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Loki episode 2 credits hide detail about The Variant: What it means

Marvel might have included an unintended Easter Egg about The Variant's identity.

Jennifer Bisset Former Senior Editor / Culture
Jennifer Bisset was a senior editor for CNET. She covered film and TV news and reviews. The movie that inspired her to want a career in film is Lost in Translation. She won Best New Journalist in 2019 at the Australian IT Journalism Awards.
Expertise Film and TV Credentials
  • Best New Journalist 2019 Australian IT Journalism Awards
Jennifer Bisset
3 min read
loki-grins

The very violent Variant.

Disney Plus

Following Wednesday's episode 2 of Marvel's time-hopping series Loki, sharp-eyed viewers have hopped onto Twitter to discuss its big reveal. Question marks hover over the identity of The Variant, aka Lady Loki, mainly having to do with her hair color. Oh, and a tiny detail in the end credits of the international versions, possibly revealing a different character. Let's discuss the detail and what it means in the spoiler-filled zone below.

Read moreLoki episode 2 recap: Marvel's God of Mischief goes on the hunt for himself

Warning: Spoilers ahead

MCU Lady Loki

Lady Loki?

Marvel Studios

What detail can be found in the credits?

By now, we're all well-trained by Marvel to sit through the end credits. This time that might have had unintended consequences.

Keen-eyed viewers who watched the foreign market credits discovered that Sophia Di Martino, whose role had been undisclosed up until now, is credited as "Sylvie", not "The Variant."

Before diving into Sylvie's possible identity, let's round up the clues that could signify she's not a female version of Loki.

Hair color

"Why are you blonde?" one tweeted, drawing attention to a small detail: Loki has black hair, but The Variant's hair is blonde.

'I would never treat me like this'

Even Loki had started to spot a few clues that don't coincide with everything the Time Variance Authority had been telling him about The Variant being another version of himself.

"I would never treat me like this," he says in the Roxxcart store when The Variant knocks him around using body possession on the locals.

"You really do love to hear yourself talk," one insults him.

At one point, The Variant, speaking through Roxxcart employee Randy, says, "Please, if anyone is anyone, you're me."

Loki winks and calls Randy "Loki." The Variant's response: "Ugh, don't call me that."

Who's Sylvie?

Everything we know about The Variant had been provided by the TVA -- they love their propaganda at the home of Miss Minutes. Yet a ton of clues point to "Lady Loki" being connected to Loki in a slightly different way.

Many have already connected The Variant, with her blonde hair and apparent distaste for Loki, to Marvel comic book character Sylvie Lushton, aka Enchantress.

Who's Enchantress?

Loki creates Enchantress by giving mortal Sylvie magical powers, including body possession and teleportation, as we see in Loki. You could say she's Loki's daughter -- her green magic provides even more connective tissue. If you want to delve further into Enchantress' backstory and possible spoiler territory, head here.

loki-mistress-of-mischief

Loki took on a female form in the comics.

Marvel Comics

Or maybe she's really Lady Loki after all

Here's the other side of the argument.

In the comics, following the Ragnarok destruction, the Asgardians were reborn on Earth. There, Loki took on a female form.

Loki's gender is also marked as "fluid" in his TVA file, suggesting he can change at will.

So, what are we to believe? Is The Variant Lady Loki or Sylvie, aka Enchantress?

Theories ran rife during WandaVision -- and no doubt a percentage didn't come true. Marvel might just pull the rug out from under us again -- and again.

Find out more on Wednesdays, with four episodes of the Disney Plus series left.

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