Marvel Studios
Loki Season 2 Episode 4 is packed full of references: from the comics to Spider-Man and Jurassic Park
Episode 4 of Loki Season 2 has recently been released on Disney+, and while it’s set up the final 2 episodes with an incredible twist, it’s also full of easter eggs for fans to find.
Loki season 2 in Disney+ has just released its fourth episode, with plenty of easter eggs for Marvel fans who are watching this series, as well as those who follow the MCU closely and those who take the deep dive into the comics. This has become specially true thanks to the subtle connections that have been made to Kang the Conqueror and its paramore/best frenemy Ravonna Renslayer, and a certain multiverse focusing around spider-people.
Without delving too much into spoiler territory, The latest episode of the series was filled to the brim with easter eggs that connect with the larger Marvel multiverse (and not just the MCU), from seemingly omnipresent numbers to ancient relationships, a even a quick and funny Jurassic Park reference.
As always, it should be noted that almost everything listed below could be considered spoilers, even if we’re shying away from giving actual plot context. So if you haven’t watched the episode yet, keep reading at your own risk.
Spider-Man in the Loki series?
During a conversation between Kang the Conqueror and Ravonna Renslayer that is way too important to the plot to spoil here, the duo speak of a “Protocol 42″. In the TVA, that protocol is the catalyst of basically everything that has happened so far, but it also uses a meme of the Marvel multiverse that has been present for many years.
The number 42 continuously appears throughout the comics, movies, videogames, and more Marvel-related projects, typically as a marking of importance to many of the characters. Most recently it’s been showing up in Spider-Man productions, surrounding everything around Miles Morales’ life in the Spider-Verse movies (it’s the designation of the spider that bit him, the universe it came from, the number that won him the lottery to enter Brooklyn Visions Academy, etc.).
However, it’s also related to the Fantastic Four, as “Prison 42″ is the name of the containment facility Reed Richards built in the Negative Zone in the comics to hold super villains. It was Tony Stark’s 42nd idea during the super hero Civil War, the time one of the deadliest rampages in the main continuity lasted, and the list goes on and on.
Kang and Ravonna sitting on a tree, K-I-L-L-I-N-G
Following the same discussion between Kang the Conqueror and Ravonna Renslayer, the close relationship that both characters had in the comics was transferred to the screen, since he reveals that he erased her memory, so their closeness is already canon in the MCU.
In the comics, the two are constantly shown as both lovers and the worst of enemies, stabbing each other in the back in one of the mediums most toxic relationships ever. And it seems like the same is happening in their current iterations of the MCU.
Another of the easter eggs is related to Víctor Timely, when he finally steps in the TVA and is shown in front of artwork that shows the Time War, the Time Keepers, and what seems to be his sword-shaped Damocles Base from the comics.
It was also revealed that Timely is the reason why O.B.’s name is Ouroboros, as while the TVA technician says he learned everything he knows from the Kang variant, Timely revealed that he based himself on the TVA guidebook written by O.B. that explains how all of the time technology of the agency works. It’s a time paradox, with no beginning or end, like a snake eating its own tail.
When dinosaurs ruled the TVA
Finally, one of the most obvious references is actually to Jurassic Park, the 90s film about a dinosaur theme park that goes horribly wrong. While working with Ravonna to take back control of the TVA, Miss Minutes enforces a complete lockdown of its networks. All of the screens and TemPads begin showing the AI wagging her finger and saying “Ah ah ah! Access denied!”.
Of course, we’ve seen something very similar before in Jurassic Park, when Park manager Dennis Nedry creates a system lockdown that both causes all of the chaos in said movie, and frustrates Samuel L. Jackson because he wasn’t able to swear past saying the word “butts” once.