Timely Thorsday #26: The One That Remains

Come on in, Ticketholders; I have all the time in the world!
And some of the other worlds, too. Wednesday has come and gone (unless you're me, and you're writing this in the past. Then that means you're a Variant and you must be pruned for copyright infringement), and the final Timely Thorsday of July is upon us. You might say it's the one that remains....

I am He Who Remains Invested In the MCU Despite Black Widow Not Being Very Good, a.k.a. He Who Still Hasn't Watched Any Films Between Infinity War and Endgame. It's a long title, I know. But it saves on exposition costs when I meet total strangers who want to kill me or use my balloon to escape from Oz or inherit my OSHA-rejected chocolate factory, or steal my anachronistic, British phone booth to help the ghost of George Carlin save the future with the lyrics of a Tenacious D song. so John doesn't Die At the End. Huh. Maybe mashing all of these unrelated universes into one metaphor wasn't such a good idea after all?

If you enjoyed my above Sacred, Caffeine-Fueled Stream Of Consciousness, roll your Temp Pads to the end of this post to click those social media buttons and ensure that the comments section does not end in an all-consuming void. Or don't. Free will is amazing, isn't it? Or is it? Get ready for some Major SPOILERS after the image. You'll see what I did there in a minute.

The one that remains, by which I mean the season finale of Loki, is titled, "For All Time, Always." This is, of course, the motto of the TVA. As a reference to this persistence of history and encumbrance of time, the usual Marvel Studios production logo is backed by a montage of audio clips from past MCU films and properties, such as Iron Man's repulsor blast sound, Captain America's "I can do this all day," the Guardians' dance-off, and other memorable moments. The logo transitions to a conceptual view of the Universe, then another Universe, then a lightshow visual somewhere between the Bifrost and the time rifts from 2001: A Space Oddyssey and Stephen King's The Langoliers. And it's beautiful. So beautiful. It's also what it looks like inside the Sacred Timeline that encircles "The Citadel," the building in the space beyond the smoke monster in the Void at the end of Time. Which proves that time travel, and Marvel's naming conventions for this show, make no sense. First, there was calling a divergence point a Nexus (a point of unity), then there was calling a cosmic hoarder's paradise a Void, and now there is a timeline that can't be a timeline because it's circular rather than linear. Also, because the Sacred Timeline is a Sacred Timecircle, it should not have an end at which to place a non-Void, nor should it be able to exist in a space beyond a Void at the end of itself.

While you are getting some painkillers and/or mind-altering substances to combat the quantum-physical headache I just gave you by trying to apply logic to fictional concepts that were dreamed up in the 60s and 70s, B-15 leads her pursuers and former co-workers to Ohio in 2018 to show them the original Ravonna Renslayer, a teacher at the school where the Judge's favorite pen came from (and maybe Natasha and Yelena were enrolled there as kids?). Also, the "real" Judge and Mobius continue their clash of ideals: her wanting to preserve the status quo (especially after receiving documented future knowledge from He Who Remains Mysterious For Now), and him wanting to know the truth and experience freedom. This theme carries over into the Citadel, wherein we see statues (some of them toppled and smashed) of the real Timekeepers, intermingled with others that look Egyptian. It seems as if, at one point, there might have actually been real Timekeepers living and working there, until something--like a multiversal war?--happened and they were all killed. Sylvie and Loki are greeted by Miss Minutes, who tells them that He Who Remains has the power to canonize them, returning Sylvie to a happy life not lived where she will have a false collection of wonderful memories waiting for her, and altering history such that Loki has killed the Avengers and Thanos and taken the Infinity Gauntlet for himself. They turn down the temptations, and are met with.... Well, who did you expect it to be? Ravonna Renslayer is a prominent figure in the show, with a strong connection to Kang in the comics. Kang's face is behind her constantly. There was that shot of Kang Tower in the previous episode. Even the Egyptian statues I mentioned are referencing Ra-Ma-Tut, an Avengers villain from the comics that was retconned into a Kang Variant, and who has come to blows with En-Sabat-Nur (a.k.a. the "first Mutant," a.k.a. Apocalypse). And the thematic coloring in the above image. This series uses the hell out of thematic coloring! Green, purple, and blue is Kang's color scheme! Put 'em together, and what do you got? Bippity-boppity-Kang!

He doesn't outright say his name is Kang, but it's Jonathan Majors ("Major SPOILERS," get it?), who is confirmed to play Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania. Dressed in his Immortus costume (minus the extra-Elvis collar and Galactus headpiece from the comics), this version presents himself as a positive dictatorial force; the lesser of infinite evils, as it were. He tells Loki and Sylvie that he created the TVA and enslaved Alioth as a means of keeping his more power-hungry incarnations at bay, and that the Lokis' quest for vengeance, answers, and free will was preordained by him to bring them to the Citadel so he could hand the reins over to them and retire, a la Willy Wonka. And Majors exudes Gene Wilder-era Wonka from this role. He's underhandedly philanthropic, terrifyingly matter-of-fact, and sociopathically gleeful in his every line delivery, and I loved it! Even with the ultimate reveal of his character being so blatantly and frequently foreshadowed, the performance was unexpectedly fresh and captivating. He also makes several subversive callbacks to technology and gags from previous episodes (like teleporting himself with a Temp Pad-like device and using a script of the future--a callback to the "confirm everything you've ever said" joke from the pilot--to avoid Sylvie's multiple attempts to kill him). This version of the character (as opposed to the comics or animated series appearances) is a far more interesting, terrifying, nuanced portrayal, and I can't wait to see what Majors will bring to a truly evil incarnation when Ant-Man 3 arrives.
Okay, I think I've done enough to get Jonathan Majors over as an MCU villain, so let's get back to the plot. After the Kangsposition, Loki and Sylvie come to blows because Loki sees Kang and the TVA as a necessary evil, while Sylvie wants to kill him and let the timeline(s) have free will, consequences be damned. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Marvel goes all-out with the fight choreography here, and it culminates in Loki finally learning to love himself. Kevin Feige and others involved in the Loki project have said that they wouldn't be shipping Lovie (Sylki?), but the finale says otherwise...sort of. They do kiss, and it's passionate and awesome and a couple fan-servicey flavors of taboo (and Kang is watching because of course he is), but according to her, Loki can't be trusted, and according to Loki, she can't trust anyone. So she "This...is...SPARTAAA!!!"-kicks him through a time door and kills Kang (who, like Loki, can reincarnate, apparently), sending the Sacred Timeline into full Multiverse mode to such an extent that, when Loki emerges on the other side of the time door, even the entire TVA has a Variant reality where no one knows who he is, and the writers must have been watching the Planet Of the Apes remake because now there's a Kang statue in the lobby.

The post-credits scene is simply Loki's Variant file being stamped with the words, "Loki will return in Season 2." According to one source, Tom Hiddleston claimed that he had been filming twelve episodes of Loki. Whether the actor got his episode count wrong, or Season 2 is comprised of at least the other six filmed episodes remains to be verified, but despite what I said earlier this week about profound forethought (as it related to Taskmaster's lack of thematic weight in Black Widow), I prefer to think that Marvel has something in mind that will tie into whatever film(s) coincide with Season 2's release. What will become of Sylvie? How will Loki charm his way back into the hearts of those who barely tolerated him when they knew who he was? Will Ravonna and Kang ever cross paths, and if so, which Kang? What other bizarre Loki Variants will crop up next? Cat Loki? Agent Of Asgard Loki? Axis Loki? Zombie Loki? Only time will tell at this point--this Nexus Point.

So, hell yeah! Loki is the new top dog among Disney+ streaming series, in my humble IMHO (laughing out LOL), and we're getting a second season at some point.

For now, let's ponder the question: What If I didn't review another Marvel property until August?

So stay tuned for the August 11 premiere of What If...? on Disney+, do your social duties down below, and I will be back on Monday with more delayed anime content.

Ticketmaster,

For all Time,

Always.