Catching new faces in the enticingly convoluted world of Loki wasn’t the only novel part in the season 2 trailer as evidently the bigger headache this time is the God of Mischief involuntarily “Time-slipping.” Sounds brand-new, right? Nothing like this exists in the comics, true, but you are forgetting its connection to the mutants.
In the trailer, we see Loki and Mobius (they better not go all Maria Hill on his ass before giving him a ski-jet) visiting the TVA headquarters and meeting OB (Ke Huy Quan, people!). Evidently, unleashing the many villainous Kang variants on the universe and its many dimensions has been trumped by an urgent problem — Loki suddenly “Time-slipping” i.e., glitching and disappearing between timelines or as the Asgardian prince explains, he is “being pulled through time, between the past and the present.”
As far as the Marvel Cinematic Universe is concerned, Time-slipping is a brand-new concept — it doesn’t exist in the comic books — and Loki will be the first time it will be seen on screen. Well, that’s the technical response, and now, time for the real answer as this new time-space-chaos does exist in the comic books, but less as a “what” and more as a “who.”
Is Time-slipping in the Loki season 2 trailer inspired by Marvel’s time-traveling mutant?
The member in question is Rina Patel — better known as Time-Slip — which is her superhero alter ego and accurately explains her powers. Member of the rather obscure New Warriors — who are often seen as the X-Force to the Avengers — Timeslip is born with the ability to manipulate time where she can push her mind through her future or past self at any point in time. She also possesses the ability to manipulate time by accelerating or slowing it down.
Now, that’s nothing like what we see happening to Loki in the season 2 trailer. But the phenomena being connected to her is plausible. Marvel isn’t exactly devoted to being comic book-authentic and the dubious origin story of Kamala Khan’s powers (mutant, inhuman, what?!) is proof enough.
So, maybe, this volatile process of “Time-slipping,” which was seemingly an impossibility within the TVA HQ, will be tamed by someone or collectively bestowed upon an unsuspecting variant, saving the Time Variance Authority but becoming the superhero-origin story of one Rina Patel? Probably wishful thinking, but the connection can’t be overlooked, especially since Deadpool 3 is rumored to have its own tiff with the TVA and feature yet-to-be-confirmed mutants.
Why is Loki Time-slipping in the first place?
Maybe because he was present when the one thing, i.e., He Who Remains — keeping the different timelines and zillion Kangs at bay — perished and he was affected by the after-effects? Because one of the many Kangs on the loose is specifically targeting him? It can’t be because he is a variant — we have seen different versions of a character entering a different universe and be mighty fine for the duration of their stay. Also, all the variants whose memories the TVA wiped have been there for who knows how long and they have been okay as well.
One thing that we can say with at least 90% certainty is to expect Loki to master this initially annoying hurdle and use it to deal with whatever problem he faces next (Kang, erasing Secret Invasion — and its MCU plothole — before it is released, Marvel daring to not give Mobius a jet ski…. I don’t know!).