Loki kills off fan favourite character – but is all as it seems?

Their budding friendship has been fraught with challenging conversations and understandable trust issues but this week's episode saw a breakthrough as Loki's sincere warning to Mobius proved accurate – and the consequences were devastating.

Read on for the details of Mobius' fate in Loki episode four and how the Loki post-credits scene sets up his return. Check out our Loki episode four review for a full episode breakdown.

In a shocking scene that left many fans reeling, Agent Mobius does appear to die in Loki's fourth episode – at least, initially.

After Loki and Sylvie were discovered by the TVA on the doomed planet of Lamentis-1, they were apprehended once more and confined to separate interrogation rooms.

As an added punishment, Loki was sent into a time loop in which Lady Sif gives him an emotional and physical bruising for cutting off a huge lock of her hair in a mean prank.

Following another round of questioning between Loki and Mobius, the agent is about to send his Asgardian prisoner back into the illusion, when Loki passes on the information that Sylvie told him on Lamentis: TVA employees are all variants.

While Mobius is reluctant to believe him at first, the statement clearly plays on his mind as he visits the office of Judge Ravonna Renslayer, swapping out her TemPad gadget for his own before making a swift exit.

This allows him to access the secure video file of Hunter C-21's interview, where she reveals Sylvie's enchantment showed her that she once had another life on Earth – proving the variant theory correct.

Struggling to process the news, Mobius frees Loki with the intention of breaking Sylvie out too, but Renslayer and her goons are waiting when they return to the interrogation room.

After an emotional confrontation between the longtime colleagues, Renslayer gives the order to "prune" Mobius and he is disintegrated there and then. However, that might not be the end of his story.

Up until now, we have been told by the TVA that there's no way back from being "pruned", as it wipes the unfortunate victim from existence altogether.

However, the Loki episode four post-credits scene proves this to be false as, when the God of Mischief himself is pruned, he wakes up in an unknown location faced with four Loki variants.

This implies that when a variant is pruned, they are not killed but rather teleported somewhere – perhaps to a lesser timeline than the TVA's so-called "sacred" one.

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Adding to this theory is that dilapidated, crumbling buildings can be seen in the background of the post-credits scene, one of which looks suspiciously like a deteriorating Avengers Tower.

Could it be an apocalyptic version of New York City? If so, it's quite possible that Mobius was sent there too and could return before the series finale.

Loki episodes 1-4 are streaming on Disney Plus, with new episodes every Wednesday thereafter. You can sign up for £7.99 per month or £79.90 for a full year now. Looking for something else to watch? Visit our Sci-Fi and Fantasy pages or our full TV Guide.