Loki Director Confirms MCU’s Kang is a Variant of Another Character

Loki‘s season finale blew Marvel fans’ minds as the Disney+ series pulled the milestone move of introducing the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s next big bad: Kang The Conqueror (Jonathan Majors). Yes, Loki did introduce Kang, but the show did so in a manner that few Marvel fans ever expected: the finale uses the same variant selves premise that propelled the series to backdoor debut Kang into the MCU through one of his own variants. Jonathan Majors clearly made a cameo in Loki Episode 6, but who he was playing has been a big debate. Now Loki director Kate Herron is settling that debate with some official statements!

In a new interview, Kate Herron addresses the current confusion over who Jonathan Majors played in the Loki finale. A lot of MCU fans have been calling him “Kang,” much to the chagrin of some Marvel Comics die-hards. Majors’ costume was a clear ode to Marvel Comic villain Immortus, an older variant of Kang who becomes the master of time after the Time Variance Authority is gone. Immortus’ goal was to defeat his own younger Kang variant selves from conquering time – so again, the MCU adaptation fits. However, the name “He Who Remains” also belongs to a Marvel Comics character: the final director of the TVA who lives in the Citadel at the End of Time.

So which Marvel character did we get in Loki‘s finale? According to Kate Herron:

“It’s a bit like Sylvie, right? She’s a unique character in relation to our story. He Who Remains is in the comics, but the version in our show was very different. He’s closer to Immortus, but he’s a unique character for our story. But Kang is a variant of that character.”

In other words: all sides of the fan debate are right – but none of them are quite right, either. Kang is the variant of a character that seems to be a composite of various Marvel Comics characters, which means it’s the Kang we know in the basic foundation, with plenty of room for a new interpretation.

By now any longtime MCU fan knows this game well: Marvel Studios has always taken Marvel Comics source material and streamlined it into concepts and/or characters that are easier for a wider mainstream audience to understand. Even Marvel Comics readers have had their brains strained over the years trying to keep up with all the canon involving Kang, Immortus, the Council of Kangs, the TVA, the Time-Keepers, Time-Twisters, He Who Remains, Ravonna Renslayer, Nexus Events, Secret Wars, and all the other Marvel multiverse madness straight. God bless whoever helps make it easier (but no less fun) for fans.

Loki season 1 is now streaming on Disney+.

Source: Deadline