Episode two of Loki has come and gone, but will never be forgotten. Since Avengers: Endgame came out way back in 2019, fans of the MCU have been waiting for the next great thing. Spider-Man: Far From Home, WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier were all great, but none of them were nearly as great as episode two titled, “The Variant”. The episode had everything I look for in a Marvel product: great action, compelling character growth, strong dialogue, and twists and turns that weren’t fully expected. The reveal of the so called “villain” was something I wasn’t expecting this early on in the show, and the reveal has been something that viewers are still trying to grasp.
Image: TV Insider
The Spanish credits revealed the actress’ character to be named, Sylvie and not Lady Loki as so many had figured her to be playing since set photos leaked during filming. The Variant incident report file also confirmed that her name is Sylvie Laufeydottir. In the comics, Enchantress is Sylvie Lushton, and happens to be from Oklahoma, which is where we first met this Sylvie back in the pilot episode. Loki also happened to give her her powers as well. It’s highly possible that she could be a Variant of Loki from another universe within the Multiverse whose a female version of Loki, just with a different name. Or she could flat out be Loki’s biological sister from the King Laufey of the Frost Giants. Either way, it will be intriguing to see how they tackle the Thor villain, especially since her powers rival that of the Scarlet Witch.
Sylvie is clearly upset with he TVA, with that reason currently being unknown. It’s safe to assume that they might’ve wronged her in some way (maybe they reset her timeline and she was able to escape) since she caused countless time aberrations that now need to be corrected. She’ll try to recruit Loki for her own scheme, but at the end of the day I’d like to think that he’ll decline her offer. But with Loki, you never truly know what the God Mischief has up his sleeve.
Image: Collider
The Time-Keepers seem like characters that we probably won’t see until the finale.. If they’re even real. Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s character Ravonna Renslayer is one of the least talked about characters, for one key reason. In the comics she's Kang the Conquerer’s wife. Kang will be played by Jonathan Majors in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and has been rumored to appear on Loki for months now. But I’ll explain more about Kang later on. Renslayer is one of the judges of the TVA who has direct contact with the Time-Keepers.
The Time-Keepers monitor the flow of time at the end of time itself, and seem to have a keen eye on Loki, as said by Renslayer. It’s also odd that one of the Time-Keepers, both in the animated short thanks to Miss Minutes, and the numerous statues, resembles both Jonathan Majors and what Kang looks like in the comics.
Image: Screen Rant
After Mobius asks Renslayer how the Time-Keepers are doing, she casually brushes it off with an incredibly vague response. She fires back with a question, "How do you think?" Mobius replies to the question by stating that he has no idea because he's never met the Time-Keepers. Mobius, the agent in charge of what appears to be the TVA's most important case ever, has never met the Time-Keepers, which presumably means most other employees at the organization probably haven't had the pleasure as well. That leaves just the judges, and Renslayer is the only one we've seen thus far on the show.
You don't cast someone as talented as Gugu Mbatha-Raw to just play a time-displaced Judge Judy, just like you don't cast Kathryn Hahn to pop in as a nosy neighbor from time to time. Renslayer is linked to Kang like non-other, whether that’s as his eternal lover, or even as his savior as she’s sacrificed herself for the time-traveling villain in the comics before. With there most likely being more to Renslayer than meets the eye, it’s safe to assume that the Time-Keepers are also in a murky part of the water as well.
Image: Cinema Blend
This brings me to my next theory that Mobius isn’t who he says he is. Mobius, when talking to Renslayer, seems like he doesn’t want to reveal too much, yet, does just enough schmoozing to get what he wants. Mobius could be posing as a TVA agent to find the source of their corruption, and wants Loki’s help in doing so. Loki discovering a loophole within the TVA that allows one’s self to be at a moment in the time stream where whatever they do doesn’t negatively effect the timeline, is huge. And Mobius seemed a little too excited about it than a TVA agent of countless years would be if they found out a ploy in their system’s existence. He Who Remains is a character that I would love to see on the show, and one that Mobius could actually be.
He was the final director of the Time Variance Authority at the Citadel at the End of Time, the last reality of the Multiverse. He created the Time-Twisters to teach the next universe, who inevitably starred time traveling into the past and destroying the universe they were currently in. It was later revealed to He Who Remains that his Time-Twisters were breaking the past, which caused Him to prevent their existence, interrupting their birth in the past. At this point two different realities spawned: in Earth-794282 He created the new Time-Keepers after the death of the Time-Twisters, while in Earth-761243 the Time-Twisters continued to live.
In laymen’s terms: He Who Remains in an all-knowing, all powerful being who runs the TVA. If Mobius is actually in disguise to uncover the TVA’s apparent corruption, maybe He Who Remains is the one true Time-Keeper, or even Time-Twister, whose goal is to reshape the TVA. As I said with Gugu Mbatha-Raw, you don’t cast someone like Owen Wilson just to be a TVA agent. Unless of course they did, but Wilson even said that he had very little knowledge about the MCU before being offered the role. Could that role have been so mind-blowingly awesome that he couldn’t refuse? Time, will tell.
Image: Marvel.com
Loki questions Mobius’ devout belief in the Time-Keepers and his mission to protect the sacred timeline, despite not knowing where exactly he came from, who created him, and why. Of course, Mobius deflects by posing that same question and cautioning Loki not to think too hard about those kinds of existential conundrums, but we’re dealing with the God of Mischief here. Loki is an ancient, alien being who’s convinced entire civilizations that he is, in fact, a God. Why wouldn’t he question the motives behind a trio of “magical lizards” doing the same? Mobius may still have undying faith in the Time-Keepers, but it’s this conversation with Loki that poses an interesting question: Are the Time-Keepers the real villains here? Now this is where Kang comes into play.
Image: Den of Geek
Nathaniel Richards has had many incarnations over the years and each identity has its own history. Richards is a future descendent of Reed Richards (yes, Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four) from the 30th century. Besides Kang the Conquerer, he’s gone by: Iron Lad, Immortus, the Scarlet Centurion and Rama-Tut. He uses time-travel to mess with time to be viewed as a God in Tut, an ally to the Young Avengers in Iron Lad where his 16-year-old self found out about his dark history in the future, and wanted to do good. But that didn’t last too long. Interestingly enough, when he went by Immortus, he was the Time-Keepers’ right hand man.
Being from the 30t century Richards was able to discover the key to immortality, and used it along with his time-traveling abilities to orchestrate key moments in human history. He’s much like DC’s Lex Luthor where he’s too smart for his own good. He uses his immense wealth and knowledge to try to rule not only the world, but the universe itself. Messing with time is Kang’s goal, by setting things in motion for his future self’s benefit more often than not.
Image: Screen Rant
According to rising Hollywood star Jonathan Majors though, he doesn't appear as Kang in Loki. The actor recently spoke to Variety about his involvement in HBO's hit series Lovecraft Country and what’s next for his bright acting career. Majors talked about his history with the MCU as a fan before talk turned to what role he will play. When the outlet asked him if fans will see him as Kang in Loki, he denied the rumors and said, "I have no idea what you’re talking about."
Posing as a Time-Keeper, or even the Time-Keepers being a “Council of Kangs” from the Multiverse, would be a fascinating road to go down. But in the end, I think getting an appearance from the next major MCU villain is imminent. Even if it’s in a Thanos-like cameo from 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy where he wasn’t a big player in the film, but was pulling the strings off screen.
Seeing how they handle the Time-Keepers in the end, real or not, will surely be fun to see when it’s all said and done. Kang’s possible involvement however remains to be seen, if at all. But it’s fair to say that the first two episodes of Loki, of six, has built up quite the hype.
Ahead of the release of the pilot episode, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said that of all of the MCU shows that have come on Disney+ thus far, Loki is the one that will setup the MCU’s future the most. If they want to get fans to know Kang before his appearance in 2023’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, this show is the PERFECT place to introduce him. With his prime derogative being timeline manipulation, having him appear even in a brief cameo role, makes the most sense.
You can see the next episode of Loki this Wednesday, only on Disney+.