Who is Marvel's Zaniac? Obscure Marvel villain to possibly appear on Loki Season 2

The production of Loki Season 2 is in full force as filming has been going on for quite a while now. With almost every production, set pics are leaked and it looks like we may have gotten a hint at a new character who will be joining the Marvel series.

With this new set pic of Loki Season 2, it looks like we might see the appearance of a very obscure Marvel villain in the series. The rumors of Zaniac started circulating online after leaked set pictures showed Rafael Casal of Blindspotting fame with Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson. So far, Marvel hasn't issued any statement regarding the same but the speculation among fans online is that he could be playing Zaniac.

So, let's take a look at who Zaniac from the comic books exactly is.

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Exploring the origins of Zaniac amidst Loki Season 2 set photo tease

Full look at Brad Wolfe's Zaniac (Image via Marvel Comics)

Teased in the set photos of Loki Season 2, Zaniac is an entity created by Doug Moench and Keith Pollard. Introduced in the comics back in May, 1982, with Thor #319, Zaniac went onto have quite the short lived life as he was killed off in October, 1986, with Thor #372.

According to Fandom, when Dormammu, the King of the Dark Dimension, sent the entity, who would later become known as Zaniac, to Earth in the late 19th Century. Zaniac's basic ability is to possess a host and cause them to develop a bloodlust and send them off on a killing spree.

In the late 19th Century, he possessed Tom Malverne, a hunchback who resented the world as he was mistreated by everyone. After being possessed by Zaniac, Malverne went on a killing spree and became known as Jack the Ripper in the Marvel Universe.

The entity continued to possess many people after that, with each of them adopting the personality of Jack the Ripper. In the modern times, Zaniac possessed Brad Wolfe.

Wolfe, who was a movie star, was possessed by the entity while filming a slasher film. Wolfe was in costume as the film's villain, Zaniac, when that happened. When an accident on stage caused a huge explosion, Wolfe went on to receive superpowers where his strength became advanced and he gained the ability to create knives out of pure energy.

Zaniac is very much a Thor villain as he appeared in the old runs of the God of Thunder comics. In the leaked set photos for Loki Season 2, we can see a movie poster with the name Brad Wolfe in it, hinting at the fact that we might get to see the character in the show. How that will work, still remains to be seen.

Zaniac could very well be a secondary villain in Loki Season 2 and we could see him travel from era-to-era as well with his Jack the Ripper personality present. But whatever it may be, we will have to wait since Loki Season 2 won't premiere for a good while now.