Before Loki, Yggdrasil featured in the MCU way more than you realize

Loki season 2
(Image credit: Marvel)

As it turns out, Yggdrasil, the central sacred tree that holds all of the multiverse, has been present in the MCU way before Loki hit Disney Plus.

In the Loki season 2 finale, Loki becomes a living embodiment of Yggdrasil. In Norse mythology, the tree holds all Nine Realms together, controlling all life and death. In the MCU, this is redefined to hold all of the multiverse, with Loki now at its center – making him the literal God of Time.

Some Marvel fans have pointed out that there have been references to Yggdrasil dating more than a decade back. A drawing of Yggdrasil can be seen in Captain America: The First Avenger, the end credits of Thor, and the lightning strike Thor uses to empower the kids in Thor: Love and Thunder takes the shape of Yggdrasil as well – in addition to wearing it on his shirt. Thor also talks to Jane about the Nine Realms in the first film.

"It's kind of fitting to think that the tesseract was found in the wall of Yggdrasil," one person wrote.

"Quite beautiful that it’s mostly Thor talking about it everytime too," said another.

"It's definitely a cool cosmic motif to feature through the MCU. It's not used too much, because obviously there are more than 9 realms in the universe, but where it's placed has been cleverly done and with good enough context," one fan wrote.

Loki seasons 1 and 2 are streaming now on Disney Plus. For more, check out our list of all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows you need to know about.

Lauren Milici
Senior Writer, Tv & Film

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.