Loki Episode 4’s Credits Scene Continues The MCU’s Young Avengers Setup

The fourth episode of Loki included a post-credits scene that revealed that the title hero once more cheated death and landed on a post-apocalyptic setting, where he was greeted by four other Loki variants, and one of those continues the MCU’s Young Avengers setup. Now that the Infinity Saga came to an end after the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is moving forward with its Phase 4, which unlike the previous phases, won’t just focus on movies but also on TV shows that will be connected to the rest of this universe. Kicking off this new era were the TV series WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and viewers are now reuniting with the God of Mischief in Loki.

Although Loki was killed by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, his 2012 version escaped during the time heist in Avengers: Endgame, allowing him to return in his very own TV show. Loki sees the title character being brought to the Time Variance Authority (TVA), an organization that oversees the timeline and makes sure everything happens as planned. TVA agent Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson) decides they can use Loki’s abilities and recruits him to help them catch another Loki variant who has been causing trouble through time and space. This variant is Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), with whom Loki joined forces to bring down the TVA, but that didn’t go well. Loki episode 4 arrived with a couple of twists, one of those in the post-credits scene, which continues the MCU’s Young Avengers setup.

As the name says, the Young Avengers are a superhero team formed by adolescent characters with connections to well-known members of the Avengers team. Although a Young Avengers movie or TV show is not confirmed, the MCU has already introduced enough members of the group that a team-up seems more and more likely to happen in the near future. Now, the MCU continues teasing the arrival of the Young Avengers in the MCU by introducing Kid Loki in the post-credits scene of Loki episode 4. After being supposedly deleted by Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) following the reveal of the Time Keepers being fake, the post-credits scene showed that Loki didn’t die, and instead he landed in a post-apocalyptic setting where he was greeted by four other Loki variants: Old Loki (Richard E. Grant), Boastful Loki (Deobia Oparei), Kid Loki (Jack Veal), and Crocodile Loki (or Alligator Loki, depending on who you ask).

In the comics, Kid Loki is part of the Young Avengers team, and he’s basically the God of Mischief trapped in the body of a young boy after his death and reincarnation. In the MCU, however, Kid Loki is a variant, though what was his nexus event or what he did to be “deleted” and sent to this mysterious setting is to be seen. Kid Loki joins many other Young Avengers characters that have either already been introduced or are about to join the MCU in Phase 4. These characters are Kate Bishop, to be introduced in the TV series Hawkeye; Kamala Khan, who is set to make her MCU debut in her own TV show, Ms. Marvel; Cassie Lang, Scott Lang’s daughter who in the comics is known as Stature; Harley Keener, Tony Starks’ protégé in Iron Man 3 who could become Iron Lad (who later becomes Kang the Conqueror); America Chavez, a.k.a. Ms. America, set to make her debut in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness; Billy and Thomas a.k.a. Wiccan and Speed, the twin children of Scarlet Witch and Vision; and Eli Bradley, who becomes Patriot.

The MCU already has the characters it needs to bring the Young Avengers to life, though it remains to be seen what will happen with Kid Loki in the final episodes of Loki and beyond, as he could never return depending on what they do with the TVA and the timeline or he, along with the others, could be freed in the upcoming multiverse of madness.