WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the Season 1 finale of Loki, "For All Time. Always.," streaming now on Disney+.
Remember last month when Jonathan Majors, who will play Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, dismissed the notion he would appear on Loki, as so many fans theorized? It turns out you can't always believe actors, particularly those signed to Marvel Studios contracts. (Cue "It Was Kang All Along.")
To be fair, and accurate, Majors' character is referred to by Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) in Loki's Season 1 finale as He Who Remains; he's even credited as such. But make no mistake, he is Marvel Comics' time-traveling entity Kang the Conqueror. Or at least a variant of Kang the Conqueror. But, despite his seemingly sinister manipulations of the Sacred Timeline, this one appears to be the lesser of ... infinite evils.
The comparisons to The Wizard of Oz are inevitable as Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) enter the foreboding Citadel at the end of Time to be greeted, first by Miss Minutes, and then by a friendly figure in purple and green who acknowledges, between bites of an apple, that "He Who Remains" is creepy. Nevertheless, he likes the name.
Unlike the Time-Keepers, who were exposed as little more than the Time Variance Authority version of Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Players, He Who Remains is made of flesh and blood. That's not to say he's a normal human, though: He's armed with advanced technology, sure, but he's virtually omnipotent. He's seen everything that has happened, and knows what will happen -- to a point. He "paved the road" for Loki and Sylvie's journey to this moment, in the Citadel at the End of Time, he boasts; they simply walked down it.
Conceding his methods are "deceptive," He Who Remains insists his purpose has remained true. "Without the me, without the TVA," he says, without boasting, "everything burns." Asked by Loki what he's so afraid of -- here's where it gets worrisome, for the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- not-Kang replies, flatly, "Me."
He recounts an origin not too unlike his Marvel Comics counterpart, of a scholar from the 31st century who discovers the existence of the multiverse, even as his variants realized the same thing. They meet and, ultimately, wage the devastating Multiversal War, that was only ended when He Who Remains harnessed the power of Alioth, the fierce creature introduced in Loki Episode 4. He then ensured cosmic harmony with the establishment, and preservation, of the Sacred Timeline.
"You came to kill the devil, right?" he asks, definitely not sparking another Mephisto theory. "Well, guess what? I keep you safe. And if you think I'm evil, well, just wait till you meet my variants. And that's the gambit: stifling order of cataclysmic chaos. You may hate the dictator, but something far worse is going to fill that void if you depose me."
At that point, a flashing neon sign should have appeared warning, "DO NOT CROSS THIS LINE." He Who Remains is warning that, if Loki and Sylvie kill him, someone far worse will step into his role. He Who Remains may be the devil, but at least he's the devil they know. And he has a deal for them: He's lived millions of lifetimes, and he's tired. They can assume his place at the End of Time, and continue his work preserving the Sacred Timeline, or they can kill him, and trigger another Multiversal War, waged by infinite versions of ... Kang.
One guess which option vengeful Sylvie chooses.
With branches already appearing on the Sacred Timeline, Sylvie betrays Loki, sending him through a time door to the TVA, and kills He Who Remains, who whispers, "See you soon."
The fallout is immediate, and staggering. Loki runs to Mobius (Owen Wilson) and Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) to warn them about what is happening: "We found him, beyond the storm. A citadel at the end of time. He's terrifying. He's planned everything. He's seen everything. [...] But someone is coming. Countless different versions of a very dangerous person. And they're all set on war." The problem -- well, one problem -- is that Mobius has no idea who Loki is.
It's almost as if ... Loki is setting up not only Season 2, but much of Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; definitely Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (take that, multiple-Emmy nominated WandaVision), but probably also December's Spider-Man: No Way Home. And it was Kang, all along.
Marvel's six-episode Loki Season 1 is streaming on Disney+.