LOKI 201: ROXXON, A Corporate Nightmare
Attention Marvel Blog True Believers! Loki Academy is back in session! Please take your seats because it’s time for our rundown of the History of the Roxxon Corporation.
If you haven’t had a chance to see the second episode of Loki on Disney+, which was made available for streaming on Wednesday, June 16th, 2021, then you’ll want to open a Timedoor and get away from this page right now to avoid spoilers! If you have seen the episode, then scroll past the comic book page below for more information on Roxxon!
Wolverine: Weapon X #12 by Jason Aaron, Ron Garney, Jason Keith, and Cory Petit. Photo: Marvel Comics
The Roxxcart Disaster
In the third act of Loki Episode 2, “The Variant,” we see an apocalypse that centers on the town of Haven Hills in the year 2050.
Photo: Marvel Studios
In dialogue, Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson) notes that Haven Hills is a company town, owned by the Roxxon Corporation, an energy company that regularly appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
This means that everyone living in the town works for the energy company, Roxxon, and shops at Roxxcart.
Roxxcart, located in Haven Hills, Alabama. Photo: Marvel Studios
These types of company-owned towns aren’t supposed to exist in the United States. They give companies a disproportionate amount of power over their workers, but apparently, at some point between 2021 and 2050 on the Scared Timeline, Roxxon gets big enough to force the government to allow them to establish Haven Hills, anyway.
Roxxon Galore in the MCU
Roxxon may have originated in the Marvel Comics, but this is far from the first time that Roxxon has appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe!
1. Iron Man trilogy
First of all, Roxxon has been referenced in all three of the Iron Man movies. It makes sense, since many Roxxon corporate ventures put them in opposition to Stark Technologies!
Photo: Marvel
Roxxon’s most notable moment in the Iron Man trilogy came at the end of Iron Man 3. In that movie, it was revealed that the Roxxon-owned Norco, the oil tanker responsible for the oil spill at the end of the movie, had been acquired by Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) to kill President Matthew Ellis.
2. Agent Carter
Roxxon also made appearances on the small screen in Agent Carter, in which the corporation stole Howard Stark’s (Dominic Cooper) weapons, and then developed the technology further. However, the Roxxon employees are eventually stopped from leaking all of Stark’s secrets by Agent Carter (Hayley Atwell) herself.
“Port Authority says Roxxon Refinery just blew up.” Photo: ABC
On Agent Carter, we also learn that Roxxon was run by a man named Hugh Jones, who used to be friends with Stark. (Learn more about Jones’ nefarious history here.)
3. Netflix’s The Defender‘s shows
Roxxon Oil was mentioned more than once on the Netflix shows like Daredevil and Iron Fist. When Elektra (Elodie Yung) arrives on Daredevil, for example, she hires Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) to help her investigate corruption in the Japanese branch of Roxxon Oil.
“Energy, cleaning supplies, macaroni and cheese. Child labor, slave trade. They have their fingers in everything. I believe it’s called diversification.” Photo: Netflix
This wasn’t the first time that Matt Murdock had to go up against Roxxon in court. As law clerks, Foggy (Elden Henson) and Matt are assigned to defend Roxxon in a real-world-type case that is brought by an employee who got sick working for the oil company. This didn’t sit well with Matt and Foggy, and it’s part of why they started their own firm.
4. Runaways
Roxxon also made an appearance on the small screen in Hulu shows like Runaways. On the Hulu series, the Roxxon Corp used a billboard on the side of the Gordon Hotel building as an advertisement for it’s new offices opening in Los Angeles, California.
“Committed to cleaning up our oceans & beaches. Committed to you.” Photo: Hulu
Notably, the Roxxon ad on Runaways also tried to claim that the company’s humanitarian commitment involved ecological cleaning of seasides and ocean… HA!
5. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The Roxxon Corporation also had multiple cameos on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC, appearing in episodes like “The Good Samaritan” and “Repairs.” Although Roxxon Corp had a number of cameos in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., most of the time the company appears as a sign on a gas station… and that’s it.
Robbery of Roxxon Gas. Photo: ABC
6. Cloak & Dagger
Plus, the oil company played a major role in Cloak & Dagger, in which the company’s drilling off the New Orleans coast had disastrous consequences.
We found Roxxon. #CloakAndDaggerSDCC #SDCC #CloakAndDagger #MarvelSDCC pic.twitter.com/72tUjizDgn
— Cloak & Dagger (@CloakAndDagger) July 23, 2018
Roxxcart fits right in with these previous Roxxon appearances. Just as we learned in Cloak & Dagger, it seems as though Roxxon is again drilling for oil off the coast. However, maybe this time the corporation won’t be responsible for turning any humans into super-powered hoomans (but that’s highly doubtful, Loki already set up a dystopian Blade Runner-esque future).
Photo: Freeform
In fact, one might infer the primary purpose of Haven Hills, Alabama, is to provide Roxxon employees who work on the off-shore drilling platforms with a nearby suburb in which to live (and spend their paycheck at Roxxcart).
Roxxon Gulf. Photo: Marvel
7. Marvel Studios’ Loki
However, as we see in Loki, while Roxxon might appear to be taking care of their employees, they really aren’t: we know that all of the people cowered in fear inside the Roxxcart store will be killed in the ensuing apocalypse.
Inside ROXXCART. Photo: Marvel Studios
#LokiWednesdays
Did you get all that, class? For extra credit, watch some of Roxxon’s earlier appearances on Disney+, and see if you can connect the dots between their earlier corporate overreach and the circumstances that lead to the Roxxcart Disaster of 2050!
