According to Forbes, Marvel Studios has spent approximately $141.3 million on a second season of Loki, starring Tom Hiddleston. MCU fans are instantly comparing this news to the reported budget of Secret Invasion, which cost Marvel $211.6 million to produce.
To further put these numbers into perspective, the last four MCU films, GotG Vol 3. ($250M), Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ($200M), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ($200-$250M), and Thor: Love and Thunder ($250M) have all had production budgets of $200 million or more.
Loki season 2 will see Hiddleston's God of Mischief teaming up with Owen Wilson's Mobius and series newcomer Ke Huy Quan's O.B. as they deal with the fallout from the series one finale that saw the sacred timeline fracture into a multiverse.
The first trailer for the series recently debuted and instantly became the most-viewed promo for a Disney+ show in only 24 hours.
MCU fans are seemingly desperate for a return of higher quality content following tepid critic and audience response to Secret Invasion and several recent MCU cinematic outings. Will Loki season 2 be just what the doctor ordered?
This period of MCU uncertainty also comes as Disney CEO Bob Iger recently made statements that spending on Marvel content needed to be reined in.
"In our zeal to basically grow our content significantly and serve our streaming offerings, we ended up taxing our people, in terms of their time and their focus, way beyond where they had been," said Iger.
"Marvel is a great example of that. They had not been in the TV business at any significant level. Not only did they increase their movie output, but they ended up making a number of television series [which] diluted focus and attention."
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below. Do you think the second season of Loki will get the MCU back on track as it moves forward towards an Avengers showdown with Kang the Conqueror?