The fifth episode of Loki was jam-packed full of Easter Eggs and references to some deep cuts of Marvel lore, from the legendary Thanos-Copter to the fleeting appearance of amphibious God of Thunder Throg trapped in a jar under the secret hiding place of the multiple variants trying their best to hide from both each other and the threat of Alioth.
Venturing all across space and time was always going to present the opportunity for creator and lead writer Michael Waldron to nod towards the long and often bonkers history of Marvel, but there was another blink and you’ll miss it nod towards an incredibly powerful being hiding in plain sight during Episode 5, which you can see below.
Loki Episode 5 Teased a Powerful Marvel Villain
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been introducing more and more cosmic entities into the mythology as the franchise’s scope and scale continues to widen, with Loki now establishing the Living Tribunal as canon. In the comic books, the being acts in the interest of cosmic balance, moving freely around the multiverse to restore things to the way they should be if a particular timeline becomes too powerful, or veers too far into either good or evil.
The Living Tribunal is usually seen as a huge three-headed presence, with each one representing a different aspect of its personality, typically equity, necessity and revenge. Looking at where Loki‘s plot has been moving over the last few weeks, there’s every chance the TVA could have banished the Living Tribunal into The Void for becoming too involved in the Sacred Timeline, allowing them to carry out their mission to manipulate it to their own advantage.
Then again, it might just be another innocuous Easter Egg, but the Staff of the Living Tribunal was name-dropped by Baron Mordo in Doctor Strange, so the precedent for its existence has already been set, and may yet be paid off when Chiwitel Ejiofor returns in Multiverse of Madness.