The fourth episode of Loki Season 2 has given fans so many details to dissect in terms of its larger multiversal implications.
Though Loki, Sylvie, Mobius, and company recovered Victor Timely from the grasp of Ravonna Renslayer and Miss Minutes, they were unable to save themselves from the Temporal Loom’s destruction.
Now, the MCU’s multiverse is in complete chaos given this week’s episode insane cliffhanger ending. However, this episode contains a lot of details that provide a clearer picture of how Marvel Studios is paving the road to Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and even Avengers: Secret Wars.
Victor Timely’s Connection to Ouroboros Digs Deeper
In Loki‘s newest episode, Loki and Mobius finally bring Victor Timely to the TVA in order to help them repair the Temporal Loom that’s holding the entire multiverse together.
However, after Loki introduces Timely to OB and Casey, OB reveals that his work on the TVA handbook was inspired by Timely’s knowledge.
By discovering this, Loki realizes that they’ve encountered another paradox with OB stating that this encounter is essentially “a snake eating its own tail”, taking the definition of his name quite literally.
However, this fact contributes to something much more deeper that is hinted in the episode’s introduction and rising climax.
Following the previous episode’s finale, Miss Minutes showed Ravonna Renslayer a moment involving herself and He Who Remains, revealing that Renslayer helped him somehow win the Multiversal War even though He Who Remains attributed his success thanks to finding Alioth.
Furthermore, later in the episode, it’s revealed that Loki pruned the past version of himself that was time-slipping between the past and the future all the way back in episode 1. With all these details, the show might’ve confirmed a new idea in the grand scheme of the MCU’s multiverse.
‘Loki’ S2 Proves The Multiverse Is A Looping Paradox
All these events in Loki most likely suggest that the show is adapting a new temporal paradox that’s connecting itself to the franchise’s idea of slipping through time: the grandfather paradox.
Essentially, something goes back in time and gets trapped, causing an infinite loop where the origin becomes unknown (think the ending of Interstellar or the Doctor’s video in the Doctor Who episode “Blink”.)
This season has utilized “time slipping” as a way to explore the causality of impacting the multiverse’s, and in turn the TVA’s, past to influence the present and even the future.
For example, with OB and Victor Timely, Renslayer’s action to give Timely the TVA handbook (written by OB) in the main timeline influenced Timely to become a visionary scientist. This inspires OB’s improvements to Timely’s work, thus writing the handbook. Renslayer has the handbook and the cycle repeats again.
With this in mind, it could be suggested that what remains of the “Sacred Timeline”-turned-multiverse is subject to the same rules of this paradox. Because of that, Marvel might have finally given an explanation as to the origins of the Multiversal War between all the Kangs.
Marvel’s Upcoming Multiversal War Is The Same War from Quantumania
Yep, the Multiversal War that was hinted and depicted throughout all of Loki (and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) is, in fact, the same Multiversal War that the MCU is continually building to.
How is this possible? Looking back at the intro, He Who Remains has actually given credit to his rise to power to Renslayer at the end of the war before erasing her memories.
Thinking about this, He Who Remains could have picked up Renslayer from the Timeline during the war and considering her status as a variant, she might’ve been part of the temporal loop. She also might have been the one to find Alioth in the first place, as suggested in Loki‘s trailer.
Where did all the Kangs come from then if Victor Timely wasn’t a Kang variant? Well, what if Timely never died at all? Perhaps Timely is simply lost in time (perhaps in the 31st century) like everyone else, which has been hinted at from the trailer.
If this is true, then Timely serves as the catalyst for all of the Kang variants we’ve seen in the MCU. In making this call, then He Who Remains isn’t a Kang variant; he is a Timely variant. He might eventually find his way to Renslayer, who could show him the beast that he declared “helped him end the Multiversal War” and take credit for Renslayer’s actions.
Does this make the Multiversal War a constant in the MCU’s grand plan? Yes, if all the Kang variants originate from Victor Timely. As the saying goes, “history is doomed to repeat itself” as seen physically from Loki‘s season 1 finale.
If all the Timely variants find their way into conflict, then the Multiversal War might just play out the same way in Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars. Now how is Loki involved in this lead-up? Considering how Loki was at the center of He Who Remains’ demise, he might face the Council of Kangs in Secret Wars, replacing the Grandmaster’s role from the comics.
Given all the multiversal events in Phase 5, it looks like He Who Remains was right all along. Whether he’ll come out on top just like he promised Loki and Sylvie in Loki‘s season 1 finale remains to be seen, but feels inevitable.
Loki Season 2 is now streaming on Disney+. New episodes release weekly.
