The weird and wonderful Marvel Easter Eggs hidden in Loki episode five
Fans have already uncovered some brilliant comic-book references – not to mention the mighty Thanos-copter…
Marvel movies and TV shows aren’t usually too averse to Easter Eggs and hidden references, but the fifth episode of Loki (titled Journey into Mystery, itself a callback to the earliest Marvel comics to star Loki) really takes the cake.
You see, most of the episode takes place in a Void at the end of time, a dumping ground for alternate timelines and variants – which means it’s full of vehicles, characters and other items hinting at Marvel movies and comics past.
Every few minutes it seems like fans discover a new Easter Egg in this episode (the Disney Plus era of Marvel makes it a lot easier than going through the movies), but for now here are some of our favourites already found by fans, ignoring the obvious plot-specific elements (like the Alioth) to focus on the proper, blink-and-you’ll-miss-them nods.
Starting with an old favourite…
The Thanos-copter
Without question, the best and weirdest Easter Egg of the episode was the presence of the “Thanos-copter,” a yellow helicopter with “Thanos” written on it in the background. This vehicle is slightly infamous with Marvel fans, appearing in an arc in the comics that saw the Mad Titan flying it around to try and get his hands on the cosmic cube and looking completely ridiculous while he did it, so it’s a great deep cut for anyone who spots it.
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Throg
Blink and you’ll miss him, but alongside all the Loki variants this week we also get a Thor variant – Frog Thor, aka Throg. In the comics, this figure is basically a frog who picks up a broken piece of Mjolnir, gaining the power of Thor and using it to protect his “clan.”
He’s a bit of a cult favourite, with fans theorising for a while that he could show up in Loki – and now he has, seen trapped inside a specimen jar underground as he desperately tries to reach a full-sized Mjolnir and escape. Maybe he’ll manage it – who knows? We do have to wonder if he has any connection to Alligator Loki…
Yellowjacket
If you ever wondered what happened to Ant-Man villain Yellowjacket after he was shrunk to the sub-atomic level, we may have our answer – because a large version of his helmet can be seen littering the landscape in the Void.
Is this where he was sent, or is this from an alternate variant of Yellowjacket who was giant-size when he was pruned? We may never know…
Villainous vehicles
The Thanos-copter isn’t the only bad-guy transport fans have spotted in the episode – look closely and you can see a plant-covered version of the Red Skull’s escape craft from Captain America: The First Avenger, as well as what looks like Ronan the Accuser’s ship from Guardians of the Galaxy.
Less villainously (unless you mean HYDRA), you can also see a crashed version of the SHIELD helicarrier in the background when Loki and Sylvie face off with the Alioth.
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The Living Tribunal
This is a tricky one to spot, so well done to the fans who did see it. In a landscape littered with various creepy stone heads, one appears to be sculpted to look like The Living Tribunal, a powerful cosmic entity from the comics who functions to “balance” and safeguard the multiverse from mystical and other threats.
While this could be a hint towards the rise of the multiverse in the series, it seems unlikely that the Living Tribunal himself will play a major role in the MCU. Still, given the themes of the series it’s a great callback.
Qeng tower
Thought you spotted the Avengers tower in this week’s episode? Think again – because it actually says “QENG” in a similar font instead of Stark (or the Avengers A), which is a company owned by an alias of longtime Marvel baddie Kang the Conqueror.
This is interesting because apparently Kang is coming to the MCU soon (with Lovecraft Country’s Jonathan Majors bringing him to life in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania), and Loki viewers have long theorised that the time-travelling villain could be the ultimate puppetmaster of the Disney Plus series.
So is this a hint in that direction, or just another nod to that idea that means we’re less likely to actually get Kang on-screen? There’s only one episode left to find out…
Is Loki dead or did Loki survive Infinity War? Who exactly is Sylvie in Loki? Find out everything you need to know about the Loki cast and how to watch Marvel movies in order with our comprehensive coverage.
Loki is streaming now on Disney Plus – for more information see our Loki release schedule guide. To watch, you can sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year now.
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