The Loki season 2 finale features one emotional Thor callback – improvised by Tom Hiddleston – but there's another reference to the 2011 movie in the episode that you may have missed, as pointed out by a Reddit user.
The Redditor posted stills from a scene in Thor, where Odin (Anthony Hopkins) is addressing Thor and Loki as children and tells them: "Only one of you can ascend to the throne, but both of you were born to be kings." The user shared this side-by-side with an image from the Loki season 2 finale of the God of Mischief sitting on a throne and holding the timelines together with his magic, a solitary fate that he chose – and a huge sacrifice that he made – in order to save time. Later on in the 2011 film, Loki tells Thor, "I never wanted the throne. I only wanted to be your equal."
Of course, we know that Odin means Thor will be the one to take the throne – he's the oldest son and, unlike Loki, isn't adopted. However, as we know, Thor doesn't sit on any throne in the MCU. At the end of Thor: Love and Thunder, his last appearance on the big screen, we saw that he was still traveling across the universe with Mjolnir and his adopted daughter Love in tow.
The other Thor callback comes slightly before this scene, when Loki tells Sylvie and Mobius: "For you. For all of us." In 2011's Thor, right before Loki lets himself fall into space, he shouts to Odin, "I could have done it. For you, for all of us!" Director Aaron Moorhead revealed that this was Hiddleston's idea, saying, "Tom said, 'What if we did a callback to the very beginning?' We did, I think, one take of it and we were like, that's it."
All episodes of Loki season 2 are streaming now on Disney Plus. For more on the MCU, check out our guides to Marvel Phase 5 and Marvel Phase 6.
