Loki Theory: Victor Timely and Kang the Conqueror Are the Same Variant

Loki Season 2 will finally introduce Victor Timely in the Marvel Cinematic Universe--but is the Kang variant actually hiding a huge secret identity?

Loki Season 2 is finally on the horizon, setting its Disney+ premiere for October 6. Picking up after the first season's massive cliffhanger ending, Loki is continuing to set the stage for the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Multiverse Saga and the Avengers' coming battle with Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors). With Kang variants now littering the multiverse, the universe-hopping Loki series seems like the best place for Marvel to set up Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, the first half of a two-part finale to the Multiverse Saga.

The Kang variant known as Victor Timely will appear in Loki Season 2 after making a brief appearance in the end-credits scene of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Timely is a scientist in the early 1900s who has devoted his life to studying time travel, claiming that he is able to invent a machine that would actually conquer time itself. While the marketing for Loki appears to indicate that Timely is an all-new variant that audiences have never seen before, this may not be the whole truth. In fact, the upcoming MCU series may be hiding a massive secret regarding Timely--that he is actually Kang the Conqueror himself in disguise.

Kang's Real Fate After Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania

Kang the Conqueror, the MCU's next big bad for the Multiverse Saga, appeared to die at the end of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. After a prolonged fight with Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) in his Quantum Realm kingdom, Kang was defeated when his ship's power core was seemingly destroyed. The villain was pulled back into the explosion and disappeared, leaving Ant-Man and the Wasp with the impression that he had been killed. However, given Kang the Conqueror's importance to the overall Multiverse Saga, it seems highly unlikely that the villain truly met his ultimate fate in Quantumania's finale. Instead, it is far more likely that he was actually pulled through time.

Kang the Conqueror's supposed death made the heroes think that he had died when he had actually been transported through time right under their noses. One of the few things that audiences know about the Quantum Realm is that, if one goes deep enough, they could be caught in a time vortex. Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) even warns Scott of this danger in Ant-Man and the Wasp's mid-credits scene. The Avengers also used these vortexes for their time heist in Avengers: Endgame. Since the power core that supposedly killed Kang was destroyed using Pym Particles, it would actually make more sense for the villain to have shrunken deeper into the Quantum Realm, where he would be sucked up into a vortex and deposited elsewhere in time.

Why Kang Becomes Victor Timely In Loki

If his defeat at Ant-Man's hands actually caused Kang to be transported through time, then the MCU villain finally got what he wanted: freedom from his imprisonment in the Quantum Realm. Even if he became stranded in a time period other than his own, as seems to be the case, Kang would at least be able to use his scientific mastery and engineering skills in an attempt to find a way back home. Loki's second season could reveal exactly this to be the case, with Kang having found himself stranded in the 1900s after his apparent death in Quantumania. Donning the new personality of Victor Timely, Kang may be hard at work to find his way back home once and for all.

If Kang and Timely really are one and the same, then audiences also have an explanation for Victor Timely's mysterious machine, which is seen in Loki's most recent trailer. Given his vast experience with time travel, Kang would potentially be capable of building his own time machine that would be able to get him back to the 31st century. This would also explain why Marvel Studios chose to include Timely's introduction in Quantumania's post-credit scene. The first post-credit scene had already teased the arrival of more Kang variants, making the second seem redundant. However, this scene isn't introducing a new variant at all but is rather explaining the fate of Kang the Conqueror himself. Now, all that remains for Kang is to make his machine work and regain his mastery over time.

Kang Can Finally Reach Full Power In Loki Season 2

As the potential main villain of Loki Season 2, Kang the Conqueror can use his new machine to finally reach his full power. In his previous appearances in the MCU, Kang has always been weighed down by extraneous restrictions. By the time audiences meet the villain in Quantumania, he has been stripped of his power by the other Kang variants and locked away in the Quantum Realm. By escaping his prison and inventing his own time machine, Kang would once again be able to traverse time and space, conquering worlds on a whim. Finally living up to his name, Kang the Conqueror would finally show audiences why he is being set up as the next villain of the Multiverse Saga.

Kang is truly one of the MCU's most important villains, whose exploits deserve to be on full display for everyone to see. A series like Loki can capture Kang's villainy perfectly, following the conqueror throughout different time periods as he forces everyone to bow in submission. On his endless conquest throughout the multiverse, Kang would also show audiences why his other variants fear him enough to imprison him in the Quantum Realm. His return in Loki would certainly spark another Time War between the Kangs, leading perfectly into the events of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.

While Loki pretends to be setting up another new Kang variant in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Victor Timely is merely a disguise worn by a very familiar villain. Inadvertently freed from his Quantum Realm prison by Ant-Man, Kang is now only one step away from reasserting his dominance over the multiverse. Loki Season 2 can finally showcase Kang the Conqueror in all his glory, setting off a new and terrifying chapter of the Multiverse Saga.