Marvel Studios
- Warning: This post contains spoilers for "Avengers: Endgame."
- "Avengers: Endgame" could have major consequences for Disney Plus’ "Loki" TV series.
- The movie’s directors, Anthony and Joe Russo, told Business Insider how Loki created a "branched reality."
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Warning: This post contains spoilers for "Avengers: Endgame."
"Avengers: Endgame" doesn’t just conclude the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s "Infinity Saga." It has huge ramifications for the MCU’s future on both the big and small screens.
In the movie, the Avengers travel back in time to find the Infinity Stones so that they can reverse the Thanos snap that wiped out half of humanity in last year’s "Avengers: Infinity War." A group travels to 2012 during the Battle of New York in the first "Avengers" movie, and the Space-Stone heist goes horribly wrong. The villain Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston) uses the stone to escape the Avengers and teleport to an unknown location.
In the final moments of "Endgame," Captain America travels back to when the Infinity Stones were stolen to reverse the timeline. But according to the movie’s directors, Anthony and Joe Russo, Loki still manages to escape.
In an interview, the Russo brothers told Business Insider that the Loki of that time period actually created his own timeline.
"It gets very complicated, but it would be impossible for [Cap] to rectify the timeline unless he found Loki," Joe said. "The minute that Loki does something as dramatic as take the Space Stone, he creates a branched reality."
This move has implications for the "Loki" TV series that’s in the works for Disney’s upcoming streaming platform, Disney Plus. Loki was killed by Thanos in "Infinity War," so one might assume that the TV series, in which Hiddleston will reprise his role, would take place before that movie. That may still be the case, but it could take place in an alternate reality.
The latest trailer for July’s "Spider-Man: Far From Home" confirms that the events of "Infinity War" and "Endgame" have created a "multiverse."
TV series have already spun out of the MCU — such as Netflix’s Marvel shows like "Daredevil" and ABC’s "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." — but they were only loosely connected. The Disney Plus series will "intersect with the movies in a very big way," Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige told Variety last month, which highlights how much the MCU, and Marvel’s strategy, could shift after "Endgame."
"It’s a totally new form of storytelling that we get to play with and explore," Feige added.
Other Marvel TV shows being developed for Disney Plus include "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," starring Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, and "WandaVision," starring Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany. Disney Plus is set to launch November 12.
Read more of Business Insider’s "Avengers: Endgame" coverage:
- ‘Avengers: Endgame’ raises questions about the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but gives plenty of clues
- How ‘Avengers: Endgame’ changes these 5 upcoming Marvel movies and TV shows
- There are 6 Marvel movies in the works for after ‘Avengers: Endgame’ — here are all the details
- ‘Avengers: Endgame’ continues to break box office records in its second weekend as it crosses $2 billion worldwide
- ‘Avengers: Endgame’ is breaking box-office records in China, and it shows why Marvel is a more valuable franchise than ‘Star Wars’
- ‘Avengers: Endgame’ is pulling the 2019 box office out of its deficit, but there’s still a lot of ground to make up
NOW WATCH: How dragon sound effects for ‘Game of Thrones’ are made
See Also:
- ‘Avengers: Endgame’ directors describe the 100-hour workweeks and tremendous pressure of making their $2 billion blockbuster
- ‘Avengers: Endgame’ will have to make billions more at the box office to beat the biggest movie of all time, which came out in 1939
- The 17 movies that made $1 billion at the box office the fastest, including ‘Avengers: Endgame’
SEE ALSO: Disney revealed the details of its Netflix rival, Disney Plus, including its price and release date
Source: Business Insider – tclark@businessinsider.com (Travis Clark)