Marvel’s luster has been fading for some time, especially on television. It began strong after Netflix produced its shows, especially the perfect comics adaptation Luke Cage, but since then only Moon Knight has offered anything close to the MCU’s best movies. Tom Hiddleston’s Loki is likely the most popular villain in all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He’s also one of the best, staying true not only to the comics, but the spirit of the Norse mythology they pulled him from. But the first season of his Loki series was a lot like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, and Secret Invasion–not memorable, and not enough content to justify even six episodes of television. Why? These series serve only as connective tissue between what has unfortunately been a few years of lackluster movies. On the other hand Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, and She-Hulk deserved their own movies. Loki is like Disney making a Maleficent or Cruella movie. Villains work when they stand next to heroes. They don’t stand-up alone, or hold their own narratives by themselves.
What will we get with a new season? Check out the latest trailer for Loki:
That looks a lot like Marvel is trying to be Doctor Who, right? Watch that again–notice how little Loki is in the trailer. The Marvel series have established the brand of spending more time boosting supporting characters than spending time with series stars.
Concept shows would be better as a two-hour movie–if there’s not enough content to justify a two-hour feature, it’s probably worth skipping. If you can tell the story in six episodes, tell it in a two-hour movie. If you want a series, wait until you have at least ten hours of content. These are the lessons from the MCU so far. What did Owen Wilson as Mobius M. Mobius do in the first season? Not much? What did Loki do? Can you remember anything other than the alligator Loki or Richard E. Grant and Sophia Di Martino stealing every scene? We’ve since moved on from Marvel Phase IV to Phase V. Now we’re stuck with more of Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror–another boring villain like Thanos.
Actors for Season 2 include Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Eugene Cordero, Tara Strong, Neil Ellice, reprising their roles from the first season, and new characters from Rafael Casal, Kate Dickie, Liz Carr, and Academy Award winner Ke Huy Quan.
We have a long wait. The second season of Loki is slated for release beginning October 6, 2023, streaming on Disney+.
C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg
