Loki Season 2 Trailer: How Spider-Verse Could Explain The Time-Slipping Problem
After a season of uncovering a vast conspiracy in the TVA, "Loki" sets up our god of mischief to be a fully-fledged agent ready for more timeline-saving shenanigans. But things will not be so easy if the Season 2 trailer is any indication. Apart from being separated from his romantic interest variant, Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), Loki (Tom Hiddleston) also has the small problem of spontaneously being ripped through time at a moment's notice. Mobius (Owen Wilson) refers to this issue as time-slipping, and it seems there is no cure. This conflict is slightly reminiscent of another timeline-jumping MCU project, "Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse."
The visionary animated Spider-Man film unites variations of Spider-people from all different timelines as Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) tries to stop a tragedy from occurring. The film is incredibly ambitious with high stakes, including the prevalent problem of what happens when you cross into other timelines. Existing in a timeline that you don't belong to causes side effects such as "glitching." The only way to stop from feeling these effects are watches designed to keep you stable in the timeline. Fans on Reddit were quick to point out the similarities of these scenarios and posed the question if these issues are somehow related. But while time-slipping and glitching seem related on the surface, pull back the layers, and they may be completely different problems with varying ramifications.
The TVA has different rules
In "Beyond the Spider-Verse," there is an easy fix for Miles' glitching issue. Just stay in your timeline, or wear a gadget, and you'll be safe. Loki's issue seems to imply end-of-the-world-type scenarios. As demonstrated in "Beyond the Spider-Verse," glitching is more of a plot device than anything else. When this happens, Miles realizes he has traveled to the wrong universe. Loki, on the other hand, has bigger problems. He doesn't just glitch, he vanishes. Any time Loki time-slips, he travels to another timeline beyond his control. Even more concerning is that this problem shouldn't be possible in the TVA. Ke Huy Quan's character O.B. makes that clear in the "Loki" trailer, implying no solution exists.
The real concern is what could have caused this to begin with. Unlike time-slipping, glitching has clearly defined parameters of why it happens. Loki has no such luxury, leading to the prominent question: What did you do, Loki? Time-slipping could very well be the result of him changing the Sacred Timeline that pushed Kang the Conquerer to the forefront. But more than likely, this is all about Sylvie. "Loki" has already established that two variants kissing each other are bad news, and maybe there are more repercussions to having feelings for another version of yourself.