How Doctor Strange Impacted Loki Series Revealed

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the largest franchise Hollywood has ever seen, with an extensive web of tales and characters that frequently crossover between films and television shows. To keep things uniform, Marvel Studios often borrows visual effects work from one project to the next, making sure to keep VFX styles in line. Though Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) have only appeared together once (in Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok), the former’s film franchise has influenced the series starring the Asgardian god of mischief.

According to Loki Season Two director Dan DeLeeuw, his team on Loki made sure to alter the visual effects used by the Time Variance Authority as a way to compare the cinematic world’s magic and science.

“I think a lot of the shows, and of course over my experience with it, you always try to figure out where the source of the technology or the science or the magic comes from,” DeLeeuw tells ComicBook.com “It’s like going back to Captain America: The Winter Soldier, where we had Tony’s tech and graphics and then we designed SHIELD’s graphics and SHIELD’s Graphics weren’t as sophisticated as Tony’s. He could do holograms. All SHIELD’s graphics were on glass. That was the best they could do.”

He adds, “We always think about that, so I think the science of the TVA is different from what the magic Doctor Strange is using. You’re trying to give them story. It’s an effect, but it’s story and what’s the story behind the magic or the tech and making people wonder about that.”

Marvel Studios fan-favorite Tom Hiddleston stars in Loki Season 2, returning as the titular God of Mischief for another round of time-traveling hijinx on Disney+ on October 6th. Loki is once again joined by Mobius (Owen Wilson) as the two attempt to keep the timelines intact. After the events of Season 1 saw his variant Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) kill He Who Remains and unleash the wrath of Kang the Conqueror upon the Multiverse, Loki must once again embark on an adventure to keep reality from collapsing. Loki was last seen in the post-credits scene of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, where he and Mobius were keeping tabs on one of Kang’s mysterious variants. Loki Season 2 will continue the story of the Multiverse Saga in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.