With Loki, Disney Should Edit The Marvel Movies - Hear Me Out
The Disney+ TV show Loki is largely about The Multiverse and the overarching timeline in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At this point I should warn you that I'm about to drop some spoilers if you're not all caught up on Marvel movies and TV shows. You should watch at least episodes 1 and 2 of Loki, Thor: Ragnarok, and the Avengers movies. Watch Doctor Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Wandavision for good measure. This is your second and final SPOILER ALERT.
The Sacred Timeline
In Loki Season 1, Episode 2: The Variant, we see what we assume is a version of Loki in a warehouse store setting up time bombs ("reset charges") through portals that each lead to different points along "The Sacred Timeline," creating branches aplenty.
It was revealed in the first episode of the first season of Loki that The Sacred Timeline was organized in order to stop a "multiversal war" at some point by a set of three god-like entities called The Time-Keepers.
According to an instructional video within the episode, the character Miss Minutes suggested that when events occur that do not fit with the "propter flow of time", a "nexus event" is created that "could brand off into madness, leading to another multiversal war."
NOTE: The next Doctor Strange movie is currently set to be released with the title "Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness."
Game of Thrones Coffee
When the final season of Game of Thrones was released, a Starbucks cup appeared in one scene. Once the cup was discovered by the public and news spread, it disappeared. Because of the way Game of Thrones was and is distributed to viewers – hosted by HBO and streamed by viewers via the Internet – it can be edited and changed on the fly.
Rewatchability
Many comic book movies have a relatively high rewatchability factor. When we're talking about a movie like Thor: Ragnarok, we've got action, comedy, visual candy in abundance. Marvel has a collection of movies that people already watch and watch again – because it is fun to do so.
Now, thanks to methods for time travel presented by Ant-Man in Avengers and the Time Variance Authority in Loki, we've got characters popping up during important moments in history – at points in time and in places they did not appear to be when we last saw events unfold in the movies and TV shows Marvel's already released.
Why this madness is good
As the proper flow of time is changed, it opens doors for alternate realities and oddities that did not exist during major events shown in movies and TV shows since the beginning of comic book movies here in our reality. Marvel and Disney have the opportunity here to change the way we watch movies and TV, courtesy of Disney+ and streaming content.
The Sacred Star Wars Trilogy
The Time-Keepers created The Sacred Timeline and the TVA keep said timeline in proper order much in the same way fans of the original Star Wars trilogy attempt to keep sacred the state of said trilogy – and the rules and results of events in said movies.
Much like how George Lucas decided to go back and edit the original trilogy to create Star Wars Special Edition – and subsequent cuts – so too can Marvel and Disney change the content of Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.
You and I have Blu-ray hard-copies of all of our favorite Marvel movies already anyway, right? What harm could come from Loki appearing in the streaming versions of Marvel movies as they appear now on Disney+?
This could be great
Disney could see a massive uptick in streaming subscribers popping in to see the newest version of their favorite Marvel movies. We could see Loki appear in the background of pivotal scenes. We could see a reset charge pop up just before a key moment in a movie, changing the content of the movie from that point forward.
Wouldn't that be amazing? It might end up costing Disney a whole lot of money to make something like that happen – but who better than Disney to get it done? Disney has the cash, after all – why not make it happen?