Owen Wilson's TVA character originally included a clever Easter egg referencing Kang the Conqueror in Loki Season 2. While Kang's tenure in the MCU has not played out as originally envisioned, that does not mean the iconic comic book character (played by Jonathan Majors on screen) did not firmly put his stamp on the projects that ended up appearing in.
Disney+'s time-bending streaming series, Loki, was one of those titles, giving most of his screentime as the super-powered keeper of the Marvel Multiverse. Several versions of the Kang character appeared in the series; however, his iconic blue-faced Kang the Conqueror Variant was (oddly enough) not one of them.
New concept art from Marvel Studios' Loki: Season Two—The Art of The Series art book revealed a unique Kang the Conqueror Easter egg that did not make the show's final cut (via The Artbook Collector on YouTube).
The images show several takes on the TVA temporal core suit worn by Owen Wilson's Mobius during Loki Season 2's climax. The costume's helmet has a purply blue sheen over it, as opposed to the clear glass fans ultimately got in the series.
According to concept artist Jeff Simpson, this clearly references Kang's comic-accurate blue and purple headpiece, which he tried to incorporate into TVA's Multiverse-faring tech.
"I wondered if I could sneakily introduce some of Kang's iconic suit look into the design with the visor and helmet," Simpson posited in the book, adding that it could perhaps have implied that Kang "was always wearing his own version of this suit:"
"The helmet designs we did initially were too complicated and visually noisy. The TVA is very retro in its aesthetic, so an old deep-sea-diver helmet would fit better than something too high tech. I wondered if I could sneakily introduce some of Kang’s iconic suit look into the design with the visor and helmet, maybe implying that Kang was always wearing his own version of this suit to help protect him from radiation or whatnot."
In Loki Season 2, the series went a different direction for the TVA's temporal core suit, looking more like a large cosmonaut suit than Simpson's more streamlined Kang-inspired design.
In his only MCU appearance as the Kang the Conqueror Variant of the Kang character in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, Jonathan Majors' Multiversal villain wore a suit similar to what Simpson was describing, sporting a helmet and visor that very closely resembles that of his Loki Season 2 concept art design.
Loki Season 2 is now streaming on Disney+ in its entirety. And Kang the Conqueror's time as the next Avengers-level threat in the MCU has sadly come to an end. Jonathan Majors was fired from Marvel Studios' interconnected superhero universe in late 2023, after he was found guilty of reckless assault and harassment by a New York court. Despite the actor's legal troubles, he still appeared in Loki Season 2, making the Tom Hiddleston-led MCU series his last appearance in the franchise.
What Will Become of Kang in the MCU?
Surely, this will not be the last piece of Kang-related concept art to make its way online over the next couple of years.
The character was set to be a significant part of this current ongoing MCU saga, so who wouldn't Marvel Studios have piles of concept pieces featuring the character?
Sure, this suit was likely changed before Majors' legal troubles in 2023 (as much of Loki Season 2 had been shot by the time he got in trouble with the law). Still, it is a fascinating relic of a time when everything revolved around the Multiversal madman within Marvel's on-screen universe.
Going forward, it will be interesting to see what becomes of Majors' Kang character, and whether he is referenced at all in the future of the MCU.
Kang was initially being set up as the next big bad for the upcoming fifth Avengers movie, before it was pivoted to focus on Robert Downey Jr.'s dastardly Doctor Doom. Surely, the studio will not just sweep Kang under the rug, letting Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars pass without mentioning the character.
Perhaps Doom's arrival on the MCU scene will see him conquering the council of Kangs (as seen at the end of Quantumania), showing just how significant a threat he poses to the Marvel Multiverse.
