Loki season 2, episode 5, “Science/Fiction,” finally reveals the former lives of Mobius, B-15, Casey, and Ouroboros. The episode is packed with poignant moments as Loki finds each of his friends outside of the Time Variance Authority. If you look at the dates of two characters’ lives, though, you might notice a connection to Thanos, the Battle of New York, and the Blip.
Spoilers for Loki season 2, episode 5 ahead!
B-15 is a doctor … in 2012 New York City
As Loki is slipping across the vast reaches of time and space (or, well, the 20th century U.S.) he comes upon Hunter B-15. Except she isn’t a TVA hunter anymore—she’s a doctor, tending the broken arm of a little girl who fell out of a tree. From a very quick shot of her badge during the credits, we see that her real name is Verity Willis, which is a fun little Easter egg: in Marvel comics, Verity is Loki’s best friend on Earth.
B-15/Verity’s place on the timeline is significant. She lives in New York City in 2012—and that’s exactly when and where Loki invaded Earth with the Chitauri army in The Avengers. The series even makes sure viewers remember that event, with Loki recounting it to Mobius over their pie in episode 2.
So what does that mean for Verity, especially since she doesn’t seem to know who Loki is when he comes to bring her to O.B.’s workshop? The simplest explanation is that he finds her earlier in the year, before the Battle of New York has happened. There could also be a more complicated reason she doesn’t recognize him, which I’ll get to in a bit.
Mobius is a single dad … during the Blip
After finding B-15, Loki time slips to Cleveland, OH, where Mobius—that is, Don—is working as a jet ski salesman. We soon find out that Don’s wife is “long gone,” and that he’s a single dad. The saddest part? Apparently he and his wife used to go jet skiing together, but now that she’s not in the picture anymore, he’s willing to sell her jet ski to Loki.
Like Verity, Don’s placement on the timeline is significant. Loki meets him in 2022, which is four years after Thanos’ Snap, which erased half of all living things in the universe. The five-year period before the Avengers bring everyone back in Endgame is known as the Blip.
So did Don’s wife divorce him? Or was she blipped?
B-15 and Mobius are both on branched timelines
Another complicating factor is that, if you look closely at the title cards that tell us where Verity and Don are in time, you’ll see that neither of them is on the Sacred Timeline. They’re both on branches.
That means that, in terms of Loki, the Battle of New York, and the Blip, anything is possible. Maybe things happened differently on these branches. Maybe Thanos never tried to get the Infinity Stones at all. It would explain why Verity doesn’t recognize Loki, despite his notoriety. It would also explain why Don’s reality isn’t the garbage-strewn hellscape we see in Endgame.
Still, I refuse to believe that those dates—and Verity’s location—are pure coincidence.
Then there’s my wild theory that Loki was erased from existence when the temporal aura extractor pulled him out of every timeline at once. Verity can’t recognize him as the guy who invaded New York if he never existed!
It might turn out that there’s something more to these dates—or they might just be Easter eggs for fans to theorize over. Either way, they hint at rich stories for Verity and Don, and I love it. After a few lackluster episodes, Loki season 2 is finally delivering.
(featured image: Disney+)
