When the first episode of Loki premiered, fans did a double-take at Owen Wilson as the rom-com actor was nearly unrecognizable in his new role.
The Loki series premiered on Disney Plus on June 9, 2021, and after its successful run, it was instantly renewed for a second season. This series features Tom Hiddleston in the titular role and actors Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Sophia Di Martino as essential characters.
Wilson plays the Time Variance Authority, a.k.a. TVA, agent Mobius M. Mobius. His character has an emotional run as he’s a straightforward detective working with Loki, who is thought to be a dangerous criminal. This role took fans by surprise, as Wilson tends to go for comedy roles. Famously, he has starred in the movies, Wedding Crashers, Night at the Museum, and The Royal Tenenbaums.
Speaking about stepping into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Wilson told Variety that he wasn't well-acquainted with the Marvel movies preceding Loki. He referred to going into Marvel with a "blank slate."
Wilson shared, "I was pretty much a blank slate, other than knowing, you know, certainly the Iron Man and the Hulk, and, you know, knowing the characters, and then Aquaman." He went on to say that his costar, Tom Hiddleston, was a great help when it came to tapping into his character Mobius.
The 52-year-old actor said, "I wasn’t looking at the comics. I think maybe someone showed me some of what my character looked like. But it was really talking with the director, Kate [Herron], and reading the script, and then, you know, going over it with Tom Hiddleston before we started filming, and him explaining all this mythology and letting me ask questions about what Loki thought about this or that, his relationship with his brother."
He continued to share, "All that stuff ended up being really useful. I think there were even things that we would start talking about that then would make it into the actual scenes, because I would jot things down. Tom’s very articulate, and the way sometimes he explains something is very good and I would use that sometimes for Mobius, to parrot it back to him about himself."
Regardless of his personal relationship with Marvel, Wilson instantly impressed Loki fans as there have been tons of social media talk revolving around him since the series' first episode.
Recently, one fan wrote, "Thinking about how Owen Wilson delivered the line 'you’re gonna take my job if I'm not careful' in what's definitely a flirty tone."
Another fan wrote, "Daddy Owen Wilson, I was not prepared for."
A third fan tweeted two images of Wilson playing Mobius and wrote, "Owen Wilson smiling is something that can be so comforting to me."
A Marvel stan account comedically pointed out the rapid change in Wilson's fanbase. They wrote, "I love how Owen Wilson stans went from 40-year-old cishet dads thinking he’s funny to gay trans teens with daddy issues."
This same account made a follow-up tweet, writing, "I wonder if any of Owen Wilson's friends or family have told him about the mass Twitter following of mentally unstable queer trans people he has or if he’s gonna be so confused at this Fan Fest thing."
It's clear that Wilson has left a mark on the Marvel fandom as many fans are left ogling his bureaucratic character and hoping for his return in Loki Season 2.