minor spoilers for Loki e5
In case anyone else is feeling let down by today’s Loki episode, specifically in terms of Loki genders, I have a theory.
Granted, this may be ENTIRELY a product of my own wish fulfillment and the truth is that Disney/Marvel really did just queerbait us with that genderfluid thing. In which case I may be writing a fix-it fic next week. But anyway, here’s the headcannon:
Loki was raised in Asgard, a society that, canonically in the MCU, has issues of sexism and toxic masculinity (though these issues change somewhat depending on the writer and director, they’re still definitely there). We’ve also seen Loki being derided for his magic, and the miniseries seems to confirm that Loki is actually far more powerful than even he realizes, probably in part because he’s never had a chance to truly develop his magical potential.
I would like to propose that one of the significant establishing moments of Loki’s childhood within the “sacred timeline” is an event, or series of events, in which Loki questions and/or experiments with gender. He is immediately discovered and the reaction of the other important people in his life is so violently negative that he’s persuaded to never try it again.
(This doesn’t have to imply that Odin, Frigga, Thor, etc. were malicious. It could just be the result of centuries of systemic sexism. Heck, maybe Odin in part freaked out because Loki-as-a-girl looked just like Hela at that age.)
That means that what Sylvie doesn’t know is that the nexus event in her timeline wasn’t her birth, but the absence of whatever trapped “canon” Loki in the gender-fluid closet. The deviation became enough for the TVA to notice when Sylvie’s she/her presentation began to interfere with the “sacred timeline.” Most likely her confidence in her identity was disrupting Loki’s “canon” childhood of failing to be as masculine as Thor, since it would have given Loki room to find their identity as more than merely the lesser prince.
Again, this may be 100% my justification. I would entirely believe that Disney completely flubbed its attempt to make their main character anything other than cishet. But I figured I’d share this, in case anyone else needs a fix-it headcanon too.
