SOPHIA DI MARTINO
As a Nottingham native, Sophia Di Martino is well versed in a certain type of antihero with a penchant for green and a love of hoods. But the intentions of her Loki variant Sylvie are far less noble than Robin’s; in the Loki season finale, her fateful decision to exact revenge on the person who decided she should be pruned from existence opens a Pandora’s Box of multiversal headaches for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to contend with.
“She’s had this one mission her whole life and she’s going to do it no matter what,” says Di Martino. “Even if it messes things up for a lot of other people, breaks time as we know it, she still has to do it just to see if it makes her feel a little bit better. That is what makes her Loki!”
Loki wasn’t the only touchstone for her character. The blonde bob, divergent name and repeated use of “enchantments” point towards a specific iteration of Enchantress who first appeared in a 2009 Young Avengers comic run. Having that reference point was “super helpful” to figure out magical ways to set Sylvie apart. “It was important to me to give her that part of her personality that taught herself how to [enchant],” Di Martino explains. “To enchant someone is a very specific way to take control of their mind and is something that Loki doesn’t do.”
Viewers learned of Sylvie’s origin story during a pivotal train journey where she and Loki get vulnerable with each other. “It’s the first time she’s had a deep and meaningful conversation,” says the actor. “You realise just how little she was when she got taken away from her life: how brutal that was and how brave she was to escape. She’s a born survivor — she’s going to survive no matter what — and that’s what makes her dangerous.”
Sylvie shed her hood and horns “to streamline her mission” as she hurtled towards the end of time to face He Who Remains. And even Loki’s wearing his heart on his sleeve for Sylvie is not enough to change her mind before a climactic PDA. “Right before the kiss, she’s heartbroken and devastated that he’s not in it with her,” Di Martino says. “She kisses Loki to say goodbye and to get him out of there to save him. The moment after she has killed, she feels nothing; she doesn’t feel any gratification and is questioning everything.”
Relationship status: complicated.