Where Have You Seen Loki Season 2's X-5 Actor Before?

This post contains spoilers for the season premiere of "Loki."

"Loki" is back this week, and along with the return of Norse trickster god Loki (Tom Hiddleston), agent Mobius (Owen Wilson), and the rest of the Time Variance Authority, the show's premiere also sees the introduction of a few new key characters. Among them? Ke Huy Quan's helpful, tech-savvy Ouroboros (or O.B.) and X-5, a mysterious new TVA agent played by Rafael Casal. And it's the latter who is particularly intriguing.

So far, we haven't seen X-5 do much besides question whether jet skis are part of the sacred timeline, but the character already seems to be an agitating force within the organization. He's also quite possibly poised to become a recognizable Marvel villain. After all, a featurette for the second season had a couple bits of footage from behind the scenes that showed him in a TVA jumpsuit, as if he was being held prisoner. So that should be interesting to watch play out. But there's more.

As /Film's Sandy Schaefer pointed out back in July, the trailer for "Loki" includes a poster for a movie called "Zaniac!" which fans have tied to Casal's character via leaks and speculation. Zaniac is a noteworthy character in Marvel Comics, though he bears little resemblance to X-5. The character was an evil entity that possessed the man who would become Jack the Ripper, and later took over slasher actor Brad Wolfe. 

Ahead of the show's premiere, Casal has been credited by several outlets as Brad Wolfe, not X-5, so it seems likely that he could play out some form of the Zaniac plot this season. Regardless of Casal's true role in the show, though, he's an excellent multi-hyphenate artist whose past works deserve attention.

If X-5 looks familiar, it's likely you recognize Casal from "Blindspotting," a fantastic 2018 musical comedy-drama that he co-wrote with longtime creative partner Daveed Diggs (yes, of "Hamilton" fame). "Blindspotting" was a labor of love for Casal and Diggs, who also produced the film about two best friends living in Oakland, California whose lives are disrupted by the broken policing system. As serious as that sounds, "Blindspotting" is also laugh-out-loud funny, and Casal is a totally charming standout as hot-headed Miles.

The performer reprised the role for Starz's "Blindspotting" TV show, which ran for two seasons and was recently canceled. A criminally underseen hidden gem of a series, "Blindspotting" takes place after the film and puts the focus on Miles' girlfriend, Ashley Rose (Jasmine Cephas Jones), as she parents the pair's young mixed-race son in a racist world, all while Miles is behind bars. Despite his character's incarceration, Casal still appears in the show frequently and his hilarious, soulful character is a fan favorite. If you're looking for a thoughtful, entertaining, dynamic watch – or just want to see what Casal's made of – you can't do much better than either iteration of "Blindspotting."

The performer has also made a name for himself in other projects, including several collaborations with Diggs. A poet and rapper in addition to his acting creds, Casal appeared on three seasons of "Def Poetry Jam" on HBO, released a mixtape with Diggs in 2010, and contributed to the soundtracks for "Blindspotting," including in the catchy (and foulmouthed, fair warning) song "Easy Come, Easy Go." He reunited with Diggs in the acclaimed 2020 miniseries "The Good Lord Bird," a wild historical fiction series led by a fiery Ethan Hawke. Casal and Diggs even started a public theater project called Bars Medley, which remixed classic literature into musical performances.

Other on-screen works of Casal's include a supporting role in the 2019 Hugh Jackman flick "Bad Education" (he played the love interest of Jackman's closeted character) and a multi-episode turn in the "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" revival. Casal played a ringmaster named Mr. Tophat in the reboot of the classic, kid-friendly horror series. Next up, Casal is appearing in "Wildcat," a biography of Southern Gothic author Flannery O'Connor that's directed and co-written by Hawke. The X-5 actor plays a character in one of O'Connor's short stories in the movie, which premiered at Telluride but hasn't been released to the public yet.

Whether X-5 is a frustrated TVA employee, a secret evil entity, a movie actor, or something else entirely, it's exciting to see an artist as talented and versatile as Casal take the stage in a major Marvel series. You can catch his next moves on Disney+, where new episodes of "Loki" stream Thursdays at 9pm ET.