Loki’s Victor Timely is a Marvel Easter egg planned from the beginning

The first thing to know about Kang the Conqueror, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s final boss du jour, is that there are a million of him. Loki’s first season successfully imparted that fact with He Who Remains, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe underscored it since in Ant-Man and Wasp: Quantumania.

You can also read about it here Loki’s second season brings a very different version of Kang to the screen, and producer Kevin Wright says that’s exactly the point.

[Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for Loki season 2, episode 3.]

Image: Marvel Studios

The episode 3 features Victor Timely who first appeared in a scene from the credits. QuantumaniaA struggling Black inventor, (or maybe a conman?) debuting his Time Loom prototype at the Chicago World’s Fair. This, apparently, is the humble beginning of the man who’d go on to be a multiversal tyrant and found the Time Variance Authority to police his own timeline.

According to Wright, that play against expectation has been the plan from the very beginning, in a “30-page document” he’d penned for Marvel Studios’ internal use, “and also to get Tom [Hiddleston] excited.”

“Once you set the stakes — and season 1 was so much setting of stakes: The multiverse is out there; war is coming. This really awful bad guy is going to be coming that Loki is afraid of, and if Loki is afraid we’ve got to take that threat seriously — it’s very fun as a storyteller to then go in the opposite direction. You’re expecting the worst; some sci-fi villain from the future. And the next version of this guy to pop up in our story is coming from the past, and he’s just sort of a eccentric, quiet inventor that maybe is, like, a bit out of time and out of place.”

Who is Victor Timely from Marvel Comics?

Victor Timely, (as one might imagine) is the name of a small comic book Kang effect. Victor Timely is a disguise for Kang. Victor Timely appears to be an inventor, entrepreneur, founder, and mayor of Timely in Wisconsin. Kang created Timely in the comics after traveling back from the distant future to the early 20th century in order to create a place of power and influence in this time frame in preparation for the coming age of super-heroes.

The following are some of the ways to improve your understanding. Loki’s Victor Timely is certainly reminiscent of another Marvel Comics aspect of Kang: He wasn’t always a conqueror. Or… isn’t always a conqueror, or won’t always be a conqueror? Suffice to say, Kang’s time-traveling ways have allowed Marvel superheroes a look at his whole life, including his do-gooding teenage superhero from the future era as Iron Lad, and his timeline protecting old age under the name of Immortus.

This tension lives on LokiVictor Timely is he destined to become a tyrant in the future? He is already bad and performing a convincing act.

“There’s something about that world and that character dynamic that was fun,” said Wright, “But also exciting. Loki, can you trust him? Sylvie is pushed to the limit. She wonders whether she can trust this guy, after all she has seen. It gave us a lot of cool character drama to play with, while also letting us go to the Chicago World’s Fair, which was very exciting. Wisconsin is also included! Who doesn’t want to time travel to Wisconsin?”

What is the truth?