Loki Reveals The Avengers Can Never Save The World | Screen Rant
Warning: SPOILERS for Loki episode 2, "The Variant."
Disney+'s Loki series reveals the dark truth that the Avengers can never ensure Earth's safety. Ever since the team assembled in 2012's The Avengers, ironically enough, to stop the God of Mischief's plans of invasion, its members have been committed to safeguarding the well-being of their home planet. Unfortunately for this new generation of the Phase 4 Avengers, they're facing a far bleaker future compared to their predecessors, as teased in the newest Marvel series.
Over the years since the team's inception, they have fought various villains from evil robots to genocidal aliens. The Avengers' biggest mission thus far was in Avengers: Endgame after suffering their first real defeat against Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. Forced to sit in on their failure for five years, they reassembled once the idea for the time heist came about, giving hope that there was still a chance to undo the Decimation. Each hero was committed to the cause, proven by both Iron Man and Black Widow sacrificing their own lives to accomplish their mission. Despite their deaths, the Infinity Saga ended on a high note, with everyone snuffed out of existence resurrected.
While Marvel Studios has yet to announce an Avengers 5 film, a reassembling is imminent when a fresh villain emerges. But while Earth's Mightiest Heroes have proved time and again that the human race can depend on them in times of need, the Loki series reveals that they will inevitably fail to ensure the safety of planet Earth. Episode 2, titled "The Variant," previews what the future of the planet will be in just a few decades, and the situation is glum. Between 2047 to 2051 alone, Loki describes a planet that suffers from multiple environmental catastrophes like the climate disaster of 2048 and the explosion of Krakatoa in 2049. Considering the origins of these issues, the Avengers can't really do anything to prevent them from happening. The MCU heroes can go head-to-head with countless villains, but they can neither stop nor avenge natural disasters.
The MCU's main timeline is currently set around the year 2023-2024, so that's a little over three decades before these TVA predestined catastrophes happen on Earth. That's still a significant amount of time, and chances are that the presently active heroes will have retired from duty by then. It's even possible the Avengers team won't exist at all by that point. In any case, since the Time-Keepers supposedly dictate what happens in the Sacred Timeline in-universe, even if the Avengers presumably attempt to do anything about these issues, they will end up failing–unless, of course, the Time-Keepers provide the Avengers with another loophole and write off their saving the planet as an act that is "supposed to happen."
Earth's dark future in the Sacred Timeline further highlights Loki's problem with the Time-Keepers. The God of Mischief refuses to subscribe to the idea that there's no such thing as free will as the "space lizards" decide everything. As he goes on a crusade in Loki to prove the TVA's principle wrong, it's safe to say that if the Avengers are also confronted with the same idea, most, if not all of them will question it, too.
Loki releases new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+