Chicago, 1893. With Loki season 2 heading to the 19th Century, we perhaps shouldn’t have expected the creative team to fill out the World’s Fair with any familiar faces from the pages and panels of Marvel’s comics. We thought wrong. Of course, Victor Timely owned Loki season 2, episode 3 – but there’s another character with an incredibly obscure Marvel history waiting in the wings.
Enter Robber Baron (Richard Dixon), the mob-type heavy who pursued Timely after his showcase invention quite literally blew up in his face. His main – and, as far as we can tell, only – appearance arrived way back in Human Torch #16 in 1944. There, he is bank president Mr. Blair who concocts a plot to fake a bank robbery and pocket the money.
(Image credit: Marvel Studios)
Another version of the character, called a “robber barron” by his foes, better fits the version we saw in Loki: he made his fortune in the 19th Century and, get this, he’s Norman Osborn’s great-grandfather, Alton. Might have we just seen a secret Spidey reference?
It’s also the latest in a line of Easter eggs, references, and deep cuts that prove the team behind Loki have been hitting the books to pull out some obscure names. There was Zaniac – AKA Brad Wolfe – in Loki season 2, episode 2, the aforementioned Timely, and even a nod to Eternals’ Kingo as Mobius and Loki head into a theatre. This week’s episode also included a mention of Balder the Brave – even if Loki wasn’t sure why the Asgardian hero deserved his own carving at the fair.
Loki season 2 is currently streaming on Disney Plus. For more, check out our guides on how to watch the Marvel movies in order, plus more show explainers:
It could also have surprising ties to Spider-Man Read More