Marvel Not 'F***d' Despite Earlier Reports Says Loki Season 2 Executive Producer

Amid reports of behind-the-scenes scrambling at Marvel Studios, a lot of hearsay has made its way into the news cycle, at least some of which was disproven by the "Loki" Season 2 finale, according to one of the show's executive producers. A report from Variety previously quoted an anonymous insider as saying, "Marvel is truly f****d with the whole Kang angle" in regards to the final episode of the Disney+ series, implying that the ending would double down on Kang as the omnipresent villain of the MCU's Multiverse Saga. With Kang the Conqueror actor Jonathan Majors facing assault charges, setting him up as the antagonist of multiple projects is proving to be a minefield.

However, the "Loki" finale, "Glorious Purpose," seems to elide Kang the Conqueror almost entirely. While Majors does reappear as Kang variants Victor Timely and He Who Remains, the episode ends with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) ascending to become the center of the multiverse itself, and the Conqueror is relegated to a few lines of dialogue that allude to the events of "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania." Executive producer Kevin Wright laughed off the Variety report in an interview with TVLine, saying, "That report was crazy, I'll just say that. That just shows you, I don't know what people are talking about."

The MCU's cone of silence around leaks is notorious and has historically benefitted the franchise. Big character reveals, and plot twists hit harder when audiences experience them without foreknowledge. But in times of crisis, that silence can backfire. Speculation runs rampant, and without the ability to get official confirmation from Marvel representatives, rumors go to print without any rebuttal.

Contrary to cementing Kang the Conqueror as the new Thanos, "Loki" Season 2 ends by backing away from him. In one scene, Mobius (Owen Wilson) and Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) discuss reports on Kang variants, with Mobius noting that one caused some trouble in the "616-adjascent" universe, which likely refers to the Quantum Realm where Kang was defeated by Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania." The TVA's new strategy seems to be making sure that no Kang variant ever becomes dangerous in the first place.

On the "House of R" podcast, author and MCU expert Joanna Robinson explained how that scene sets up an excuse for Marvel to backtrack the Kang storyline. Around the 2:49:50 mark, she explains, "It's going to be [the TVA's] job to not violently prune the variants, but to gently — sort of like training a vine in a certain way — gently ... nudging the variants here and there and the other, so we don't get these more world-conquering versions of Kang, He Who Remains, et cetera." In other words, it's possible Kang never pops up again in the MCU. Of course, if Majors ceases to be persona non grata, the "Loki" finale leaves the door open for the TVA to slip up, allowing him to return.