Loki\u2019s Zaniac easter egg ties into Thor\u2019s most ridiculous villain Marvel Studios\/Marvel ComicsLoki has made the bold step of introducing Zaniac, an obscure Marvel character who started as a mishap and eventually became a later version of Jack the Ripper. Seriously. Loki Season 2 is off to a roaring start, with the TVA in shambles and the timeline threatening to unravel. That doesn\u2019t mean the show can\u2019t stop to have some fun, though. Season 2 Episode 2 kicks off with Loki finding a TVA Agent, Brad Wolfe, who has seemingly abandoned his post. Wolfe has instead become intoxicated by the promise of his life on the Sacred Timeline, becoming a Hollywood star. Loki and Mobius catch Brad at the premiere of his latest film, Zaniac. What fans may have missed is that Zaniac is a nod to one of Thor\u2019s most absurd foes. The original Zaniac is Thor\u2019s most ridiculous supervillain Zaniac debuts with an incredibly out-there origin in 1982\u2019s Thor #319. Brad Wolfe is an up-and-coming actor who has taken on the role of Zaniac, a horror monster. A disgruntled passerby casts aside a lit cigar, which lands in a crate of explosives. The explosion does far more than create damage. See, the film is being shot at the same spot where Project Manhattan was once conducted. The explosion jolts loose radioactive energy that impacts Wofle, making him believe he really is the demented Zaniac and giving him the ability to form radioactive energy daggers. Thor manages to best Zaniac and saves the day, and Brad is treated for radiation poisoning. The origin was clearly too tame for Marvel, though, as they would revisit the character years later and rework his origin. Zaniac is eventually revealed to be a demon 1986\u2019s Thor #371 sees Brad Wolfe, imprisoned for his crimes as Zaniac, escape with help from a mobster, \u201cThug\u201d Thatcher. Wolfe kills Thug\u2019s girlfriend and is shot in retaliation, at which point a number of demonic entities rip free from his body. It possesses Thug, and Zaniac is reborn. This retconned demonic Zaniac gets a wild backstory. A TVA agent from the future, Justice Peace, chases the Zaniac demon to the present, where he allies with Thor. Zaniac will live forever and end the world, it seems. Peace has been tracking the demon from his earliest incarnations, which seem to include Jack the Ripper. Regardless, Zaniac is dealt with in Thor #372. When the Zaniac-possessed Thug kills Jane Foster, Thor and Justice Peace go back in time and kill all of the demons, preventing Thug\u2019s possession and saving Jane from death. Loki Season 2 Episodes 1-2 are now streaming on Disney+. You can check out our other coverage below: Season 2 Episode 1 review | Why Loki\u2019s helmet has horns | Marvel\u2019s Loki powers and weaknesses explained | How strong is Kang? Powers and weaknesses explained in Marvel Comics | Loki Season 1: Events to remember | When does Loki Season 2 take place? | Loki Season 2 Episode 1 post-credits scene | Who Is Ouroboros in Loki? | Where is Kang in Loki Season 2?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Loki\u2019s Zaniac easter egg ties into Thor\u2019s most ridiculous villain Marvel Studios\/Marvel ComicsLoki has made the bold step of introducing Zaniac, an obscure Marvel character who started as a mishap and eventually became a later version of Jack the Ripper. Seriously. Loki Season 2 is off to a roaring start, with the TVA in shambles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35603\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}