Loki Brings Back Phase 2’s Secret Star Wars Tribute
Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Loki episode 5.
In Loki episode 5, “Journey Into Mystery,” the moment when President Loki loses a hand is played for laughs, but it’s also a fun Easter egg — and continues MCU Phase 2’s Star Wars tribute. While this might sound like a deep cut, Marvel's Star Wars connection is well established behind the scenes. Loki has not held back on Easter eggs so far, with endless references to past moments in the comics and in the MCU.
As the Loki variants face off against each other in the bunker — where they are apparently safe from Alioth — Alligator Loki cuts to the chase by biting off President Loki’s right hand. A Loki losing his right hand could easily feel like vengeance for Thor (a variant of whom, Throg, it seems has been trapped in a jar by the Lokis) as Loki pretended to remove his right hand during the ruse against Malekith in Thor: The Dark World. The show has already set up precedence for these kinds of callbacks as Loki’s pruning was a clear mirroring of Agent Coulson’s The Avengers death at Loki’s hand — a scene that Loki displayed in the Time Theater back in episode 1.
However, this Loki callback goes beyond the connection to Thor: The Dark World. Phase 2 of the MCU contained a running gag that was a larger reference to Star Wars: Back in 2015 (just as Phase 2 was wrapping up), Kevin Feige confirmed to Cinema Blend that not only was a character set to get at least one arm cut off in every movie of the phase, but also that this was an intentional reference to Darth Vader cutting off Luke Skywalker’s hand in The Empire Strikes Back. Talking about the hand-removal scenes and how the running gag came to be, Feige said: “It sort of happens in every Star Wars movie, but I was sort of looking at it, ‘Okay, is Phase Two our Empire Strikes Back?’”
Yet, President Loki losing his hand the Alligator Loki could be doing even more than referencing this Phase 2 gag and giving Thor some karmic vengeance. Thor and Loki have brothers who appear in the Marvel comics (as well as, obviously, Norse mythology) who have yet to make an appearance in the MCU. This hand-removal could be a subtle indication of an upcoming inclusion of Tyr, perhaps in Thor: Love and Thunder. In mythology, Tyr lost his hand to one of Loki’s offspring, Fenrir (a giant wolf that appeared in Thor: Ragnarok as Hela’s steed), as part of an attempt to stave off the onset of Ragnarök. Tyr is almost the opposite of Loki as he is historically associated with war, bloodshed, and justice, so it is fitting that President Loki loses his right hand, while Marvel traditionally depicts Tyr as missing his left.
Finally, Alligator Loki is providing part of a series of Peter Pan allusions that run throughout episode 5 of Loki. The Void exists effectively outside of time just like Neverland, and it takes Sylvie thinking of her one “happy memory” to be able to “fly” there as she solidifies her resolve to prune herself. Young Loki serves as a Peter Pan figure as a child who won’t grow up and, unlike Classic Loki, refuses to change. And, last but not least, an alligator removing President Loki’s hand sets him up as the perfect Captain Hook stand-in. While Disney could be using these references as advertising for their upcoming live-action Peter Pan & Wendy movie, they are most likely just the result of the creators having fun with the show, as with Feige and his Star Wars allusion.
Loki releases new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.