The next big bad villain of the MCU may have just been revealed in tonight’s episode of Loki and it’s not Jonathan Majors’ Kang.
Note: Spoilers follow.
Great episode!
The episode is actually really good and as I was watching, I thought to myself, “This is the best episode of Doctor Who I have seen in years.”
I’m not kidding as there are clear similarities where Tom Hiddleston’s Loki can be looked at as Doctor Who and Owen Wilson’s Mobius, his companion. The pair are off together doing time-y wimey stuff this season trying to solve problems by travelling to the past.
In this episode, their travels lead them back to old Chicago where they meet up with Victor Timely, superbly played by Jonathan Majors. Gugu Mbatha-Raw is also on the trail of Lively along with Tara Strong’s Miss Minutes, and Sophia Di Martino throws her weight around as Sylvie.
Similar to previous episodes in Season 2, this episode also leaves A LOT of questions.
For one, who the heck is Victor Timely? They first make it seem as if is Lively is the actual “He Who Remains” but then he seems to be a Variant, but then maybe not?
Victor Lively lives on the Sacred Timeline, the universe that “He Who Remains” says is his universe, and “He Who Remains” specifically created the TVA to prune alternate universes to stop other Kangs from existing. So why would “He Who Remains” allow a Kang variant to exist on the Sacred Timeline?
It’s said to be more of a backup plan in that if something happened to “He Who Remains” this Victor Timely character would become the new “He Who Remains?” Is that right?
Or does Victor Timely become “He Who Remains” – as the two are the same person – and they both are the “He Who Remains” who died at the end of Loki Season 1? Following?
But then once Ravonna messes with the timeline by giving the young Victor the book, isn’t that supposed to create a new branched universe per the laws set out in Avengers: Endgame (update: it does)?
Or did “He Who Remains” plant a younger version of himself back in the past of the Sacred Timeline? Thus creating and making the Sacred Timeline a branched universe? And maybe not the one true universe (if that exists)? Is that younger version a Variant?
Suffice it to say there is a lot going on which leads me to…
Plot twist
I just tweeted this, and checking Reddit, I see I am not the only one to have come up with the theory, and it definitely fits with Kevin Feige’s approach to Phase 4 and beyond…
But what if Ravonna Renslayer happens to be a Kang variant?
What if it’s not “He Who Remains” — but SHE WHO REMAINS (classic bait and switch)?!
The episode ended with Sylvie dumping Ravonna at the end of the universe where “He Who Remains” was left to die and we see his rotting body.
Miss Minutes fills in Ravonna that she knows a secret about Ravonna, and Ravonna is not going to like it.
What if the secret is that Ravonna is the actual Kang and that “He Who Remains” wiped her memory? Or what if Ravonna actually told “He Who Remains” to wipe her memory? What if Ravonna is the Kang actually in control all along?
In a plot twist, that could also mean Miss Minutes would really be in love with the real Kang, Ravonna, again fitting with Feige’s new approach to the MCU.
Still another possibility is that Ravonna and “He Who Remains” are/were together at some point, which would also be similar to Loki and Sylvie being together as variants.
Ravonna could be a Kang variant married to “He Who Remains” and once she realizes Loki and Sylvie killed her husband, she seeks revenge (why “He Who Remains” wiped her memory still has to be explained).
So does that mean Ravonna is the Kang who goes on to star in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty?
Wild episode. Spoilers.
