With “Journey Into Mystery,” Disney+’s Loki gave Marvel fans an easter egg bonanza as the titular God of Mischief acquainted himself with his unpredictable new surroundings, the end-of-time trash pile dubbed The Void.
From its earliest seconds, even before giving viewers the payoff on the Avengers Tower tease in Episode 4’s mid-credits scene, Loki featured another familiar New York City location in ruins: Doctor Strange’s mansion better known as the Sanctum Sanctorum.
That comic-sourced company purchased the skyscraper from Tony Stark in the source material, and was run by a certain Mr. Gryphon, later revealed to be a variant version of Kang.
Yes, I know that Alligator Loki was technically introduced in Episode 4, and that it’s not a direct representation of a specific comic book Loki variant.
It’s presumed that this pirate ship and this 50s-era UFO didn’t arrive in The Void at the same time, but that juxtaposition was an early sign that “Journey Into Mystery” wouldn’t be your average 44 minutes of television.
For all the giant objects and entire landscapes that are sprinkled throughout The Void, one of the most innocuous visuals is that massive pile of lunch trays and trash, which is a major clue that the TVA does not employ dishwashers or custodians, and that its agents just prune any and all refuse out of the building.
After featuring a bunch of non-specific massive stone heads, Loki delivered a giant-head reprise in the oversized form of the villainous Yellowjacket’s helmet.
While the MCU doesn’t always strictly avoid some of Marvel Comics’ weirder elements from yore, I would have bet a good amount of money that the we’d never get a live-action take on the infamous Thanos-Copter, which made a single appearance in 1979 issue of Spidey’s Super Stories.
Right next to the Thanos-Copter was another yellow object that would be far more destructive than the Mad Titan’s chopper: an atom bomb.
Beyond Thanos-Copter, the biggest fan-favorite moment in Loki Episode 5 was almost definitely the brief and frenetic appearance of Frog Thor, who has apparently been living a depressing existence cooped up inside a jar and unable to break through and regain control of Mjolnir.
Easily the coolest drink of the late ’80s and early ’90s, the Ghostbusters-branded Ecto-Cooler was the burst of sugary refreshment that paired well with Saturday morning cartoons, at least until it were discontinued.
The 20+-year-old urban legend supposes that the government created an arcade game in the 1980s that triggered specific psychoactive effects in players that was reportedly then used for data analysis.
It occurred in Episode 2, when Mobius used a projector device to show off as assortment of odd-looking Lokis that were previously captured by the TVA, with others including the Frost Giant and Soccer Player variants.
Considering Loki shares parents with Pixar properties such as Toy Story and Cars, it can’t be a pure coincidence that the voice of Lightning McQueen is driving a vehicle reminiscent of the Pizza Planet delivery truck, can it? While Skinny’s doesn’t seem to be a direct reference, I take it as an opposite of something round and planet-sized.
This theater marquee shown when Mobius drives up in the pseudo-Pizza Planet truck is advertising the feature Oswald and the Martians, which is a solid reference to the 1930 short Mars, starring Mickey Mouse’s spiritual predecessor Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Though it was first used as an important totem in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., with Chloe Bennet’s Daisy keeping one in her van during her Skye years, and also as a reference to Clark Gregg’s Phil Coulson and his life-altering Tahiti experiences.
One of the strangest urban legend/conspiracy theories of the past 100 years was dubbed the Philadelphia Experiment, which began its life in the 1950s as a rumored military experiment carried on by the Navy that successfully made the massive real-life ship the USS Eldridge invisible to enemy radars.
In James Gunn’s first Guardians of the Galaxy film, Lee Pace’s villainous Ronan the Accuser traveled around in an age-old spacecraft called the Dark Aster, and its fairly specific shape definitely pops up in the background of The Void later in the episode.
Or, if one makes the unlikely supposition that only “good guys” have Helicarriers, then maybe the implication here is that Hydra was a virtuous and heroic organization in that timeline.
Of all the alt-existence details found in The Void, perhaps my favorite was the appearance by the Great Sphinx of Giza, only not quite the one that everyone has been used to looking for many centuries.
It’s not clear if this was the actual head of the pruned Living Tribunal, or merely just a statue version, but it’s interesting to think about the multiversal ramifications if it was the “real” character’s disembodied head.
The Burger Chef sign shown in the later scenes of Loki’s “Journey Into Mystery” isn’t a Marvel or MCU easter egg and while it is indeed a reference to the real-life burger chain that was eventually bought out by Hardee’s, the sign in the show appears to be exactly the same as ones that existed during the restaurant’s heyday.
I can’t imagine how Loki will follow up on that wild ride with its Season 1 finale, but I can’t wait to find out when it hits Disney+ on Wednesday, July 14.
A lifetime spent in the vicinity of a television screen led to his current dream job, as well as his knowledge of too many TV themes and ad jingles.