"The pen is mightier than the sword" is the famous adage attributed to English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839. And Disney Plus's 🔥Loki may be taking that old adage to incredibꦆle extremes.
Episode 4 of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Marvel Studios' third streaming series is now in the books, and w✨e've now learned things about the Time-Keepers and the TVA that has changed the entire series and may also be significant to t💯he future of the MCU.
And a pen makes a return appearance and it may be at the center of it all.&nbs🍬p;
Yes, a pen…
… that just may hold the truth about all the series's unanswered ques🍎tions.
Spoilers ahead for 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Loki episode 4.
The scene in question comes about a third of the way through the second episode when Owen Wilson's Mobius M. Mobius visits Gugu Mbatha-Raw's Ravonna Lexus Renslayer's office to﷽ get her to sign off on a ಌreport on a TVA field operation Loki was a part of from earlier in the episode.
The outwardly light-hearted scene foreshadows the true nature of the TVA in the MCU (or at least what we know so f▨ar) and includes a moment centered around that aforementioned pen which has yet to pay off, but as episode 4 indicates, probably still will.
Because the TVA resembles a mid-century modern era version of the DMV (that's the US's infamously inཧefficient and bureaucratic Department of Motor Vehicles), Ravonna presents like she needs to sign paperwork for all of Mobius' field operations, which he ha✨s to then sign as well.
During the course of the exchange, Ravonna hands Mobius a pen. The scene already establishes that Ravonna has artifacts (what Mobius calls trophies) from his past field operations in the timestream, which she makes clear she gets to keep due to 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:her position of authority.
And that little nugget of background information pays off immediately when Mobius takes instant notice of the pen🎃 … and makes certain Loki viewers do too.
Mobius remarks he doesn't remember the pen🥀 and indicates that it came from a past field🦂 operation, humorously teasing Ravonna about being aware of another secret TVA analyst he does not know (that she keeps "on the side"), but whom he suspects she also has a close professional relationship with.
If you've read the Newsarama explainer on t🌳he comic book inspiration for Mobius, then you already know in the comics there are an infinite number of him in the TVA. Sort of like The Matrix's Agent Smith, many TVA🅘 agents are in fact identical Mobiuses - though as with the version most known to comic fans, different versions of Mobius have different personalities, skills, and ranks in the TVA.
Bookmark that piece of information and the episode's hint of at least one other TVA field✱ agent.
The first two episodes carefully established Mobius as having a dutiful but somewhat wistful regard for the TVA, his place in it, and his very existence. He's already learned he's just a variant of a normal human being that was mind-wiped to play hi🦂s role, and not the creation of the Time-Keepers.
If he later finds out he's simply one of an infinite number of variants of himself all performing identical functions kept secret from him⛄, t🍸he Loki writing room may be setting up a crisis of self-realization for Mobius that could be important down the line.
Of course, that's if Mobius survived being "prꦗuned," which is possible considering Loki survived pruning in the same epis♉ode.
Loki and Mobius already began teaming up again💯st the TVA as we previously predicted they would, and we don't think Mobius' story 🅷is over, or that the Loki-Mobius team-up has run its full course.
The oౠther significant aspect of the scene is the writing on the pen, which is clearly sh🍰own to Loki viewers with a purpose.
The pen reads 'Franklin D. Roosevelt High School.' Now if you're a step ahead of us, a Google search might have already revealed to you there appears to be no significance to an FDR high﷽ school in the Marvel comic book or cinematic universes (Peter Parker goes to the fictitious Midtown High). And if there was, Marvel Studios probably wouldn't have 🌞been so blunt with the clue.
No, the always-cꦅlever and always-forward-thinking studio wants viewers doing a deep dive on this one, though bearing in mind red herrings that go nowhere are not out of the ordinary for Marvel productions.
To name just a few, WandaVision purposely sent viewers off on tangents involving the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Grim Reaper, Mephisto, and the "澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:aerospace engineer," all almost certainly on purpose. So let's all keep in mind Marvel could be♍ doing the same here.
That said, while we don't see the writing again, the blue pen makes more appearances in episode 4. In the first scene with Ravonna and Mobius in her office Ravonna conspicuously waves it around while she's talking in close-up. In a second scene between them again in her office later in the episode just as we're learning Mobius has become suspicious of Ravonna, as seen above Mobius glances at the writing on the pen again (timesꦡtamp 25:04 to be exact).
Details like that are entirely intentional.
So to play Marvel's game, a solo Google search of "Frank🦹lin D. Roosevelt High School" indicates the most famous one is in Brooklyn, New York (which Marvel Studios is clearly aware of), and that's when things start getting interesting if you indulge in a few intellectual leaps…
Because there is a Marvel c♓omic book character that hails from Brooklyn, NY, and of whom we even know a little bit about his high school history𝓡 that fits right into the entire Loki-TVA world of timelines and Multiverses.
And his name is the Molecule Man...
Who is Molecule Man?
Molecule Man, AKA Owen Reece, is one of the most unique and interesting characters in Marvel Comics lore. He first appeared way back in 1963's as a custodian at an experimental nuclear facility, whe༺re he was bombarded with mysterious radiation that gave him the incredible power ꦓto psionically manipulate matter and energy down to the atomic level.
If that sounds extremely potent, like on a gran🧔d cosmic scale, just wait. You don't know the half of it (and neither did he, at the time). The 'accident' also had even more profound effects - we'll get into it.
Though his powers were initially restricted, with Reece unable to affect o🉐rganic matter, this later turned out to be Reece's own limitation and not a limitation of his abilities. When Reece initially challenged the Fantastic Four, Uatu the Watcher recognized the potential of his abilities and intervened on the FF's behalf, leading to Molecule Man's defeat, after which he was trapped in an extra-dimensional space where ܫhis powers could not grow to threaten existence itself.
But Reece's powers did grow - to the point where he was able to bind his essence to the metal wand that once channeled his powers. The wand floated around the൲ Marvel Universe for some time, with anyone who picked it up becoming Molecule Man themselves, with Reese's essence even once possessing Reed Richards.
Reese was eventually able to reconstitute his body into human form, at which point he fought the entire Avengers to a standstill - until Tigra was able to talk him down. With his massive powers intact and growing, Reese did what few villains are able to do and surrendered, deciding to retire and seeking psychiatric help and therapyꦍ with plans to settle down into a normal, non-super life.
Unfor💟tunately, the Marvel Univers💯e had other plans.
Molecule Man in the Marvel Universe
As it turns out, the accident that gave Molecule Man his powers also opened a wormhole to a space beyond the Marvel Multiverse that's home to the beings known as the Beyonders - who may or may not be directly responsible for creating the 𒐪Multiverse itself. The creative energy in that universe gave Reece his abilities, and also connected him directly to the Beyonಞders.
One Beyonder became obsessed with the Marvel Universe, eventually summoning a collection of Marvel's greatest heroes and villains to an artificial place known as Battleworld, pitting the two factꦅions against each other in a conflict designed 🐷basically for his own amusement - the original event.
When Reece was dragged into Secret Wars and out ♛of retirement, he first sided with the villains. However, he wound up falling in love with Volcana, another supervillain present on Battleworld, with the two bonding over Reece having been an outcast in ... wait for it ... high school.
Here's the thing - that high school experience might be a little bit impor🐻tant. Because where did Owen Reece grow up and go to high school?
Brooklyn, New York.
Now, we can't say he definitely went to FDR High School - that info hasn't been revealed in comics. But we can say that Owen Reece has a unique and extre🌺mely important role in the Marvel Multiverse, which may also directly relate to Loki and the pen.
We'll get into that more momentarily.
At the end of the original 1985 Secret Wars, Molecule Man discovers his own power may rival that of the Beyonder, and unlocking his full potential, sends every♌one home and retires to Denver with Volcana.
But once again, the Multiverse wasn't done with Owen Re💛ece.&n𝔍bsp;
Time Runs Out
See, the Beyonder that the Marvel heroes and villains encountered on Battleworld in 1985's Secret Wars was just one of a full race of Beyonders. Though it's unclear whether they were somehow involved in the creation of Marvel's Multiverse, they were definitely behind giving Molecule Man his powers - something that is later revealed to have♐ been totally on purpose.
While many denizens of the Multiverse have numerous counte𓃲rparts in different realities, or some (such as the vaunted Nexus Beings) are unique in some way to their home existence, Owen Reece has a unique relationship with the Multiverse. In every single universe Owen Reece is the s🤡ame person, with essentially the same life, always becoming the Molecule Man.
This makes Owen Reece one of the only multiversal constants in all of Marvel Comics - and that's all part of the Beyonders' plan to use their Molecul🌊e Man trap to destroy all of the worlds in the Marvel Multiverse one by one and start over.
Long story short, Doctor 𓆏Doom decides that's not great, and using Molecule Man's powers, he defeats the Beyonders and saves the Marvel Universe - sort of. This kicks off 2015's event, a spiritual successor to the original, in which Doom creates his own Battleworl𓆉d.
Eventually, Molecule Man betrays Doom and gives his reality-remaking powers to Reed Rich🌱ards, who defeats Doom and goes on to use Molecule Man's powers,⭕ along with his son Franklin Richards' own reality-altering abilities to rebuild the Multiverse without the Beyonders' influence or their Molecule Man trap.
Everything is eventually restor❀ed, with some aspects of the Marvel Universe having been rewritten at Molecule Man's whim - including bringing Miles Morales, who Molecul🌺e Man befriended, into the mainstream Marvel Universe along with his family.
Molecule Man in the MCU
Here's where that pen comes in again.
As we said, we can't say for sur🔴e the pen actually ever belonged to Owen Reece - after all, there's no direct indicator that he went to FDR High School that we can take from the page. And he's never been an agent of the TVA in comic books.
But there are some factors that make it ༒seem like Owen Reece/Molecule Man could be an important character in Loki and the 🔯MCU overall.
As revealed in the 1985 Secret Wars. we know for sure that Owen Reece went to hi🉐gh school in Brooklyn and that his experience in school was formative to who he became both before and after gaining his powers.
And for the moment, there is a significant power🥂 vacuum in Loki.
The power of the TVA is seen as immense, greater even than the Infinity Stones - and has domini🍰on over all of time. But the seemingly cosmic power behind it - the Time-Keepers - was a cheap scam. There are no Time-Keepers.
And the TVA wasn't what we thought it was eit𝓰her. Only Ravonna (for the moment) holds the secret to its pow🌃er and true purpose.
So who or what is so p💖owerful that it can control tim𓂃e but would also need or want to create a Wizard of Oz-like front and an entire facade with the late-60s, retro DMV aesthetic?
There's also the question we've asked before, why are two British actors - Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Wunmi Mosaku - affecting American accents for their roles when it serves no se♕eming purpose? And while we're at it, why do all TVA workers look like human beings when the Marvel Universe is populated by a wide array of races of various appearances?
One possible answer is ALL of the TVA worker variants are plucked from a similar time and place from the experiences of whoever is really behind the power of the TVA ... and could that be someone be an American someo✱ne from Earth who wen🤪t to or worked at a high school in Brooklyn?
And maybe a someone who appears so ph🀅ysically meek that the person created the fictional narrative of the ancient, grandiose cosmic Time-Keepers?
The pen might just be a clue, but there's𒆙 another angle, far-fetched as it may be, worth mentioning.
But we can't help but think about noꦬt just the power Molecule Man possesses, but also the role he plays in the Marvel Multiverse - including the time period in which his essence was stored in a wand that took over those who wielded it.
Now, a pen and a wand aren't the same things. But they❀'re really not that different at least in terms of shape - and a pen with a logo on it provides both a bit of an Easter egg and a more relatable object in which to potentially house Molecule Man's💦 essence.
Why is the pen special or important? Maybꦡe it's not, beyond being a keepsake for Ravonna. But if she's holding onto it because it ha༺s some level of power, it could be the key to unlocking the secrets of the MCU Multiverse in the same way Molecule Man did so in comic books.
Time will tell - and Loki is run♒ning out of it, so we'll have answers soon.
The TVA may think Loki isn't the star of the story, but he's had plenty of his own tales to tell. Here are the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Loki stories of all time!
