The Biggest Mystery of ‘Loki’ Is Currently Lady Loki
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The following story contains spoilers for Loki Episode 2, "The Variant."
Loki, the latest Disney+ limited series from the Marvel Studios machine, is off to a fast start. We're now halfway through—three full episodes—and it feels like one of the show's new characters is already the talking point of the entire MCU. Episode 2 of the show, titled "The Variant," seemed to reveal in its closing moments the titular variant that Agent Mobius (Owen Wilson) and, to a lesser extent, Loki himself (Tom Hiddleston) had been looking for: a woman, dressed in Loki's signature Asgardian green, and wearing a similar horned helmet to the one he so often puts atop his head.
But while we're left at the end of the episode to believe that it's cut and dry that this "Lady Loki" (Sophia Di Martino) is, indeed Lady Loki, it wasn't quite as clear what was going on until the debut of Episode 3, "Lamentis." Fans online were quick to notice that the character seemed to share many traits with Sylvie Lushton, a version of the Marvel character Enchantress often associated with the Young Avengers. And while it's hardly a confirmation, the credits for dubbed international versions of the Loki episodes credited the character as Sylvie.
But again, it was up in the air. Maybe it just wasLady Loki. Marvel made it canon in the first episode upon his arrival at the Time Variance Authority that Loki, always a shape-shifter, is gender fluid. Lady Loki in the Marvel Comics is Loki—just in female form. This Lady Loki could be a variant of Loki from another timeline, sure, but it's not the same gender-fluid Loki that has been established in comic canon.
That sort of left us with two options. Either this is Sylvie/Enchantress, which seems possible, or it is Lady Loki, from another timeline's version of the God of Mischief who has instead taken on his female form. And the answer, as it turns out, was a bit of both. We can explain a bit more below.
So who is this Lady Loki?
Episode 3 gave us the answer we were looking for: the Lady Loki we're seeing is a bit of both. It is a Loki variant from another timeline (or, at least, so we're currently being led to believe), but she no longer just feels like "another Loki," and even seems to resent being called by that name. Instead, she asks to be called Sylvie.
So, in essence, it seems like what the MCU has done in Loki is somewhat combine the traditional Lady Loki character from the comics canon with the separate entity, Sylvie (who has the enchanting powers that Episode 3 further explores) from the comics. Fun!
We love the comics canon, and discovering a new storyline that you want to read can sometimes feel like a goldmine. But when the MCU goes even a little bit off the reservation, it's always fun. Doesn't it feel good not having any idea what's going to happen next?
What is Lady Loki like in the Marvel Comics?
While Loki is always a shape-shifter, following the devastating 2008 event "Ragnarok" (which, yes, was an influence for the 2017 film Thor: Ragnarok), Loki emerged in Thor, Volume 3, #5, as a woman. Not shape-shifting and momentarily messing around, like we've seen him do in the movies (multiple times!) as Steve Rogers, but actually as a woman for the long haul. The characters were shocked by the change, but it didn't take long before they got used to it, referring to Loki as a woman and accepting this new form.
Which...even just from that, you can see how it is already beginning to differ from what we're seeing in Loki the MCU series.
Loki stuck around in this form for a few events, including in New Avengers (when a new, Wolverine-led team took over from the Tony Stark-led Avegners). In Original Sin: Thor and Loki — The Tenth Realm, it was revealed that Lady Loki wasn't a long con or any sort of trick—this just was a part of who Loki is.
The character name 'Lady Loki' can be a bit confusing, because it almost sounds like someone that would be a love interest for the original version of the character. But in the comics, it may even be something deeper than that—giving an internal vision to an often morally ambiguous character, where a bit of introspection and character development can go a long way. We can only hope that the MCU version follows a similar path.
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