The fifth episode of the Disney+ series Loki, titled "Journey Into Mystery," introduced viewers to multiverse variants of the God of Mischief -- including one who is an actual alligator.
Michael Waldron, the head writer for Loki, discussed the character with Marvel, saying the idea came about during an early discussion with producers Steven Broussard and Kevin Wright. "We were talking about [how] we want to meet many different versions of Loki in this show," Waldron said. "I was just like, there should be an Alligator Loki. And it's like, well, why? Because he's green."
Waldron continued, "It's so stupid, but it also makes total sense. You almost have to take it seriously, like maybe he is [a Loki]? Why shouldn't there be an alligator version of Loki? For all we know, that's an alligator universe or whatever. It's just the sort of irreverent thing that, in this show, we play straight and make the audience take it seriously."
This isn't the first time one of Marvel's Asgardian characters has appeared as a swamp creature. One of the more famously ridiculous stories in Walt Simonson's legendary run on the Thor comic series saw the God of Thunder turned into a frog by Loki's magic. The instance was referenced in Thor: Ragnarok, and a Frog Thor variant even made a brief appearance as another prisoner of the Void in "Journey Into Mystery."
The Alligator Loki is a computer generated character in the show, but director Kate Herron said that a prop alligator with googly eyes attached ("It was like a Muppet character") was used on set so the actors could play off of it. "You put [the stuffed alligator] in there, and the actors can interact with it and get a sense of how heavy or how large the alligator would be. [It was filmed] in the world of imagination with our cast because sometimes they were acting to a blade of grass."
Herron also discussed what went into the design of Alligator Loki. "We had some early versions when we were doing visual effects that probably were a bit too cute, in the sense of it was a bit more like a cartoony kind of alligator. But it just became funnier and funnier the more it looked like a real alligator that just happened to be wearing the horns. That was the sweet spot. Once we landed in that spot where it felt like a real alligator, but with a kind of slightly jaunty horns on, that's where we were like, 'Oh, there he is.'"
Waldron concluded by avoiding the question of whether or not the gator was actually a Loki or not. “I know, but I want people to wonder. I want that to be the next great Marvel debate.”
Loki stars Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Sophia Di Martino, Richard E. Grant, Sasha Lane, and Eugene Cordero. New episodes air Wednesdays on Disney+.
Source: Marvel