Loki! (spoiler thread)

[Enevhar Aldarion]

So, one thing that didn't occur to me until now: The actions of the Avengers against Thanos may have been "meant to happen", but doesn't that still leave the current version of Gamora as a Variant? She's from an alternate timeline, one which presumably no longer exists since Captain Rogers went back and 'snipped all the branches'.

But was it? Rogers went back and returned all the infinity stones they took, which he could not with the tesseract, because this Loki got it. Do the other versions of Gamora and Thanos and his troops just happen to be from the same variant timeline as this Loki?

 

[MarkB]

But was it? Rogers went back and returned all the infinity stones they took, which he could not with the tesseract, because this Loki got it. Do the other versions of Gamora and Thanos and his troops just happen to be from the same variant timeline as this Loki?

I don't think so. The team going after the stones at around the beginning of the events of Guardians of the Galaxy is separate from the one going after the stones at the end of the first Avengers movie, operating at two separate points in time, so they'd each create a separate 'branch'.

Not that it was necessarily easy for Steve to clip all those branches even if he had been aware of the extra Tesseract going astray.

 

[Stalker0]

And that raises the question of what outside influence led to Loki's escape with the Tesseract?

Yep, the million multiversal question!

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I finally got to watching the first episode of Loki. I like it so far, and expect that I'll only like it more and more as it continues. Not much else to say that hasn't already been said (expecting a female version of Loki, possibly some Mobius-Strip style plot for the show, etc).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

But was it? Rogers went back and returned all the infinity stones they took, which he could not with the tesseract, because this Loki got it. Do the other versions of Gamora and Thanos and his troops just happen to be from the same variant timeline as this Loki?

Maybe the variant timeline in which Thanos travelled into the past and was killed has already been "pruned" by the TVA? In which case Gamora would appear to be a "variant". However, the TVA might not be anything like as all powerful as they make out. Maybe that variant hasn't been caught?

That brings the issue of how does "being late for work" create an alternative timeline? It's actually a fairly deterministic thing to happen. There is a traffic accident - deterministic - which holds up the traffic - deterministic - making you late - deterministic. Is there a non-deterministic way to be late for work?

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

That brings the issue of how does "being late for work" create an alternative timeline? It's actually a fairly deterministic thing to happen. There is a traffic accident - deterministic - which holds up the traffic - deterministic - making you late - deterministic. Is there a non-deterministic way to be late for work?

That whole Butterfly Effect theory may be what that is all about. Or it could be about choice and how the TVA does not like it. I think the variant timeline being created is a choice thing. That person chose to do something other than the normal routine and that made him late, causing a very tiny variation in the timeline to be created.

 

[Umbran]

Maybe the variant timeline in which Thanos travelled into the past and was killed has already been "pruned" by the TVA? In which case Gamora would appear to be a "variant". However, the TVA might not be anything like as all powerful as they make out. Maybe that variant hasn't been caught?

Alternatively, all those shenanigans are, for some reason, the universe as intended by the Timekeepers? Like, if one or more of the Keepers exist because of those events, the events cannot be eradicated.

Is there a non-deterministic way to be late for work?

Blatantly - A time traveller or person from an outside place (say, the Dark Dimension, which we are told exists outside time) intervenes in your morning routine.

Less blatantly - it would be roughly consistent with Marvel styling that "quantum effects" could disrupt the timeline naturally.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Alternatively, all those shenanigans are, for some reason, the universe as intended by the Timekeepers? Like, if one or more of the Keepers exist because of those events, the events cannot be eradicated./

"Meant to happen" or not, there is a timeline where Thanos travelled forward in time to change history, and was deleted by Tony Stark. And therefore never completed the infinity gauntlet and therefore the blip never happened.

 

[hopeless]

So why interfere with Loki's timeline at all?
All they had to do was paralyse him, drop him off back at that site he ported out of drop the tesseract at his feet then leave.
There done no need for a trial or anything variant timeline problem solved the space stone returned and no one the wiser!

 

[MarkB]

So why interfere with Loki's timeline at all?
All they had to do was paralyse him, drop him off back at that site he ported out of drop the tesseract at his feet then leave.
There done no need for a trial or anything variant timeline problem solved the space stone returned and no one the wiser!

The timeline he teleported out of was itself a variant timeline created by the Avengers going back in time. And it may or may not have been subsequently deleted through the act of returning the stones. There may not be anywhere for him to return to.