It's not often that we get to go behind-the-scenes of a Marvel brainstorming session. New Disney Plus documentary Assembled: The Making of Loki has allowed us to do just that – and it paints a picture of an edgier, slightly more NSFW MCU series that never got off the ground.
Just before the eight-minute mark in the documentary, you can see head writer Michael Waldron standing behind a whiteboard with a bunch of scribbled plans for a montage sequence. /Film has deciphered the handwriting, and it yields some surprising variants for what we ended up getting, including Loki claiming the Infinity Gauntlet as his own. Here’s the full list:
- Loki visiting different time period
- Doing crazy mischief, aka sex
- Pivots to taking power
- Collecting Infinity Stones
- Has the Gauntlet, holds power, more sex, bi, alien, etc.
- Alone in the throne room. He's taken power but is infected with thoughts that it isn't "real" because of TVA's control over free will
- Returns to the TVA, gauntlet's power down, Mobius is waiting for him
- Loki gives honest answers to Mobius. Mobius shows the sheer power of TVA.
Loki's sexuality, it seems, was a focal point of early spitballing – and made it into the show proper thanks to the guiding hand of director Kate Herron. But it's unlikely anything even remotely approaching even implied sex would have made the cut.
The existentialism pervading throughout Loki is really hammered home here too; Loki gets the Infinity Stones, a fully-powered Gauntlet and, even then, wonders whether he even has free will because it could be part of the TVA’s master plan.
It’s also an indication of a show that perhaps once wanted Loki to go on more of a jaunt across time, achieving nefarious goals for his own ends instead of chasing Sylvie. But you're still thinking about the sex scenes, aren't you? Bonk.
Back in the real Sacred Timeline, Loki could probably use an Infinity Gauntlet right about now – not that it would do him much good. The multiverse is now open, while Jonathan Majors' Kang the Conqueror has been introduced as the MCU's next Thanos-level threat. Worse still, Mobius doesn't have his jet ski. Let's hope Loki season 2 untangles that mess.
For more on the MCU's future, check out our guide to Marvel Phase 4.
