Loki Director Debunks A Major Fan Theory About He Who Remains
Contains spoilers for the Season 1 finale of "Loki"
Loki (Tom Hiddleston) may have met his end at the hands of Thanos (Josh Brolin) in "Avengers: Infinity War," but you can't keep a character as entertaining as he is down for long. When audiences saw the 2012 version of the character steal the Tesseract in "Avengers: Endgame," it appeared as though enormous things were still in store for the character. That's indeed the case, and thanks to that time heist, things are about to become very messy within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
As Marvel fans witnessed in the "Loki" Season 1 finale, Loki and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) finally made it to the end of time. As it turns out, the person waiting for them there (outside of a terrifying jump scare from Miss Minutes) was an entity known as "He Who Remains" (Jonathan Majors). He may not give himself an actual name in the episode, but thanks to some behind-the-scenes information, audiences know Majors will play Kang the Conqueror in the upcoming "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania."
He Who Remains is merely a variant of the supervillain, which is actually in line with his comic book counterpart. Numerous iterations of Kang have come up in the comics, such as Rama Tut, Iron Lad, and Immortus. That last one is of particular interest to fans, who believe the version of Kang we saw in "Loki" is technically Immortus. Now, "Loki" director and executive producer Kate Herron has set the record straight.
Kate Herron explains that He Who Remains is 'not technically Immortus'
"Loki" Season 1 was always filled with intrigue, especially when it came to Sylvie, the Loki variant. A lot of speculation ran rampant about who she actually was. With all the talk about how she could "enchant" anything, most people assumed she was the Marvel character known as Enchantress. Of course, Sophia di Martino put all of those rumors to rest by confirming Sylvie was her own character explicitly created for the show. As it turns out, something similar could be said about He Who Remains.
In the aftermath of the season finale, Kate Herron spoke with Deadline about all things related to the newest big bad in the MCU. The first question she's asked pertains to the true identity of He Who Remains and whether he's the live-action version of Immortus. As she put it, "Kang is the variant, but he's also not technically Immortus. It's a bit like Sylvie, right? She's a unique character in relation to our story. He Who Remains is in the comics, but the version in our show was very different. He's closer to Immortus, but he's a unique character for our story. But Kang is a variant of that character."
It sounds a bit confusing, but ultimately, it seems He Who Remains and Immortus will be two separate entities in the MCU. It's probably for the best. He Who Remains met an untimely end in the Season 1 finale, so the doors remain open for Immortus to show up properly down the line.
Where might Jonathan Majors pop up next in the MCU?
It's worth reiterating that He Who Remains mentions fighting many different versions of himself in his finale appearance. That means in addition to seeing Majors appear as the primary iteration of Kang the Conqueror in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," we could see other variants manifest. One fascinating reference He Who Remains made in "Loki" Episode 6 was that he was from the 31st century, which also happens to be where Nathaniel Richards, the father of Fantastic Four's Reed Richards, hails from (via CBR).
Nathaniel is a variant of Kang in the comics, and with a "Fantastic Four" movie on the horizon, the team-up flick could introduce another version of Kang. Kate Herron was asked about this in her Deadline interview, but anyone hoping for a tease ends up sadly disappointed. She stated, "I don't know their plans. It's a question for Mr. Feige."
Another critical variant you may want to get familiar with is Iron Lad, a version of Kang who wanted to become a hero when he witnessed the destruction he would cause in the future. He became a vital component of the Young Avengers. Several members of that organization have already been introduced. With Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) and Cassandra Lang (Kathryn Newton) set to make their debuts shortly, a Young Avengers project could very well be in the cards, with Iron Lad getting in on the fun.