Loki’s Opening Scene Debunks Fun Iron Man Theory

The opening scene of Loki immediately debunks a fun theory connecting it to Iron Man. The premiere episode of Loki debuted on Disney+ on Wednesday, showing what happened to the God of Mischief after his escape from the Avengers in Avengers: Endgame. Anticipation for the series has been building for months, but already it appears the show isn’t necessarily going to go as viewers expected.

Loki follows Tom Hiddleston’s trickster god and his adventures with the Time Variance Authority, which watches over a sacred timeline. The TVA doesn’t want the Marvel universe descending into multiverse chaos, so after Loki created a different timeline by escaping in Endgame, he had to be brought in by the agency. The series quickly reveals Loki isn’t the only variant messing with time. To combat an even bigger threat, Owen Wilson’s TVA agent Mobius enlists Loki to help travel through time and stop a mysterious and sinister villain.

Ahead of the series, trailers for Loki showed him jumping through multiple timelines to various points in history, and one particular moment sparked a theory that the series was connecting to the Marvel Cinematic Universe film that started it all. A scene from Loki promos shows Hiddleston crashing in a desert, much like Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man did after escaping the Ten Rings in 2008’s Iron Man. The moment was read by many as Loki traveling back to that film. However, the opening scenes of Loki immediately debunk that.

Instead, it seems that Loki crashing in the desert was, at most, a nod to the Iron Man moment. The scenes do have a similar look, with both Iron Man and Loki sprawled out in a desert and surrounded by debris, but Loki clearly didn’t travel back to 2008’s Iron Man. He’s not even remotely close to where Downey Jr.’s character landed when escaping the Ten Rings. In Iron Man, Tony Stark crashes an early version of his superhero suit in Afghanistan. In Loki, Hiddleston’s character escapes the Avengers and ends up in Mongolia. With 23 movies already in the MCU—and more and more Disney+ series on the way—it’s understandable for some MCU scenes to coincidentally reflect others. Not everything has to connect, however.

This Loki theory seems to be fans reaching for something that isn’t there. As much as the MCU loves Easter eggs, fans love them even more, and theories can quickly spiral out of control. In WandaVision, viewers zeroed in on the tiniest details thinking they were clues that the villain Mephisto would show up or that the Fantastic Four would soon appear. Unfortunately, that was not the case. A WandaVision mention of an aerospace engineer didn’t turn out to be the Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards, and Mephisto wasn’t secretly hiding in the form of a bug (or anywhere at all). Marvel can’t compete with the hive mind of the internet. It’s impossible. And given the enthusiasm for MCU projects, viewers will likely continue to see things that just aren’t there. As with WandaVision, this particular Loki theory appears to be the internet causing mischief. Thankfully, mischief is something Loki would appreciate.

Loki releases new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.

About The Author

Bill Bradley
(524 Articles Published)

Bill is an experienced reporter who’s covered entertainment and fandom since 2014. He’s done everything from unearthing the discarded Game of Thrones pilot script in a library in Texas to finding out why Steve left Blue’s Clues. He also enjoys eating Taco Bell and drinking chocolate milk.

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