WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Loki Episode 5, "Journey Into Mystery," streaming now on Disney+.
Loki continues to a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to fleshing out the cosmology of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and much of the work it does goes beyond little Easter eggs. While fans speculated for years over the existence of the all-powerful being the Living Tribunal and how he'll relate to the movies, the latest episode of Loki just nonchalantly confirms he exists in the MCU.
After it turned out that those "pruned" by the Time Variance Authority were discarded to a broken branch of the timeline known as the Void, Sylvie followed Loki into the face of almost certain doom. The pair teamed up to stop the apocalypse itself, as the massive being the Alioth that consumes all the Variants sent to the timeline loomed ahead, and in the distance, was a notable piece of debris. And the broken head of a statue is sure to catch the eye of fans of the comics, as it clearly depicts the Living Tribunal.
Presiding over the existence of the multiverse itself and handing out his judgments in consultation with himself, the Living Tribunal confers its decisions between each of its three heads. Each face is differently shrouded in a hood, giving the cosmic entity an unmistakable look. The motif of three faces loomed over much of the TVA given the trio of the Time-Keepers, who were recently discovered to be robotic frauds, so the presence of the statue may reignite the significance of a trinity symbolism.
References to the Living Tribunal in the MCU previously have always been few and far between. The most explicit would be the weapon Mordo uses in Doctor Strange, referred to as the Staff of the Living Tribunal and whose ability to shift into various other weapons mimics the being's triple-sided nature. It seems the entity is at least obscured in enough mystery that Loki and Sylvie take little note of it, more focused on their romance and mission ahead than commenting on the bits of mythology around them.
None of the other Loki variants make mention of the statue's head, either, even though it's shown in two different shots within the episode. The Living Tribunal certainly seems to fit within the mythology of the TVA, as his role in the comics is to keep order in the multiverse and ensure the integrity of existence itself. However, the TVA's aims seem to be more sinister, orphaning children like Sylvie and operating under falsehoods that skew the morality of their mission. So, if the Living Tribunal really is behind the organization, it would seem to be a far more flawed, petty and even human incarnation than the impassive deity seen in the comics.
There are plenty of shout-outs and references in Loki's latest episode. But whether it's the Thanos-Copter, Throg or any number of other items strewn throughout the Void, don't let the importance of the Living Tribunal's cameo get lost in the mix, as its implications could be massive for the MCU's future.
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+.