A Loki Season 2 Deleted Scene Teases The Debut Of 3 Major Marvel Characters

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is filled with teases, cliffhangers, and post-credits scenes — some good, some bad. However, by this point there've been too many teases that remain unfulfilled, including cameos that have yet to be paid off and credits stingers that promised bigs things yet have so far amounted to nothing. Think of Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) declaring his intention to hunt down sorcerers in "Doctor Strange," Adrian Toomes aka Vulture (Michael Keaton) and Mac Gargan aka Scorpion (Michael Mando) meeting in prison in "Spider-Man: Homecoming," or basically the entire ending of "Eternals" (everything from the giant celestial sticking out of the ocean to Arishem promising to judge Earth and the hint at Kit Harington's Dane Whitman becoming the Black Knight).

Then there's "Thor: Love and Thunder," a terrible movie with bad visual effects that director Taika Waititi himself criticized (despite the poor working conditions the film's visual effects wizards had to work under because of Waititi and Marvel Studios executives), and a post-credits scene that will likely never be resolved despite the rather excellent casting of Russell Crowe as Zeus and none other than Brett Goldstein as Hercules.

It turns out, the MCU's Hercules almost got another shout-out in, of all places, the TV show "Loki." Per Variety, a deleted scene from the Disney+ series' second season (which will be included in the upcoming Steelbook Blu-ray release) features Loki (Tom Hiddleston) recalling some of the many people who "said I was a problem" to his friend Mobius (Owen Wilson). Among the people the God of MIschief name-drops are Thor's Warriors Three — Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun — as well as Loki's biological father, Laufrey, Odin's father Bor, and Heimdall. He also mentions Jane Foster, Erik Selvig, Darcy Lewis, Nick Fury, Maria Hill (RIP), and curiously enough, Donald Blake (Thor's secret identity on Earth in Marvel's comic books, which hasn't been mentioned in the MCU before).

Then Loki mentions three individuals who hate him, all of whom are characters that have yet to make their proper debut in the MCU. Their ranks include Amora aka Enchantress (a mage from Asgard and enemy of Thor), as well as Absorbing Man (also known as the boxer Carl Creel, whom Loki poisons in he comics) and Hercules, "another big guy," who hated him. "I was a big problem for him," Loki tells Mobius.

As mentioned earlier, we only briefly met the MCU's Hercules, the Greek demigod who has been a part of Marvel's comics since 1965, in the mid-credits scene of "Thor: Love and Thunder." Thor had previously impaled Zeus with a lightning bolt after he injured Korg (Waititi) in the film, which leads to the king of the gods commanding his son Hercules to hunt down the God of Thunder. Goldstein as Hercules is an excellent casting choice, one of the best Marvel has done in years, and a tease for a thrilling story where Norse gods and Greek gods meet in an epic battle straight out of 2018's "God of War" video game.

Unfortunately, it's currently unclear when, or even if, Hercules will return to the MCU after "Love and Thunder" or if this storyline will even be continued. It's a shame, really; once upon a time, the post-credits scenes of the MCU were meant to tee up future stories, but nowadays they tend to feel more like the remnants of brainstorming sessions meant to show what could happen if a movie is successful enough. Granted, Loki namedropping Hercules on his actual show would've established a longer history between the pair's families in the MCU, which might've made for a nice bit of worldbuilding. As it stands, though, it appears there's no guarantee we'll ever see Hercules in the franchise again.

"Marvel Studios' Loki — The Complete Second Season" will become available on 4K UHD steelbook starting December 3, 2024.