Marvel Phase 4 Looks To Be Returning To Battle Of New York... Again
The release of the first official trailer for Loki may be teasing Marvel Cinematic Universe's return to The Avengers' Battle of New York once again.
The newly-released trailer for Loki reveals the God of Mischief back in the Battle of New York, hinting that Marvel Cinematic Universe's Phase 4 will revisit the pivotal event once again. Marvel Studios partook in the recent Disney Investor Day 2020 and laid out their plans for the foreseeable future. While the coronavirus pandemic forced the Marvel mega-franchise to skip 2020 entirely, work never stopped for studio head Kevin Fiege and his team as they provided updates for their upcoming projects, including the return of Tom Hiddleston as the God of Mischief.
As part of Marvel Studios' efforts to expand the MCU on the small screen, the company is producing a slew of content exclusively for Disney+. Among the first confirmed projects for this new endeavor is Loki, which was officially announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2019. Owen Wilson, Sophia Di Martino, Richard E. Grant, Cailey Fleming, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw have been cast in the show alongside Hiddleston. The narrative that was set up in Avengers: Endgame will see Loki popping up "throughout human history as [an] unlikely influencer on historical events."
Given the time-traveling aspect of Loki, it can pretty much tackle any era in history. Couple that with the fact that it takes place in an entirely different timeline from the main MCU reality, and the storytelling possibility for the show is almost limitless. While Loki's trailer featured a string of previously-unseen settings, it also included a familiar one as the God of Mischief is seemingly back at the Battle of New York. At one point in the video, Thor's adopted brother is once again wearing an ensemble that's similar (though not exactly the same) to the one he sported in The Avengers, and carrying the Scepter with the Mind Stone in it. A distinctive mirror on the wall and the gold pillar dividing wall visible in the reflection confirms that he's at Stark Tower. It's worth noting that by the time Loki escaped with the Tesseract/Space Stone following Iron Man and Ant-Man's botched plan to steal it, Captain America had already secured the Scepter during the group's time heist stop in 2012.
Interestingly, the Hiddleston-led show making another pit stop to the Battle of New York is an indication that while the Infinity Saga is officially done, its events will continue to have an impact in MCU Phase 4. This would be the second time that Marvel Studios is revisiting the events of the Battle of New York since it first took place in The Avengers. Endgame featured snippets of the event from the perspective of the time-traveling Avengers seeking the Space, Mind, and Time Stone. Aside from moving the story along, it was also an opportunity for Marvel Studios to incorporate a string of fan-service moments. It's curious if this will also be the case for Loki, considering that the God of Mischief was such an important player in it. Like his hero counterparts, the God of Mischief might be able to see how everything unfolds from a different point of view that could ultimately lead to some realization that would help his presumed redemption.
How much of the Battle of New York will factor into Loki is unknown at this point. Based on what's been revealed in its trailer thus far, there are a lot of moving pieces in the show, so it's possible that revisiting the MCU event is just a small section of its overall story. Given the scope of the show and Marvel Studios' direct involvement in creating it, Loki could also feature some, if not all of the original Avengers who battled him during his villainous endeavor - which would be exciting to see, especially since some of them have already ended their franchise arcs.