When Marvel announced their huge mini-series team up with Disney+ back in 2018, a lot of folks wondered just how much these series would impact the Marvel Cinematic Universe at large. After all, while nearly each one of the announced shows featured some of the MCU’s biggest players, it wasn’t the first time a streaming service picked up a few of Marvel’s mightiest and gave them their own show. In the case of Netflix, the impact of shows like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and more had on the 23 films comprising the current MCU was minimal if non-existent, even if they were canonically set in the same universe. However, at just over two series into the 13 series collaboration, it looks like we have a pretty solid answer with these shows, and that answer is massively.
For starters, throughout WandaVisions‘ entire run, we got a pretty good indication that Wanda’s actions would have lasting consequences on the MCU. By the end of her journey, we watch as she’s forced to accept and reconcile with her past and pain and it became apparent how the show would directly tie into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. However, in the first episode of Loki, this connection is strengthened in two big and pretty exciting ways.
1. It establishes that a “variant” of 2015’s Secret Wars has already taken place.
For many Marvel fans, the Secret Wars arc of 2015 is a modern-day classic, and for good reason. The nine-issue series essentially destroyed and recreated the Marvel Universe by — and this is a very simple explanation of a very complicated series — colliding several universes into one another, destroying some while combining others. What was left was a wildly different Marvel universe, and all of this sounds incredibly similar to what Miss Minutes talks about in her Time Variance Authority introduction video towards the beginning of Loki‘s first episode. In the video, Miss Minutes describes how long ago “countless unique timelines battled each other for supremacy,” resulting in one, sacred timeline the TVA has sworn to protect. However, just because this event has already occurred once in the MCU doesn’t mean we should be so quick to assume it won’t happen again. In fact, it looks more and more likely a new secret war is coming for the following reason.
2. Loki brings the multiverses closer together than ever before through its explanation of Nexus events.
If you watched WandaVision, you might remember a strange “commercial” playing during the show advertising the medication Nexus. In the commercial, the narrator describes the product, stating:
“Feeling depressed? Like the world goes on without you? Do you just want to be left alone? Ask your doctor about Nexus. A unique antidepressant that works to anchor you back to your reality. Or the reality of your choice.”
Based on this commercial and the description of Nexus events (also provided by Miss Minutes), we now understand they are playing a pivotal role in what is happening in the MCU and will most likely continue to, based on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s nearing release dates. So, what is a Nexus event? According to Miss Minutes, Nexus events are points where two timelines meet and subsequently diverge, and both Wanda and Loki don’t show too much respect for them. However, unlike Loki, it would appear what Wanda did was — much like the Avenger’s time heist in Avengers: Endgame — meant to happen, as the TVA didn’t interfere with her work. Regardless, it looks like these events are going to keep occurring, and with Loki now sent on a journey dashing between them and potentially interacting with one of more variants of himself while doing so, it looks like universes are colliding sooner rather than later.