THE POP CULTURE ANSWER?

The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Loki series revolves around time travel and variants. But at its center are ideas of the multiverse and ‘nexus events’ (i.e., #the-futures-we-dont-want🕳), which cascade into unstoppable ripple effects of multiplying, accelerating, branching realities. Sound familiar?

It’s interesting how the series focuses on themes of control and destiny, ‘allowing’ for only a particular set of events compatible with order to occur, lest chaos ensue. This focus on control, of course, turns out to be for naught, as the season (SPOILER ALERT) concludes with a Pandora’s box of non-linear chaos systems breaking open a full-on multiverse of madness.

So why are we talking about Loki? And why are we so captured by watching this endless loop of multiversal moments? If it feels like the multiverse is everywhere right now, well — it is.

Pop culture is a reflection of society’s spirit — both conscious and unconscious. When we start to peel back the curtain, it becomes obvious. Multiversal stories can be read as metaphors to our current multi-realities, where the collective excitement of taking part in infinite possibilities collides with the looming sense of dread that you’ll never be able to catch up.