Loki Includes Surprising Doctor Strange Reference

The first episode of Loki has arrived and it wasted no time on introducing the multiverse to fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) explains in the show, each "nexus event" causes a separate timeline from the "sacred" one looked after by the Time-Keepers. The sole existence of the Time Variance Authority (TVA) is to prune these nexus timelines off, so that the sacred timeline is the only one that remains.

Shortly after this explanation, Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) are chatting about the existence of the TVA when the trickster suggests it's all just "a nightmare," to which Mobius quickly responds, "that's another department I'll gladly help you burn down."

Now, maybe we're trying to connect dots that don't exist, but if we take Mobius' choice of words at face value, they could indicate the existence of Nightmare within the ever-growing MCU. We've known the creators of Marvel's Doctor Strange franchise were keen on using the long-time Doctor Strange character from the leap, and he is one of those inter-dimensional beings the TVA would certainly have eyes on.

Instead of being from this reality like Thanos, Agatha Harkness, or most other MCU villains to date, Nightmare hails from Nightmare World within the Dream Dimension. If we really wanted to, one could say Mobius' tongue-in saying was quite literal. Since the TVA deals directly with time and the timeline, perhaps he meant the other "department" was something to deal with interdimensional gateways or something of that nature.

We do know Michael Waldron — the head writer of Loki — also happened to write Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, so if the character is in the sequel, it could make sense to introduce him here first. Furthermore, it wasn't all too long ago the Asgardian trickster actually ended up killing Nightmare in the Marvel Comics. Coincidence, perhaps?

The first episode of Loki is now streaming on Disney+. If you haven't signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.

What other characters do you think could pop up in the Hiddleston-starring series? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!

Note: If you purchase one of the awesome, independently chosen products featured here, we may earn a small commission from the retailer. Thank you for your support.