At long last, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has set the stage for its first major villain in a post-Thanos world. WARNING: Spoilers for the Loki finale are ahead! In the sixth and final episode of Loki, Emmy-nominated actor Jonathan Majors made his MCU debut, and fans got their first glimpse at how Kang the Conqueror will make his mark on the multiverse. Majors played a character named He Who Remains, a Variant of Kang in the MCU that offers a warning about the other versions of himself.
So while we technically didn’t see Kang on-screen in Loki, we saw an alternate version of him that promises something much more dangerous and sinister to come. This is a massive debut for a TV show like Loki, as it will carry a ton of weight into many of the feature films still to come from the MCU. That responsibility wasn’t lost on Loki director Kate Herron.
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“It sets the table for future outings with them,” Herron told Marvel.com. “It was a massive responsibility and privileged to bring that character to the screen. He’s such a different villain to Thanos. I remember what I saw in the outline when I first pitched [to direct the series]. I was, ‘It would be awesome if we got to do that.’ But things can change at the drop of a hat. I thought, ‘Well, maybe they’ll change it and say we’re not allowed.’ But they never did. That’s what’s so exciting about these TV shows, that they are going to interconnect with the movies in a big way. I found that really exciting, not only as a fan but just as a filmmaker.”
The final shot of Loki Season 1 shows a Kang statue, making Majors look much more sinister than the Variant featured in most of the episode. Now that the multiverse is open, the Conqueror version of Kang is free to take on the main Marvel universe we’ve been following for the last decade-plus.
There’s no telling where and when Kang will show up over the next couple of years, but we do know that he will be the main villain of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in 2023. Maybe we’ll see other Variants of the character in other titles before that, but there’s no real way to know for sure. Eternals and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness each present unique opportunities for the time-travelling villain.
Are you looking forward to Kang’s future in the MCU? Let us know in the comments!
