Loki originally planned to include more MCU variants
Alternate versions of Guardians of the Galaxy characters were once considered for the Disney Plus series.
Marvel’s latest Disney Plus series Loki introduced a lot of new takes on Tom Hiddleston’s God of Mischief, with the time-travelling story taking in a handful of “variant” Lokis who had diverged from the path of the “original” and had to be removed by the Time Variance Authority.
This meant we saw other versions played by Hiddleston (like President Loki), younger and older versions (played by Jack Veal and Richard E Grant), a female version Lady Loki (Sophia Di Martino) and even an alligator Loki – but in previous plans for the series, the variants didn’t stop there.
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You see, newly-released concept art for the series has revealed that in some early plans we might have seen more familiar Marvel characters get the variant treatment (in the finished series, we just had Loki and a brief glimpse of Throg, AKA Frog-Thor).
Briefly shown on screen during new one-off Disney Plus documentary Marvel Studios Assembled (which releases “making-of” episodes for each Marvel series), the concept art shows Loki in line at the TVA surrounded by out-there characters.
The most notable addition is a character who looks to be a variant of Guardians of the Galaxy character Rocket Raccoon, though you can also spot a Skrull (as seen in Captain Marvel) and a host of other aliens that have cropped up in Marvel’s more cosmic adventures.
In the finished episode, the scene just features Hiddleston and one other variant (in fact, the lack of people in the room is played for laughs, with Loki indignant that he still needs to take a ticket), and it’s not clear exactly what changed the idea from this early premise to the finished product.
One theory could be that the need for COVID-safe filming made a scene set in a small room filled with people too much of a challenge (certainly, you don’t often see a lot of large groups indoors during Loki), or it could be that Marvel bosses didn’t approve use of characters like Rocket in this project.
Alternatively, it could just be that (like the differently-designed TVA jumpsuits worn in the image) the ideas for Loki evolved over time, and the team decided it was a better fit to have a less well-populated TVA.
And, considering that the documentary also revealed a scrapped storyline where Loki stole the Infinity Stones and went on a sex-fuelled romp across the MCU (yes, you read that right – check the whiteboard in the background of one section talking about the writing team), it’s more than likely that this was just another idea left on the cutting room floor.
It’s a shame, though – considering how well Rocket got on with Thor in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, we’d love to see what he made of Loki…
Loki is streaming now on Disney Plus. You can sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year now. For more, check out our Sci-Fi and Fantasy pages, or our full TV Guide.
Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.
