Loki Season 1 Finale Explained: Origins of Kang The Conqueror & The Multiversal War

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Loki Finale Explained

Loki Finale episode was everything that I ever wanted. It heavily leaned on to the epic plot twist that it had been building throughout the season, and never in a million years did I think how consequential this twist in the plot was actually going to be.

Kang the Destroyer made his debut in the MCU, before Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and we went from knowing nothing about this character, to knowing some of the most exciting things about him and his role in shaping up the fate of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So with that said, let’s jump into the episode and explain everything that took place in the episode, because there’s surely a lot to unpack. 

Intro to Loki Season 1 Finale

The Intro into the Loki Season 1 Finale

The Intro sequence of Loki Finale was the perfect amalgam which played off as a part creepy and a part retrospective tribute to the journey that has been shared by the Marvel Characters till now. It featured voices from almost all the Marvel Characters and then it also roped in quotes from real life people such as Greta Thunberg, Nelson Mandela and Malala Yousafzai.

It just went on to show how Loki and timelines are just expensive in their own fictional world and how they are trying to increase their relevance by adding real life events into the mix. Pop culture references are very common when it comes to the MCU with almost all of the jokes in The Russo Brothers’ movies originating from random Pop culture quips and misspelled words.

But looking at actual consequential stuff making its way into the Marvel universe only makes us even more hopeful about the direction and the scope that the Phase 4 of Marvel Cinematic Universe is aspiring towards. 

Miss Minutes from Loki

Miss Minutes Knew it all along

Miss Minutes greets Sylvie and Loki as they enter the palace of Kang and she tries to negotiate a deal with the two of them. This clearly comes as a shock and proves all the theories right that Miss Minutes was involves from the very beginning. Her role doesn’t end there however.

When she returns to Kang after failing to negotiate a deal, she goes to Renslayer with some information which is coming straight from Kang himself. Kang didn’t really know whether he was going to be alive after this ordeal or not (since the barrier had been crossed by then) so it is my assumption that he had a backup plan or manipulation which is sent to Ravonna Renslayer.

So during the confrontation when Mobius rallies the troops against the TVA by showing the true Origins of Renslayer in Ohio, instead of Killing Mobius and sending him back to the Void, she heads off somewhere in order to find her own purpose in all of this. It is safe to believe that this is caused by the information that has been sent to her by Kang the Conqueror himself. 

Origin of Kang The Conqueror

Origin of Kang The Conqueror 

Kang The Conqueror is the timekeeper and his demeanor and persona are much more chilled out and laid back than any of us expected. He appears in front of Loki and Sylvie, in a purple robe and an apple in his hand. So the role of Kang The Conqueror in this part of the show was that he essentially prevented the timeline from splitting and rupturing, causing a Multiversal war all over again.

Yet the version of Kang which we see in the finale episode of Loki isn’t really Kang per say. He related more to Immortus than Kang with Immortus being the ultimate version of Kang the Conqueror in the comic books. Bear in mind, Kang was really powerful in the Marvel Comic Books, but he was still a mid level villain as compared to Immortus who was the main boss villain of Marvel.

And looking at the chilled out persona of Kang or “He Who Remains”, it becomes very easy to draw parallels between him and Immortus, because both of them have a tendency to act in the same way, more or less. But this isn’t openly told in the episode as he is seen to be very reluctant in revealing his true name. Till the end credits of the episode, he was just referred to as “He who Remains”.

The Easter Eggs for Kang were visible in a lot of other episodes as well and when he finally shows up, he goes through his entire origin story and how he created the TVA in order to prevent a Multiversal war. The different realities which make up the multiverse were first discovered by him and now that he is nearing the threshold, he is afraid of all the other versions of him coming back.

There used to be a time when these versions lived in peace with each other. There was a mutual admiration between them, but obviously not all the versions of himself are going to be as good natured as him. He basically references different versions of him such as Rama Tut, who is Kang The Conqueror.

He says that he was a scientist from the 31st century when he discovered these different realities, and the name of that scientist in the comic book is Nathaniel Richards. This character also ties into the Fantastic Four universe which we are getting somewhere down the line.

When these different versions of Nathaniel Richards worked together, they essentially created the Time Variance Authority in order to protect the timeline. And when it got out of hand, “He Who Remains” took it upon himself to harness the powers of Alioth and create a protective shield to the end of time which cannot be bypassed. 

Kang is As Old as Time

Kang – As Old as Time Itself

Kang has lived through millions of lifetimes and now that he is old, he says that he cannot keep running time for eternity. He needs someone to fill his shoes and hence when Loki and Sylvie walk in, the door automatically opens. They are greeted by Miss Minutes and she gives them an option to go back to their timelines in a way that they won’t die and Thanos would be slain by Loki himself, making him the rightful ruler of the universe.

Bear in mind, Kang actually knows everything that is going to happen. He knows the ins and outs of time and events that are going to take place, up to a certain point in the episode. So he always knew that Loki and Sylvie were never going to accept that offer of his, yet he chooses to test them in order to really make sure that both of them are worthy enough to step into his shoes and run time.

Because the one thing he doesn’t know beforehand is their decision. Whether they are actually going to accept his offer and run time is something unbeknownst to him so he doesn’t want to take any chances whatsoever. 

Loki vs Sylvie

Loki Season 1 Finale: The Fight of Morals

Loki and Sylvie have a conflict of faiths and beliefs with Sylvie still very adamant on killing Kang the Conqueror whereas Loki tries to be level headed and thinking through the situation. Do remember that at this point, Kang doesn’t really know how the outcome of the fight is going to be since the time breach already caused the threshold and whatever happens from here on is going to be a fresh encounter for everyone. This is also why he just sits in the back with a childlike smile on his face, because he really is witnessing all of this for the very first time.

Loki and Sylvie go sword to sword against each other and when out of all options, Loki throws down his weapons and puts his neck in Sylvie’s line of attack. But Sylvie is still ruthless about all the pains that she had to go through and she pushes Loki through the portal and finally comes face to face with Kang himself.

To rewind a bit, when Loki, Sylvie and Kang were sitting opposite to each other, they had quite a deep morality based conversation with each other about how all of them have done bad things. Loki as a show essentially made us sympathize with people who have killed innocents in order to achieve their goal.

So when these people come face to face with the ultimate Antagonist of the show, that Antagonist’s greatest villainy lies in reminding these people who they really are. And it’s weird but when I think of the stakes involved in the show, I am willing to let Kang get away with his actions, just because I am not aware of any other means of stopping a Multiversal war and preventing universal chaos. 

Loki Ending Scene with the Statue of Kang

Loki Finale: The Ending

What Kang really meant when he said, “See you soon” is that by killing him, Sylvie has shattered the only thing which was stopping all the other versions of the Multiverse from stepping in and now the door is wide open. This leads to Kang and his different versions coming back to seek control of the different universes and asserting dominance over all of them.

This also leads to Loki returning in a different version of TVA wherein Mobius and Hunter B-15 don’t even recognize him. This hints to the fact that Sylvie either deliberately sent him into a different version of TVA or the same TVA has now been altered greatly and the Multiverse has already began working its tricks upon the concepts of the universe.

This is also why we see a giant statue of Kang in his full comic book costume standing in the place where the Time Keepers stood, cementing the fact that the timeline has essentially been altered for good. 

MCU's Beginning of the Multiverse

MCU’s Beginning of the Multiverse

With all of the recent MCU projects to hint at different realities, Loki finally brings it to the forefront. Even when Loki season 2 is going to be at least a year or more later, his story is going to be continued in movies like Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.

Kang is the main villain of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania so we will be seeing the depths of the multiverse in that as well. Even Spider-Man: No Way Home is going to take the big multiverse route with so many characters from the original Spider Man trilogy bound to show up.

Marvel has effectively used all their tricks in setting the Multiverse in a TV show rather than a movie and that really results in a more realized and thorough build up of lore. To be honest, now that we have become too attached to the Marvel TV Show format, that I feel like the character development in a 2 hour movie is going to fall short as compared to the approximately 4 hour run of a show like Loki.

But we can’t wait to go back to the theatres and witness the beginning of Marvel Multiverse with an audience. 

The Movie Culture Synopsis

This was the piece by piece breakdown of Loki, and believe me when I say this, Loki is the true revival of suspense and anticipation that MCU has needed all this while.

On a whole it works perfectly as its own thing while simultaneously setting up so much that it easily becomes the best MCU show yet. And with the confirmation of Season 2 of Loki, it is safe to say that the role of Tom Hiddleston’s character is far from over in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.