Loki: Explaining the “He” in “He Who Remains”
So the glorious purpose continues. Today, the last episode of Loki aired on Disney+. Following a trip through the Void, Loki and Sylvie meet the man behind the curtain, the architect of the TVA and its timeline-managing bureaucracy. A man called “He Who Remains” by the helpful and sinister Miss Minutes. While the character works within the confines of Loki’s story — the real conflict is between Loki and Sylvie — he has deeper implications for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
So who is this guy?
Conquering The Retcon
The short answer is he’s the time-traveling Avengers villain Kang the Conqueror. The long answer is… well, it’s complicated.
In response to Loki asking who he is, He Who Remains replies, “I’ve been dubbed many names by many people. A ruler, a conqueror. He Who Remains, a jerk. But it’s not as simple as a name.” That does aptly explain all that Kang truly is.
Kang the Conqueror first appeared in Avengers #8 back in 1964. A time-traveling soldier from the future who came back to subjugate Earth of the past. For some reason, he begins in Virginia and runs afoul of the Avengers. After capturing the male members handily, he’s defeated by the Wasp and Rick Jones, fleeing back into the timestream.
No, that’s not entirely correct either. The man who would be known as Kang the Conqueror first appeared in 1963, in the pages of Fantastic Four #19. There the time-traveling Pharoah Rama-Tut went up against the Fantastic Four, who traveled back to ancient Egypt to discover the cure for blindness. (Yes, these early comics were weird.) The Fantastic Four defeat him, and Rama-Tut flees into the timestream.
The next appearance of Kang the Conqueror also comes under another guise, when another time-traveling dictator named Immortus kidnaps Rick Jones in Avengers #10. He’s not necessarily defeated, simply leaving mid-issue. It’s weird. Immortus would later become a more benign figure, less a villain and more a steward of time itself.
Marvel Comics’ continuity is fluid and the truth is Kang, Rama-Tut, and Immortus were originally never intended to be the same guy. Marvel just created a number of villains focused around time travel and two of them happened to use the same color scheme. In Avengers Annual #2, published in 1968, the Avengers go up against another time-traveling supervillain, the Scarlet Centurion. By the end of the issue, he’s shown to be a future iteration of Rama-Tut, and the Watcher reveals that he’ll become Kang in the future.
Immortus would later reveal that he was also a Kang in Giant-Size Avengers #3 in 1975. All three of these guys being the same character is a retcon a decade after the fact! It’s all about housekeeping, putting all the time-travel shenanigans under the same character.
Jumping back to Loki, if you look at the costume worn by He Who Remains, you’ll see shades of Immortus’ costume. Notably the cape/mantle and the sun-style symbol on his shirt. When he warns that other versions of himself are more threatening and shows the multiversal war between his Variants, we see they’re wearing an outfit and helmet indicative of Kang. We also see a much clearer version of the Kang costume on the statue in the cliffhanger ending.
Directionless Youth
Loki ends with the death of He Who Remains, the fracturing of the timeline, and Loki ending up in an alternate version of the TVA. Where will the Marvel Cinematic Universe go from here? Well, we know it’s going to end up at the recently-announced Loki season 2, while the multiverse is heavily factoring into Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and Spider-Man: No Way Home. To go deeper though, we need to dive a little bit more into Kang’s past.
In the early days of Rama-Tut, it was hinted that he was a descendant of the Fantastic Four enemy Doctor Doom. Later in Fantastic Four #273, it was revealed that the war-torn future that Kang hailed from was ruled over by Nathaniel Richards, the father of Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. And Kang himself was from a future further than that, and a descendant of Nathaniel Richards!
Yes, that makes Kang an offshoot of the Richards family tree and related to the Fantastic Four. In fact, his name was given as Nathaniel Richards — like Reed’s father — in What If? #39. (Sadly, not available on Marvel Unlimited.) But wait, there’s more!
If you could change your past, wouldn’t you? Desperate to get a jump start on all that conquering, Kang heads into his teenage past. Kang attempts to bend his young self to his ways, inadvertently pushing the boy away. Young Nathaniel Richards leaps back to the past to find the Avengers, the folks who keep beating Kang, only to find them disbanded. This leads him to form the Young Avengers in their stead.
You’ve already seen various members of the Young Avengers beginning to appear in these current Marvel Cinematic Universe projects. The Scarlet Witch’s young sons are both members of the team, the magical Wiccan and the superfast Speed. Both were children in WandaVision, but it’s likely that their mother’s journey to find them may end up with them aging up again. Elijah Bradley, the Patriot, appeared in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier played by Elijah Richardson. A younger Loki, who is on a later iteration of the team, appeared in Loki’s Void played by Jack Veal.
Future members of the Young Avengers are already confirmed as well. Hailee Steinfeld is playing Kate Bishop in the upcoming Hawkeye Disney+ series. Emma Fuhrmann played Cassandra Lang in Avengers: Endgame, and the character has since been recast: Kathryn Newton is playing her in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, where it’s likely she’ll become the hero Stature. America Chavez, another hero on a later version of the team, will be a character in Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness portrayed by Xochitl Gomez.
All we’re missing is Hulkling, a young Kree-Skrull boy who could potentially appear in The Marvels or Secret Invasion, if I’m living purely in speculation territory. And now we have Kang, meaning we could have a young Kang, who is the impetus for the Young Avengers in the first place.
The Future of the MCU
So we have a character tied to a future Avengers team and the Fantastic Four, who also has a long history as one of the Avengers’ biggest villains. And we have a character known to jump around between time periods and even realities as needed.
Will the MCU feature Kang in all his iterations? Will we see him as Iron Lad, Rama-Tut, the Scarlet Centurion, Kang the Conqueror, and Immortus? Will he even be Nathaniel Richards?
I’m guessing that Jonathan Majors is playing Immortus in Loki, but I also think we’ll see the other iterations as Variants of the same character. A younger Kang, a more benevolent Kang; I think that’s all on the table.
I also think that the Multiversal War is returning.
A similar conflict was the impetus for Secret Wars, a 2015 crossover storyline pitched as a throwback to the 1984 series of the same name. Secret Wars was the result of various Marvel heroes from different realities all fighting against the Incursions: events where two alternate Earths would occupy the same space, with only the victorious Earth remaining alive.
Fantastic Four villain Doctor Doom was the one to come up with a solution, confronting the Beyonders, a race of powerful beings beyond time and space. Doom takes their powers into himself and crafts the Battleworld from the shattered shards of each reality. One planet and reality under his control, with alternate iterations of Marvel heroes and villains as his citizens.
Marvel Studios is good about taking a general idea and going off in a new direction. I think Secret Wars is the next big swing, the next Endgame for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And while I think Doom will be involved, I think this time it’ll be all about Kang. This is our new Thanos, the one whose name will cause fear and drive our heroes to greater heights.
But I think that’s a long way off at this point.
For now, Kang will be back in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and will likely factor in Loki Season 2 if that cliffhanger is any indication. And if you want to know more about Kang and his other iterations, I’d recommend reading these series for more information.
Avengers Forever: Marvel Unlimited, Comixology
An absolutely fantastic story featuring Kang, Immortus, and the Time-Keepers. Avengers from across time to prevent Rick Jones’ death at the hands of Immortus.
Young Avengers: Marvel Unlimited, Comixology
The story of a young Nathaniel Richards and how he brings together a team of legacy heroes.
The Avengers: Time and Time Again: Comixology
A collection of earlier Kang stories, including one where Marvel attempts to tackle having one character across four identities. This trade covers Avengers (1963) #69–71 and #267–269, Thor (1966) #140, and Incredible Hulk (1962) #135. (Links to the Marvel Unlimited single issues are directly preceding.)
Avengers: Kang Dynasty: Comixology
Kang decides to enslave the entire Earth, and this time, the Avengers might not be able to stop him. Beginning in Avengers #41 and running through Avengers #55.
