The Truth About President Loki's Men In Loki Episode 5

Contains spoilers for "Loki" Episode 5, "Journey into Mystery"

"Loki" continues its seemingly ever-escalating mission to establish itself as the weirdest Marvel Cinematic Universe show on Disney+. Its fifth and penultimate episode takes Loki (Tom Hiddleston) to the Void, a supposed end of time where all the timelines the Time Variance Authority has destroyed lie in ruin, and a sentient abyss-storm known as Alioth stalks the survivors. Said survivors, the show's main Loki is incredibly annoyed to discover, consist of different Loki variants. These include his new, reluctant posse of Classic Loki (Richard E. Grant), Boastful Loki (Deobia Oparei), Kid Loki (Jack Veal) – and Alligator Loki, who is exactly what it says on the tin, and far from the strangest thing in the episode.

Amazingly for a crew consisting entirely of survival-mode Lokis, the quarrelsome quartet turns out to be fairly amiable ... that is, except for Boastful Loki, who promptly sells them out to a Loki that many fans noticed in the show's trailer: President Loki (Hiddleston). Clad in a Loki'd-up business suit, "Vote Loki" badges, and a horned headpiece, this version of the God of Mischief is fairly close to the treacherous villain you saw in "Thor" and "Avengers" — and, unfortunately for the "main" Loki, no amount of face-palming will take away the fact that this ambitiuous variant has somehow managed to gather a small army of threatening, post-apocalyptic warriors. But who, exactly, are President Loki's men in "Loki" Episode 5?

"Come on, what did you expect?" asks President Loki in the first "Loki" trailer, as well as in this episode. Of course, he's referring to his inevitable act of betraying Boastful Loki — but what the fans likely weren't expecting is that the thugs that have been accompanying the character in the trailers since day one are also Loki, each and every one of them.  

Yes, one major reason behind "our" Loki's temporary "blue screen of death" expression when President Loki's men roll out is the fact that these poor souls are, well, him. As the show has revealed, every variant of Loki is different, and it's incredibly clear that not all of them are created equal. As such, for every magically supercharged Richard E. Grant in a delightfully comics-accurate costume, you apparently get a Ninja Loki, a Grunge Loki, or, uh ... a Fur Hat Loki? 

It's a testament to the show's sheer ingenuity that the trailers have casually introduced us to a whole bunch of different versions of Loki from the very beginning, but it took until this second-to-last episode for the penny to truly drop.