Loki’s gruesome time-slipping was a major fixture of the Season 2 premiere, and in “Science/Fiction,” it finally finds its glorious purpose when he figures out how to control it instead of being randomly hurled into various alternate times and places. After uncovering the method behind the mayhem, the trickster god can effectively teleport into different timelines and locations without the use of a TemPad. The “Loki” Season 1 finale shows that He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) can dodge attacks with a time manipulation method that seems a lot like a more controlled version of time-slipping, which gives a rough idea of what Loki may be able to do now. Only, unlike He Who Remains — who confined himself to the Sacred Timeline to keep his variants out — Loki’s time-slipping has no such limitations.
This uncannily powerful ability arguably puts Loki above and beyond any other Marvel Cinematic Universe god we’ve seen so far. Zeus (Russell Crowe) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) might be as powerful as they come, but thunder and brawn can’t exactly beat the ability to move freely in time and space. Hela (Cate Blanchett) is an absolute menace, but powerless when the opponent can just time-slip into an era where she was only a baby, or perhaps change events in a way that she’s not even born. But what about Thanos (Josh Brolin), who’s not technically a god but has wielded similar powers? Couldn’t touch this Loki, with or without his Infinity Stones.
It’s also good to remember that the time-slipping is merely the latest thing in Loki’s power set. With his physical and magical abilities, he’s already a tough nut to crack before he acquires his new timeline-hopping trick.
