WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the Season 1 finale of Loki, "For All Time. Always.," streaming now on Disney+.
Marvel Cinematic Universe fans caught their first glimpse of Kang the Conqueror -- or at least his variant, He Who Remains -- in Loki's Season 1 finale. Actor Jonathan Majors, previously announced to play the time-traveling villain in Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania, warns Loki and Sylvie that, if he dies, someone more evil will inevitably take his place. Loki discovers that to be true when he's dispatched to the Time Variance Authority, only to find the enormous statue of the Time-Keepers replaced by one of Kang. With the multiverse now in chaos, this seems like the perfect way to set up MCU's version of Secret Wars.
There are two completely different versions of this famous comic storyline, one in 1984 and the other in 2015. The 2015 version, written by Jonathan Hickman and illustrated by Esad Ribic, centers around the multiverse, which would dovetail nicely with the MCU's direction.
In Secret Wars 2015, several of the Marvel comics universes and alternate timelines collide into a single realm called Battleworld, which run by Doctor Doom. Two versions of Reed Richards (from the main, or 616, Marvel Universe, and the Ultimate Universe) lead a revolution of heroes from across the multiverse against Doom and ultimately win, resulting in the establishment of new Earth. The crossover event was viewed largely as a soft reboot of Marvel Comics continuity.
As Doctor Doom has yet to be introduced into the MCU, it would make sense for an all-powerful multiverse villain such as Kang to take his place as the ruler of Battleworld. That also fits Kang's motives; He Who Remains tell Loki and Sylvie about the Multiversal War, in which his variants battled for supremacy.
Kang was not involved in 2015's Secret Wars, but after the 1984 storyline, formally titled Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars, he began to eliminate alternate versions of himself, who had formed into the Council of Kangs. If the multiverse is to be central to the MCU's Phase Four plans -- in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, for starters -- then Kang's renewed fight against his variants might logically bring him to a similar position as that of Doom in 2015's Secret Wars.
The development of MCU Phase Four has brought a number of unexpected casting choices, from Natalie Portman returning to play Jane Foster's Thor in Thor: Love & Thunder to Alfred Molina and Jamie Foxx being cast once more as Doctor Octopus and Electro in Spider-Man: No Way Home. While little is known about the two films, Loki's finale may have provided an explanation for the castings. The audience has already seen multiple Lokis onscreen, so it would make sense to introduce, for instance, a Jane Foster from a universe in which she is Thor (much like Sylvie is a variant of Loki). The finale also seemingly ties into What If...?, as the trailer shows different iterations of characters from alternate realities interacting with one another.
With the multiverse soon to devolve into madness, the MCU seems to be heading toward a Secret Wars-like event with Kang's introduction, although it will most likely not follow the exact premise of the comics, as was the case of Civil War. Kang the Conqueror is expected to play a major role in the MCU, and his comics counterpart is certainly a Thanos-level threat.
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