Loki: What’s hidden in plain sight in episode 6

He Who Remains

Or as he’s more commonly known by in the comics, Kang the Conqueror. Or rather a variant of Kang. Though if you really want to get technical, Kang and He Who Remains (the last TVA director) are not variations of the same character from the comics. But, to try and keep it as simple as possible (which is probably too late at this point), Jonathan Majors is playing a version of Kang who Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) has dubbed “He Who Remains.”

But in all our previous mentions of Kang in our “Hiding in Plain Sight” series, we never really went deep into who he is and why he’s such an Avengers-level threat that could rival, or even surpass, Thanos. Fortunately, “For All Time. Always.” gives us Kang’s backstory courtesy of He Who Remains himself, and it’s lifted directly from the comics. The short version is that he’s a scientist from the 31st Century (30th Century in the comics) who unlocked the secrets of time and interdimensional travel, began exploring out of boredom with his own time, and fought versions of himself for control of the timeline.

But He Who Remains left out some key omissions. For starters, Kang’s real name is Nathaniel Richards, and he’s the descendant of Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four. Quite apropos considering Marvel’s First Family will be getting their own MCU movie in the future. Second, Kang’s research into time travel was based on the work of another Fantastic Four villain, Doctor Doom who may also be an ancestor of Kang’s.

Third, Nathaniel Richard’s path to villainy started when he traveled back in time to Ancient Egypt and ruled as Pharaoh Rama-Tut, where he would also inspire the X-Men villain, En Sabah Nur, a.k.a. Apocalypse. There he would reign until being defeated by the Fantastic Four, after they themselves accidentally travelled back in time. From there, Nathaniel travelled to the present day and, inspired by  Doctor Doom, rebranded himself as the Scarlet Centurion before being defeated again, this time by the Avengers.

But when Nathaniel attempted to escape back to his own time, he overshot by 1,000 years. And because the 40th Century was now a wartorn apocalypse compared to the utopian 30th Century, Nathaniel was able to take over the world with ease, calling himself Kang the Conqueror. By the time Kang returned to the present, with the intention of taking over that timeline, he already had a massive advantage based on his numerous first-hand encounters with Marvel’s superheroes and knowledge of their history.

Fourth, like He Who Remains also explained, the various variants of himself did pool their collective resources together. What he didn’t say that there was also a Council of Kangs in the comics led by Kang the Conqueror and that they were the ones who started eliminating the other variants of themselves. And the reason they started doing that is because Immortus manipulated Kang into doing so in order to ensure he’d become Immortus. Immortus, if you recall, is a possible future version of Kang who ended up working for the real Time-Keepers. And if you look at what He Who Remains wears in this episode, his costume has more similarities with Immortus’ than it does Kang’s. Basically, Loki mashed-up He Who Remains and Immortus into one character.

In short, you have a character with a superiority complex armed with weapons and technology thousands of years ahead of our own, who knows almost everything you’re going to do before you do it, and who’s not only capable of wiping out your entire existence but your entire universe and everyone in it. And considering how the Avengers are disbanded after Avengers: Endgame (which He Who Remains and the TVA undoubtedly made sure was supposed to happen) and the last shot of this episode showing Kang’s statue at the TVA, he may have already won.