Loki episode 5 teases arrival of Kang the Conqueror, MCU’s next Thanos-style villain

All the clues so far

Loki just teased the arrival of a terrifying villain to the MCU.

It’s been known for a while that Loki will play a part in setting up the next time-hopping stage of the MCU, which will be explored in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Ant-Man: Quantumania.

Following the announcement that Kang the Conqueror will serve as the MCU’s next primary antagonist, with Lovecraft Country star Jonathan Majors playing the character, many Marvel fans have been expecting him to show up at some stage in Loki.

One theory doing the rounds suggests that Kang is pulling the strings as the real “man behind the curtain” controlling the Time Variance Authority (TVA) that Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) are trying to bring down. Despite this, he has yet to be introduced.

The latest episode, though, featured a nod to Kang in the form of a background detail glimpsed in The Void.

*Spoilers follow – you have been warned*

Alongside previously pruned characters and objects filling this world is an alternate Avengers-style tower with the word “QUENG” on it. In the comics, Queng Enterprises is owned by Nathaniel Richards, who is otherwise known as Kang the Conqueror.

‘Loki’s fifth episode featured a direct reference to Kang the Conqueror (Disney Plus)

While its appearance in The Void suggests that Kang reigning supreme over the Avengers is an act that veers from the sacred timeline, this could be a misdirection. We know this due to the presence of a giant cloud monster referred to as Alioth, which is preventing anybody from leaving.

In the comics, Kang created a barrier preventing Alioth from entering his domain. By the episode’s end, both Loki and Sylvie enchant Alioth, which rips open a portal that they start to walk through. It seems they are entering Kang’s domain, indiciating he is about to officially enter the MCU.

Whether Majors will make his debut in next week’s final Loki episode, though, remains to be seen.

Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) may be on the cusp of meeting Kang the Conqueror (Disney Plus)

Elsewhere, the character with links to Kang in the comics is Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who is clearly one of the show’s biggest antagonists so far. She has a romantic relationship with him, and the code “A-23” that can be seen on her uniform seems to reference the Avengers #23 comic in which both characters feature.

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The series is available to stream on Disney Plus.