First, Vision. Then, Black Widow (even though it’s for a prequel, it still counts in our book). And now Marvel Studios has resurrected another casualty in the war against Thanos.

Like its last series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki is a six-hour feature, this time following the God of Mischief (Tom Hiddleston, in top form again) after he’s been zapped into an alternate timeline by the Tesseract when the Avengers’ time-heist in Endgame went sideways.

Loki’s little stunt runs foul of the Time Variance Authority, which looks after the proper flow of time. Owen Wilson’s TVA agent Mobius M Mobius enlists the titular “variant” — someone who disrupts the flow of the “Sacred Timeline” — to capture a variant on the loose.

So far so 48 Hours (Hiddleston and Wilson have cracking chemistry), but by the third ep, it switches gear when Loki is paired with Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), a female Loki from another timeline. Using a stolen TemPad— the gizmo the TVA uses to navigate the multiverses — the fugitive duo hit the road searching for the meaning of identity, free will…and love. Awww.

Per the Marvel playbook, the series — directed by Kate Herron (Sex Education) — is pacey and packed with snappy wisecracks, Easter eggs and, yes, even emotions. Unlike the sombre WandaVision and FAWS, Loki is more comedic and idiosyncratic, with its design and tone reminiscent of the films of Terry Gilliam and Wes Anderson.

Here, we revisit some of our favourite moments from the first season (yes, there’s going to be Season 2). So be warned: Spoilers abound! If you haven’t seen Loki, skip this and go read something else. Or, if you have nine minutes to spare, you can listen to Hiddleston’s Loki lecture (use your headphones and close your eyes).

In the Time Theatre, Loki catches a glimpse of his pre-determined future post-Avengers (pre-time heist) and how his character evolved through the course of the events of Thor: The Dark World (he was responsible for his mother’s death), Thor: Ragnarok (he and Thor ganged up on Hela) and Avengers: Infinity War (he got killed by Thanos). Loki’s reaction is priceless: pained, broken and confused. What’s next for him in this new ‘variant’ timeline? And there lies his identity crisis. It also raises an interesting question: Is the shapeshifting supervillain capable of self-reflection? Hmmm...Check back after Episode 6.

Despite a bumpy start, it’s quite clear that Loki is smitten with fellow variant Lady Loki aka Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) when they start shooting the breeze about the definition of love during a moment of calm while trying to escape a soon-to-be-destroyed planet. How can he not fall for her — she’s him, sorta kinda. It’s like that Seinfeld episode where the comedian finally found the love of his life. “I’ve been waiting for me to come along and now I’ve swept myself off my feet!,” he declared. To which a perplexed Kramer famously replied, “Can you stop it? You’re freaking me out!” Indeed.

In the same ep, Loki and Sylvie open up about their past romances, which included relationships with both “princesses and princes”. It’s a bombshell that makes him Marvel’s first canonically queer lead character, paving the way for more LGBTQ representation in future MCU adventures (see Eternals). Director Kate Herron tweeted, “From the moment I joined Loki, it was very important to me, and my goal, to acknowledge Loki was bisexual. It is a part of who he is and who I am too. I know this is a small step, but I’m happy, and heart is so full, to say that this is now canon in [the] MCU.”

After getting 'pruned' (removed from existence) by Judge Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), Loki winds up in a post-apocalyptic world known as The Void where he encounters three variants of himself — Classic Loki (Richard E Grant), Boastful Loki (DeObia Oparei), Kid Loki (Jack Veal) and, er, Alligator Loki. The latter is easily the fan-favourite and the show’s closest thing to Baby Yoda. (Check out his merch here.) Honorary mention: Chris Hemsworth lent his voice for a blink-and-you’ll-miss it cameo as Throg (as in Frog + Thor) in the episode.

Alligator rock: Memorabilia inspired by Alligator Loki — from T-shirts to pins to Funko Pop figures.

Our minds were blown in ‘The Nexus Event’ when it's revealed that the Timekeepers did not create the TVA. So who did? The answer is in the finale when Loki and Sylvie get past the matter-devouring black smoke monster Alioth and into The Citadel at the End of Time where He Who Remains (Lovecraft Country’s Jonathan Majors) — or Kang the Conqueror as he’s known in the comics — is waiting to answer their queries and divulge his cosmic blueprint (or gag reel?). And you know Marvel: as one story comes to an end (or rather a cliffhanger), it’s setting up another… one to be continued in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ​​​​​​​and the rest of the Phase 4 line-up. Mind double-blown!