It should not need re-iterating that every single Marvel Studios production is intertwined within the same universe. Even shows like the (sadly missed) Daredevil or Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D or even Cloak & Dagger exist within the same shared universe. A reference made in the second episode of Loki reminded viewers of just how connected everything is in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. How, you ask? Quite simply, refer to Roxxcart. Please also note potential spoilers for Loki episode 2 in this article, so read on at your own risk!

Originally named Roxxon, the fictional corporation began life between the covers of 1974's Captain America #180. The big screen debut for Roxxon would come in Iron Man 2, with the company being a car sponsor visible during the Grand Prix sequence. Roxxon would also pop up again in Iron man 3, when Ben Kingsley's "Mandarin" executes a Roxxon accountant on live television.

For the true MCU diehard, you'll also recall that it was a Roxxon-owned gas station that Greg Clark's Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D character Phil Coulson was visiting during his Marvel One-Shot. The short film, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer was an amusing short charting the events in Coulson's life shortly before locating Thor's hammer, Mjolnir - an event also detailed in the post-credit scene of Iron Man 2.

With a name deliberately similar to real world corporation Exxonmobil, the Roxxon Energy Corporation has since become Marvel's embodiment of the far reaching, evil business empire. While obvious comparisons to other shady corporations like Umbrella Corporation (Resident Evil franchise) or Weiland-Yutani (the Alien and Alien vs Predator films), there could also be a case made for comparing Roxxon to the Shinra Electric Power Company from the videogame Final Fantasy 7. Both are pathologically run corporations, hellbent on maximizing profits, consequences be damned. Like Shinra, Roxxon are more than happy to get their collective hands as dirty as it takes in order to achieve their corporate objectives.

This translated directly into the ABC television series, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. In the show, Roxxon also had an advanced "Cybertek Division" which used the fruits of of its research to transform Mike Peterson (played by J.August Richards) into comic book fan favourite cyborg, Deathlok. Smaller but less significant television appearances would also include Agent Carter, Daredevil and Cloak and Dagger - in this latter show, the titular Cloak and Dagger's powers are the direct result of energy released from a Roxxon facility.

In Loki, the shady corporation surfaces yet again, under the slightly modified name of Roxxcart. In the second episode of the Disney series, the Time Variance Authority (TVA) is narrowing the time and geographic region for the candy Kablooie. This leads the TVA to a Roxxcart store circa 2050-something, in the middle of a hurricane, to boot. In this time and place, Roxxcart appears to be some variety on the hypermarket in an "offspring of Amazon and Target" sort of a way. Granted, the episode does not make a specific and explicit connection between the currently known Roxxon and Roxxcart, however the similarities in the names alone would at least infer an evolution of Roxxon into a new iteration in order to pursue new (or at least newly disguised) goals.

Endearingly, there is also a Roxxcart website currently live ({https://roxxcart.com/|here), although visitors will find a Roxxcart logo and little else. It does however raise some interesting questions for the future(s) of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Could this mark the moment that Roxxon morphs from shady energy company into a newer and more dangerous iteration of itself? Only time - or the Time Variance Authority - will tell for sure.