Previously, series titular star Tom Hiddleston shared with Marvel.com, "I just want to salute Jonathan Majors. He came in the last lap of this series and made an extraordinary impact. And it’s quite something to do that for a story, to get to its final chapter and to introduce the character of such breadth, and depth, and charisma, and intelligence. He was dazzling. It was our final week of filming, literally. He came in and blew us all away.”
A sentiment that Herron echoed to EW. "The fact that we got him to do this, I was just so happy because I was like, 'We're gonna be in really safe hands now.' He just commands attention. That for me was the real key thing for me, just getting the casting right," shared the director. Herron had also revealed she was part of the conversation in casting Majors with Marvel Studios and Peyton Reed, the director for the upcoming Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.
He Who Remains, the master architect for all of time, had spent a long time in isolation toiling away at keeping the Sacred Timeline stable. In capturing his eccentricity, Majors was able to tap into his clown training from Yale School of Drama. "There's more smiling in that one performance than there has been in my other performances combined. It's just what it calls for," Majors shared with EW. "I'm a classically trained clown. That's part of my training. I've been at it for a long time, and to be able to exercise that was a lot of fun."
In addition to tapping into his classic clown training, the creative team allowed Majors a lot space to improv his role as He Who Remains. Herron shared with the entertainment outlet that Majors "brought movement to the character in different ways," noting "it was almost like a dance with him."
Majors credits a lot of his performance to collaborating with Herron, Hiddleston, Sophia Di Martino, and producer Kevin Wright. "They really let me run," said Majors, "And that's the best thing you can hope for."
What's next for the Multiverse and Majors? That remains to be seen. For now, read the full interview with Herron and Majors over at EW.
Nathaniel Richards †
Time Variance Authority
"Fake. Mindless androids." ―Sylvie Laufeydottir[src]
The Time-Keepers were three androids created by He Who Remains, programmed to serve as his mouthpieces and figurehead creators of the Time Variance Authority. According to TVA propaganda, they were occupied with dealing with the ramifications of the Multiversal War, while the TVA was tasked with pruning timelines and Variants, until their duplicitous existence was revealed to the agency's employees.
History
Multiversal War
Reorganizing the Multiverse
TVA propaganda depicts the Time-Keepers restructuring the Multiverse
According to Time Variance Authority propaganda narrated by Miss Minutes, the Time-Keepers were formed because of a Multiversal War, where different timelines battled each other for supremacy. They brought peace to the Multiverse by reorganizing it into a single timeline, known as the Sacred Timeline. Protecting and preserving the timeline they created, the Time-Keepers also created the Time Variance Authority and its entire staff to help maintain the peace throughout the realities and keep all the timelines on the path of the Sacred Timeline.[2] However, in reality, the Time-Keepers were androids and the members of the Time Variance Authority were Variants themselves.[3]
Sylvie's Investigation
The Time-Keepers in their chamber
The Time-Keepers looked over Sylvie's case and would check in routinely with Ravonna Renslayer during the investigation. After Sylvie bombed the Sacred Timeline, the Time-Keepers met Renslayer to reprimand her for allowing Mobius M. Mobius to trust Loki to find her. The Time-Keepers planned on having them both executed with Renslayer and Mobius to witness. However, after Mobius learned the truth of the TVA, he was erased.
The Time-Keepers are revealed to be androids
Renslayer brought Loki and Sylvie to the Time-Keepers herself. Upon seeing Loki and Sylvie, the Time-Keepers prepared to execute them when Hunter B-15 broke into the chamber and handed Loki and Sylvie weapons. After the fight between Loki and Sylvie versus the Minutemen Royal Guards, the head Time-Keeper tried to speak with Sylvie, only for Sylvie to throw her weapon at its head, decapitating it. It was then revealed that the Time-Keepers were androids and all were deactivated.[3]
Relationships
Appearances
Trivia
- In the comics, the Time-Keepers were created by the He Who Remains, the last director of the Time Variance Authority at the "end of time" (the period before the current universe's end and the next universe's beginning). He wanted to create beings who could teach the next universe, but his first attempt, the Time-Twisters, went wrong; the Time-Keepers were the perfected version. The Time-Keepers were the masters of Immortus, a variant of Nathaniel Richards (a.k.a. Pharaoh Rama-Tut, the Scarlet Centurion, Kang the Conqueror, etc.), who helped the Time-Keepers maintain time. The Time-Keepers were eventually killed by Kang the Conqueror.
Behind the Scenes
References
External Links
- Time-Keepers on Marvel Database
- Time-Keepers on Wikipedia
The following story contains spoilers for Loki.
- Fans have long been wondering who the MCU's next big, overarching villain would be, and at the very least got a hint at one of them.
- Kang the Conqueror, a character set to make his debut in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, appeared to make his silent MCU debut in episode 1 of Loki.
- Kang went on to been hinted at multiple times throughout Loki.
There's been a big question among the MCU's fanbase ever since Avengers: Endgame hit theaters about who could possibly be the next Thanos—a major villain teased over several projects before eventually reaching an epic showdown. Some thought that might be Mephisto, the Marvel Comics version of the Devil. Others have questioned if maybe it's time for the MCU to bring in its own version of Norman Osborn, the Spider-Man arch-nemesis played most famously by Willem Dafoe in Sam Raimi's films. But one big villain we know for sure is coming—the time-traveling Kang the Conqueror—was seemingly introduced in the first episode of Disney+'s Loki, without so much as even his name being uttered.
In a sequence narrated by a talking clock named Miss Minutes (prolific voice actor Tara Strong), Loki (and the viewers) learn all about the Time Variance Authority's whole deal, and, in particular, the three "Timekeepers." As the story goes, a long, long time ago, there was a battle of timelines, a war within the multiverse that nearly resulted in the end of anything resembling life. That was, until three "Timekeepers" came into prominence, reorganizing the messiness of the multiverse into one "sacred timeline."
One of those three Timekeepers, for anyone who knows what to look for, had an uncanny resemblance to Kang the Conqueror. Kang is a longtime Marvel Comics villain, who first appeared (as Kang, he previously went by the name Rama-Tut) in Avengers #8 back in 1964. Kang is known for his time-traveling abilities—which makes him a perfect fit for this moment in Loki, and helps to clearly confirm that it is, in fact, him.
Kang's appearance in the MCU is no surprise. Jonathan Majors has already been officially cast as the character, and is scheduled to make his official debut in 2023's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. But if you look at the Timekeepers—the one in the center looks just like Kang, and the animated face even looks a bit like Majors, as opposed to one of the many artist renderings from his various Marvel Comic depictions.
The Miss Minutes video goes on to talk about "Variants," (what Loki is; basically, anyone who does something that wasn't supposed to happen, according to the all-knowing sacred timeline that's been set in place) and "Nexus events," (which are what an event is called when someone breaks off the path that they're supposed to be on).
If the latter sounds familiar, it's because there was already a fake commercial in WandaVision teasing Nexus, which did, in a way, confirm this moment was coming. In the Marvel Comics, Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch is one of the few "Nexus Beings," meaning she can travel within alternate dimensions at minimal damage to herself; Kang is another Nexus being. It feels clear that MCU is prepping everyone for some major multiverse happenings, with Nexus beings and Nexus events at the center.
The animated version of Kang was consistently at the center of the three Timekeepers each time he was shown on screen. And he later appeared again, in a sculpture in the background of Loki's TVA hearing. Once again, Kang was the center timekeeper.
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Men's HealthIt's intriguing to wonder where things might go from here, since it is so definitively, clearly, Kang the Conqueror. The character of Kang in the history of Marvel Comics is almost always a master physicist, traveling through times and creating alternate versions of himself. Could Kang perhaps be a rogue timekeeper? Could he be simply a bad actor who, similarly to what we presume Loki will do, bounced through time and found himself in a position of extreme power?
The rest of the story will contain Loki Episode 6 (and the rest of the series) spoilers, so read on at your own risk.
Without so much as a name drop, the finale of Loki Season 1—Episode 6, titled "For All Time. Always."—brought Kang into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though this time he was referred to as "He Who Remains," played by Majors in MCU debut, and was revealed to be the big force behind the TVA (and while it's not clear if his name is Kang, he did say that some have called him a "conqueror." We get the reference).
Majors casting as Kang was first announced last September, but he wasn't officially revealed as Kang until December. Clearly, this gave enough time to work a substantial role in this finale episode; in terms of major villain teases/introductions, this was a hell of a lot more exciting than even the first Thanos tease in The Avengers or even the "Fine, I'll do it myself," credits scene from Age of Ultron.
It's hard for us to go through too much of what we got from Kang, but as "He Who Remains" most notably explained, "If you think I'm evil, well, just wait until you meet my variants." One of those variants will 100% be named Kang the Conqueror, and will be one hell of a villain.
Episode 5 gave some subtle hints.
In following Episode 4's major revelations, Episode 5 let us know that Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) appears to be just as in the dark as the rest of the characters about who, exactly, is in charge o the TVA. But that also might just be what she wants them to think. As we'll get into a bit below, Ravonna and Kang have a deep connection in the Marvel Comics, and that could be an established thing here, or something we continue to build towards.
As Loki and Sylvie enchanted Alioth at the end of Episode 5 and saw what the monster was guarding, the green, purple. and blue color scheme did seem to mirror the comics-traditional look of Kang the Conqueror.
Kang may not be a Timekeeper—he might be the Timekeeper.
Episode 4 of Loki revealed what some of the previous episodes have been building towards—that the TVA is made up, and the three sacred Timekeepers, or at least everyone's basic understanding of them, was a ruse. Loki and Sylvie fought off Ravonna and others, eventually revealing that the three Timekeepers, as they were presented, were basically Chuck E. Cheese-style animatronic robots. (Which, honestly, good move, because they looked and sounded ROUGH.).
After Ravonna pruned Loki into god-knows-where, she dared Sylvie to prune her back. But Sylvie wants to know everything. Someone else is pulling the strings, and it seems likely that this could be where we get the introduction to Kang—who may have just made that center Timekeeper in his own image. And Ravonna's connection to Kang in the comics, and general sketchiness about everything that's gone on so far, seems to point in that direction.
Ravonna Renslayer is directly connected to Kang the Conqueror in the Marvel Comics.
Starting with the second episode of Loki, references to that middle Timekeeper, who certainly resembles Kang (and his future MCU actor, Majors) were prominent. But it's also worth noting that the episode more prominently featured Ravonna, who in this MCU iteration served as the messenger of sorts between the Timekeepers and Loki (and Mobius, too, as we see), in her role as what essentially amounts to TVA judge/administrator.
But we should probably also mention that the comic version of Ravonna Renslayer is...Kang the Conqueror's on-again, off-again girlfriend. She and he have numerous intergalactic and inter-dimensional adventures, that usually come down to his loving her, and her resenting him due to his ambition to conquer. The MCU often deviates from the comic baseline, but this must be mentioned in this scenario.
Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who plays Ravonna, has said that Loki is like an "origin story" for her character. That could mean a lot of things, but she's doing a great job—so one thing we hope it means is that Loki isn't the end of her MCU road, but the beginning.
Ravonna has acted sketchy about the Timekeepers, and who works for her.
Mobius, in Ravonna's office, also notices items in her office that he doesn't remember bringing her. She suggests that she's got other agents bringing her things, but the context here seems to be setting up a bigger twist. It's possible that we're building towards a Kang reveal (or, at least a mention).
The figure resembling Kang continued to appear throughout the series as that middle Timekeeper. The image above is in Ravonna's office.
We also see enormous statues of the Timekeepers in the TVA, right near the elevators. That scale tells you just how big they are; that middle Timekeeper still looking mighty familiar.
Episode 4 showed that these Timekeepers, as presented, weren't really anything—but it's possible (likely?) that Kang created that middle one in his own image.
Evan is the culture editor for Men’s Health, with bylines in The New York Times, MTV News, Brooklyn Magazine, and VICE. He loves weird movies, watches too much TV, and listens to music more often than he doesn’t.
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