The Loki Season 2 finale on Disney+ just retconned a key detail in Jonathan Majors' introduction to the MCU as He Who Remains.
Warning - This article contains spoilers for Loki Season 2, Episode 6.
Jonathan Majors played a key on-screen role in the last four episodes of Loki Season 2, mostly being featured as the Victor Timely Variant of Kang who debuted in the Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania post-credits scene.
Episode 6 changed that for Majors, allowing him to revisit the He Who Remains Variant who first arrived in Season 1's finale as Loki used his honed time-slipping abilities to try to save the Sacred Timeline.
Loki Season 2 Retcons Jonathan Majors' Introduction
Loki Season 2's finale took viewers back to Loki's introduction to the He Who Remains Variant of Kang the Conqueror initially seen in the Season 1 finale.
In doing so, the new scene retconned some of the villain's intentions, changing what viewers previously knew about his plans.
When Loki time-slipped back to the Citadel at the End of Time, He Who Remains directly referenced the moment in Season 1 when Sylvie killed him, reminding Loki that reincarnation is a theme of his very existence:
"Ah kiddo, did you really think I was just gonna sit back and let her kill me? And that’d be it? Zip, nada, RIP HWR? No, I told you. Reincarnation, baby."
This retcons his motivations from the Season 1 finale, in which he told Loki and Sylvie that they had the choice to take over his job ruling over the TVA or kill him and start a new Multiversal War which would lead to him coming back regardless:
"You either take over and my life’s work continues, or you plunge a blade in my chest and an infinite amount of me start another Multiversal War and I end up right back here anyway. Reincarnation, baby."
This new line from the Season 2 finale indicates that He Who Remains actually had full control over the situation seen in Season 1 rather than it being presented as giving Sylvie and Loki a choice to let him live or die.
This also ties into He Who Remains' contingency of getting Miss Minutes to drop the TVA handbook off to Victor Timely, knowing this outcome would have led back to his resurrection had Loki not destroyed the temporal loom in the TVA.
Rather than sitting back and accepting Syvlie's decision to inflict death upon him, He Who Remains always knew that he had a way out.
This adds a bit more weight to He Who Remains telling Sylvie, "See you soon," in the Season 1 finale as well. Previously, many fans believed that the villain was referring to how Sylvie would encounter his Variants soon enough (which she did).
However, the context of He Who Remains knowing he would be okay might suggest that he knew that he himself would see her again eventually.
How Big Will Jonathan Majors' Kang Be Moving Forward?
Jonathan Majors is certainly in a difficult position with his role in the MCU due to his domestic abuse trial, which is set to take place on Wednesday, November 29 and could lead to Marvel's ultimate decision on whether to continue Kang's storyline.
There appear to be rumors of a contingency plan should the worst happen for Majors, but whether or not that happens, there are plenty of questions for Marvel Studios to answer moving forward.
Loki Season 2 clearly indicates that Kang is the Multiverse's biggest threat right now, setting him up for his expected major role as the villain in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.
But after a recent round of delays for the MCU's schedule set those movies back potentially even further, there's a chance that Marvel will revamp its path away from Kang - only time will tell.
Season 2 of Loki is now streaming in full on Disney+.
