When Loki and Sylvie took a trip to the Citadel at the End of Time in the Season 1 finale of Disney Plus’ most recent Marvel Cinematic Universe series, it changed the complexion of the franchise forever, thanks largely to the debut of Jonathan Majors as He Who Remains.
Some enterprising fans had predicted the twist coming weeks in advance, and it made complete sense once it became clear the Time Variance Authority were not who they claimed to be. One all-powerful being, the sole survivor of a great multiversal war, dwells alone at the precipice of all existence to ensure that everything remains on course to adhere to the Sacred Timeline.
Until he was stabbed in a fit of revenge, plunging the entirety of the MCU into chaos, that is. Kang the Conqueror, or at least many versions of him, are coming with an axe to grind, and Phase Four promises to be unlike anything the MCU has seen before as a result. Surely, then, everything from 2008’s Iron Man to Episode 6 of Loki was part of the plan, despite everything that befell our heroes in the interim?
In a new interview, Loki director Kate Herron teased that He Who Remains was indeed responsible for the path of the Infinity Saga, even though it ended up with half of all life being wiped out at one stage with one click of Thanos’ fingers.
“I suppose well, by our show’s logic, yes, because he says like, ‘I paved the road, you just walked down it’. I guess in theory, yeah, he would’ve scripted that because by our show that’s what we’re saying. Everything has been predetermined by this one character, even if up to this point we’ve believed the characters have had free will. Which I think is kind of the fun rug-pull of our show, right?”
Now that He Who Remains is dead, there’s nobody to keep their finger on the pulse of the Sacred Timeline, which is as exciting as it is terrifying, and years from now MCU fans could be looking back at Loki as the place where everything changed.