He Who Remains set off a world of variants for the Marvel Cinematic Universe that is driving towards the MCU’s latest Big Bad, Kang and his many variants. Jonathan Majors joined the MCU in Loki as a character known as He Who Remains, a man seated at the end of time who watches over the Sacred Timeline. He knew everything as it was going to play out … until he didn’t. In the season 1 finale, Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) made the decision to kill He Who Remains to see what would happen if the timeline wasn’t pruned and allowed to branch out. In doing so, she risks the multiverse and the Time Variance Authority as we know it. He Who Remains winks at Sylvie and says “see you soon” after she plunges a dagger into his chest.
So where does that leave He Who Remains in season 2? Well, he’s still a dead body at the end of time. The Jonathan Majors we see in episode 3 titled “1893,” is a variant of He Who Remains named Victor Timely, destined by Renslayer to take over the TVA now that He Who Remains is dead. So even in death, it seems that He Who Remains still plays a vital part in not only Renslayer’s plan but, as we continue to learn throughout this season of Loki, in the workings of the TVA.
With the hunters and the TVA employees refusing to prune timelines, the Temporal Loom is growing to a critical level and is on the verge of imploding (exploding? collapsing? we aren’t quite sure what will happen, but we do know it will end all lives and universes, so you know, bad). They can’t get the doors open to fix it without Miss Minutes. The only other option is finding a Kang variant to do the job.
I don’t think he’s coming back though …
At the end of season 2, episode 3, Renslayer gets sent to the end of time where the decaying body of He Who Remains … well, remains. Despite the Kang variants’ powers, they are still beings that can be destroyed.
(featured image: Disney+)
