Did Loki Just Become the New He Who Remains?

Loki‘s sophomore season is now in the books, capping off a surprising set of storytelling within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Disney+ series has left a lot of narrative threads that could tie into the franchise’s future, especially once the Multiverse Saga culminates with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars. The centerpiece of this was the fate of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) himself, and it has sparked one question from fans — is he operating as the saga’s new version of He Who Remains? Spoilers for the Season 2 finale of Loki, “Glorious Purpose”, below! Only look if you want to know!

The episode culminated, after many time loops and failed starts, in Loki realizing that he, alone, can stop the Temporal Loom from exploding and destroying any stray universes. He braves the walk to the Temporal Loom and uses his powers to grab the strands of the multiverse, allowing them to coexist freely, instead of dying inside of the Loom. He then opens a hole in the space-time continuum, reemerging at the ruins of He Who Remains’ palace at the end of time. He sits upon the remains of He Who Remains’ throne, holding the strands of the multiverse together — as we learn that the strands now form The World Tree.

Is Loki the New He Who Remains?

While the creation of The World Tree is significant in and of itself, Loki‘s new role in solitude easily earned comparisons to how He Who Remains functioned in Season 1. While it’s undeniable that Loki is functioning as the keeper of time and space, an argument can be made that he is now in service of the larger multiverse, while He Who Remains was only concerned with maintaining the Sacred Timeline and keeping any other Kang variants at bay. Instead, Loki is dedicating his “glorious purpose” to allowing as much of the multiverse to thrive as possible — even if incursions might still be on the horizon.

There are other characters or components of Secret Wars canon that Loki’s fate is similar to, with shades of The Beyonder and God Emperor Doom. But it feels like a disservice to boil down Loki’s new status quo to those characters, or to He Who Remains. His role seems to be taking elements from all of them, as well as his “God of Stories” status quo within Marvel Comics itself.

What Is Loki Season 2 About?

Marvel Studios fan-favorite Tom Hiddleston stars in Loki Season 2, returning as the titular God of Mischief for another round of time-traveling hijinx on Disney+ on October 5th. Loki is once again joined by Mobius (Owen Wilson) as the two attempt to keep the timelines intact. After the events of Season 1 saw his variant Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) kill He Who Remains and unleash the wrath of Kang the Conqueror upon the Multiverse, Loki must once again embark on an adventure to keep reality from collapsing. Loki was last seen in the post-credits scene of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, where he and Mobius were keeping tabs on one of Kang’s mysterious variants. Loki Season 2 will continue the story of the Multiverse Saga in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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