Loki's New MCU Role At The End Of Season 2 Explained
Contains spoilers for "Loki" Season 2, Episode 6 — "Glorious Purpose"
The God of Lies (Tom Hiddleston) finds his purpose — and it's greater than he could ever have suspected. In Season 1 of "Loki," the titular trickster variant struggles to find meaning in his existence. In Season 2, he settles on friendship and is ready to do quite a lot to help his allies at the Time Variance Authority. However, few could have suspected just how far he is willing to go to save them before the "Loki" Season 2 finale premiered.
"Glorious Purpose" makes full use of Loki's time-hopping powers as the god puts himself in a "Groundhog Day"-style loop, repeatedly trying to fix the Temporal Loom for hundreds of years until he finally learns that the attempt was doomed all along. He also discovers that the entire story so far has been rigged to keep He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) in charge. Loki isn't about to let impossible odds stop him, though. After numerous time-hopping antics and with centuries of wisdom now under his belt, the trickster takes command of the mission and weaves the errant timeline branches into a structure that resembles the mythical World's Tree, Yggdrasil.
With this, Loki takes his place at the heart of every timeline and becomes the God of Stories. However, that's just one side of his new role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. By taking control of the timelines, Loki not only defeats He Who Remains but takes his place. What's more, he's effectively controlling the Multiverse now, which might make him the MCU's most powerful god.
The God of Stories is one powerful Loki
In the comics, Loki Laufeyson has worn a great many (horned) hats throughout his — or occasionally, her — lengthy career. From his traditional villain role to Agent of Asgard to God of Nothing, the character has rarely been afraid to adapt and change with the times ... for better or for worse.
One particularly heroic version of Loki bears several similarities to the variant we see on the show, from his unexpectedly nice nature to his ability to exist outside the Multiverse. This Loki rejects his traditional role as the God of Lies in favor of becoming the God of Stories and confronts some of the most powerful entities in the Marvel universe — all of which is almost exactly what happens at the end of "Loki" Season 2. The way the show's Loki now holds every story in the MCU Multiverse in his hands makes pretty clear which version of the character he draws inspiration from.
He Who Remains doesn't seem so powerful now, does he?
Loki arguably becomes the MCU's most powerful god when he learns to control his Time Slipping due to the sheer mastery of time and space it grants him, but his new role upgrades him even further. Though he effectively usurps He Who Remains as the lord of timelines, he doesn't quite occupy the same position. After all, the Kang variant actively culls and prunes entire universes to protect a single Sacred Timeline, whereas Loki allows them all to grow in harmony, watching over them and presumably protecting them as needed.
With his self-appointed promotion to a guardian of the Multiverse, Loki now stands above virtually every other MCU character we've seen so far, save perhaps Eternity in "Thor: Love and Thunder." In fact, it's entirely possible that only the One Above All — the Marvel universe's ultimate deity, who's yet to make an appearance in the MCU — is more powerful than him. How could noted Loki defeaters like the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) or Thanos (Josh Brolin) touch him now? What could a Celestial do to a god who holds every universe's fate in his hand? Even the Kang variants introduced in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" would have their work cut out for them.
The trickster god is a famously power-hungry character, and "Loki" Season 1 is quick to show that its protagonist is one of the few Loki variants who don't actively lust for power and glory, making it extremely ironic that this particular one now sits on a throne and controls every single universe in existence.