One of my biggest complaints about Loki Season 2 is that it seems to have shifted from a show about the Multiverse to something more about time travel.
I was under the impression that at the end of Season 1, Loki had ended up in a different version of the TVA due to killing He Who Remains (the statues were different, Mobius doesn’t recognize Loki).
However, Loki Season 2 reveals that Loki actually went back in time due to time slipping, something I don’t think he has ever done before (have they explained it yet?).
The time slipping also seems to go against the rules set forth in The Avengers: Endgame when the Hulk explained the “Back To The Future” rules are not right — that altering the past directly changes the future. It is explained that when the timelines get altered, it creates a branched universe.
However, this is the TVA we are talking about here and not a universe, right? Okay. So that can explain why the “Back To The Future” rules exist in the TVA and not anywhere else — because the TVA is outside all universes (is that correct?).
Loki Season 1 revealed He Who Remains created the TVA to prune alternate universes and “protect” the Sacred Timeline. What the TVA really does is prune (kill off) the alternate universes so He Who Remains, well, remains the only Kang. Pruning the alternate universes makes sure no Kang variant can exist and challenge He Who Remains for control. Following He Wo Remains winning the Multiverse War (really all thanks to Ravonna, supposedly) he continued or started to prune universes (I am assuming).
So in Loki Season 2 we have Victor Timely. Who is he? Well, I thought we had no idea. I missed something big in Episode 3 but it does lead to a lot more questions.
Chicago – SACRED TIMELINE
So Ravonna went back in time to Chicago on the Sacred Timeline and she gave the young Victor the book. We then followed Victor years later when Loki and Mobius found him in order to bring him back to the TVA.
Following Episode 3, I was left scratching my head as to what the heck was going on. Are they using the “Back To The Future” rules? Is Victor a younger version of Kang, so anything that happened to Kang in the past directly affects his future? I even questioned multiple times that Ravonna going back in time to give the young Victor the book should have created a branched timeline!
Well, dummie, me! It did!
The something big I missed in the episode is that years later when Loki and Mobius went to find Victor in Chicago — it is a branched timeline!
So that means Victor Timely is actually a Kang variant!
Victor is a Kang variant
To be honest, I am kinda even more confused than ever because (SPOILERS) at the end of Episode 4, Victor seemingly dies. Obviously, there seems to be some wibbly wobbly time-y wimey stuff going on and Victor can be brought back in some way.
Questions:
Why did He Who Remains (or Miss Minutes???) have Ravonna give a Kang on the Sacred Timeline the book knowing a branched universe would happen?
Who is the Kang on the Sacred Timeline? Is he the original Kang?
Did He Who Remains plant that Kang in the past on the Sacred Timeline?
What happens to that original version on the Sacred Timeline (does the kid continue his life as if he never got the book? Then the branched universe continues what happens as soon as he gets the book???)?
Again, lots of questions, but I look at it as a good thing. It shows me that Marvel has put their thinking caps on.
Speaking with THR, head writer Eric Martin is asked if he has any final teases for the rest of the season:
I think the best is ahead. Our season builds and builds, and I think five and six are the best episodes of the season.
Watch the mid-season 2 trailer below.
‘Loki’ airs Thursdays on Disney+.
