Marvel introduced Sylvie during the era when Asgard was located in Oklahoma. Sylvia lived in the nearby city of Broxton and awoke one morning with magical powers. She then chose to style herself after the Asgardian villain called Enchantress and then moved to New York City hoping to become a superhero and join the Avengers.
But it turned out Sylvie’s powers were a gift from Loki, or that perhaps Loki created her whole cloth. She eventually attempted to join the Young Avengers but didn’t prove a good fit. Instead, she joined the Young Masters and later begin allying and leading supervillains. She was last seen being banished by the original Enchantress, the Asgardian named Amora, for daring to co-opt the name. Her current whereabouts, and whether she survived the trip, are unknown.
But the important part is that she was created as one of Loki’s pawns, even if she isn’t Loki. What that means for the Loki series remains to be seen.
What do you think of this possible villain reveal? Let us know in the comments. New Loki episodes debut Wednesdays on Disney+.