With some bombshell revelations in Marvel's Loki Season 2, it looks as though Kang's first introduced MCU variant was never a villain after all.
Summary
- He Who Remains, the first Kang variant in the MCU, was not a villain but actually had noble intentions in maintaining the "Sacred Timeline" to prevent timeline chaos.
- The death of branched timelines proves that stopping the emergence of multiple branches is necessary to prevent a gruesome fate for those inhabiting those timelines.
- Loki's storyline is setting up Kang as the MCU's big bad, with the potential for Avengers: Secret Wars to address the restoration of order in the timeline and introduce a new goal for the heroes to pursue.
Some shocking revelations have emerged as Loki Season 2 nears its final episode, including one that confirms the MCU's first Kang variant was never a villain after all. Season 1 of Loki saw Loki and Sylvie confront He Who Remains at the Citadel at the End of Time, culminating in a standoff that saw Sylvie kill the apparent creator of the TVA. This was despite Loki's protestations, who was concerned that He Who Remains' death would bring about temporal chaos. It turns out, thanks to Season 2, that Loki's concerns were well-founded after all.
He Who Remains was a Kang variant who made it his life's work to maintain one timeline, the "Sacred Timeline," which necessitated the pruning of branching timelines. His reasons for this seemed to be to prevent Kang variants from emerging and warring with one another for timeline supremacy - a position which, incidentally, he held. The motives, which Sylvie rightfully accused of robbing people of their free will, seemed both megalomanic and selfish on the part of the last remaining Kang variant - but it now looks like He Who Remains had nobler designs all along.
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Loki Season 2 Episode 5 saw Loki and his partners moving across branched timelines as Loki attempted to save his friends and the TVA. After having his true motives exposed by Sylvie, who continues to advocate for branching timelines that allow free will, Loki is convinced to halt his mission to restore the TVA and consign his friends to their lives on their respective timelines once more. This, however, was swiftly followed by their unpleasant demise as the branched timeline began to unravel of its own accord.
The death of branched timelines without any external influence proves that He Who Remains' designs were far deeper than Sylvie gave him credit for. The spaghettification of those who inhabit a dying timeline looks like a particularly unpleasant experience, especially if Victor Timely's harrowing fate is anything to go by. By preventing multiple branches from occurring - and dying - in his maintenance of the sacred timeline, He Who Remains was apparently preventing this gruesome fate from visiting untold amounts of branch-dwelling people.
Loki Repeats Phase 3's "Thanos Was Right" Trend
While the process of pruning timelines isn't exactly pleasant either, Loki seems to suggest that the process is actually the lesser of two evils. By "killing" billions with each pruning, He Who Remains and the TVA are saving trillions from a fate that may even be worse. This is reminiscent of Thanos' pursuit of the Infinity Stones and the death of half the universe to ensure that there are finally enough of the universe's finite resources to go around. Thanos' designs and willingness to make the difficult decision led to an unexpected trend that deemed Thanos to be right all along.
With his system of pruning potentially unstable branches, He Who Remains' plans were even more justified than those of Thanos. For one, nobody on the Sacred Timeline needs to suffer with the fallout brought about by the death of half of the universe's inhabitants. For another, He Who Remains may simply be hurrying along the fates of those on branched timelines anyway, and in a way that looks far less harrowing to endure. Whatever the nuances are of why branches are dying of their own accord, however, it makes one goal especially prudent for future MCU installments.
How Loki's New Multiverse Reveal Changes Secret Wars
With branched timelines dying in horrific ways, the mission of the Avengers and other heroes of the multiverse is no longer as simple as stopping the Council of Kangs from enacting their will. Now, it seems just as important, if not more, for order to be restored to the timeline and its branches through whatever means to stop branches from dying and subjecting billions to the particularly unpleasant fate that comes with it. Loki will no doubt be attempting to achieve this in Loki, but it may not be so simple - and it's not likely he'll succeed.
Loki is poised to set up Kang as the MCU's big bad in earnest, and with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars en route, there will still be plenty of temporal problems to tackle in the meantime. Avengers: Secret Wars, in particular, looks like it might be the vehicle through which the MCU undergoes its reboot. This could be exactly what is required to restore order to the timeline and its branches, bringing a whole other goal for the MCU's heroes to pursue in the final Multiverse Saga Avengers movie.
