This article contains spoilers for Loki season 2, episode 3
Well, Kang is back. Again. Jonathan Majors’ time-travelling evil mastermind is set to pop up in many forms across the MCU, though this week’s Loki gave us a peek at his humble origins. Kang, or at least this variant of him, is a Victorian inventor named Victor Timely, showing off his steampunk creations at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.
But Victor Timely isn’t an original creation for this show. So, let’s dig into his comics appearances and see how the story went there.
The Secret Origin of Victor Timely
Kang was one of the first enemies the Avengers faced, making his debut in The Avengers #8 in September 1964. His time-traveling plan to take over Earth was defeated in that very issue, and he fled in order to his wounds. A rethink was on the cards, and Kang decided to begin his conquest of the modern age at the dawn of the 20th century, traveling back to Jan. 1, 1901.
There he took the name Victor Timely, established a town in Wisconsin called Timely, and installed himself as its mayor. This unassuming place became his headquarters, and over the years he built Timely Industries, the tech company that would help his eventual takeover of Earth.
While all this was going on, Kang devised a fortress that would exist in the same area as his town, but out of sync with time. This became Chronopolis, and evolved into a crossroads between all eras of Earth’s history. Throughout all this, he maintained his 20th Century cover as Victor Timely, using robotic duplicates to trick the populace into thinking he was ageing, then taking over as his ‘son,’ meaning that Victor Timely appeared to be succeeded by the suspiciously similar-looking Victor Timely Jr.
This long game – and his technological prowess – eventually allowed Kang to place Timely Industries components in almost every technological device on the planet, something he intended to use to seize control of the Earth overnight.
During all this Kang had fallen in love with Princess Ravonna Renslayer, native to the 40th Century. A complicated and tumultuous relationship followed, with things going so badly wrong that she ended up vowing to kill him at all costs. Just as his plan was going to come to fruition the two fought, with their lover’s tiff ending in an unexpected way when Kang pushed Renslayer out of the way of a flying Mjolnir and took the hit for her, severely injuring him.
With Kang unable to conquer Earth due to his injuries, he and Renslayer patched things up and returned to the 41st Century to rule as King and Queen. Eventually, Kang grew weary of the responsibility, left his Empire in Renslayer’s hands and returned to Ancient Egypt, where he took up his old identity as Rama-Tut.
Will any of this be in Loki?
As episode 3 ended, Victor Timely was headed to the TVA, where his “aura” will be used to unlock and repair the malfunctioning temporal loom. It’s difficult to predict where Loki will go next, though as the show’s Victor Timely is from the Victorian era, it’s possible he may establish an MCU version of Timely Industries.
This could potentially shake up much of the MCU’s tech world. In the comics, Timely Industries contributed components for Vision (and many other tech-based heroes), so it’d be interesting if we learned his Kang’s company had historic ties to Stark Industries. If you wanted to get a little more obscure, the comics Timely Industries employed the Human Torch creator Phineas Horton, and we got a glimpse of the MCU version of that character as an Easter Egg in Captain America: The First Avenger.
Beyond that, episode 3 also showed us unsubtle hints of a romance between the MCU Victor Timely and Ravonna Renslayer. It’s arguable that the MCU Renslayer is just manipulating Timely, though when they spoke on the boat there appeared to be some genuine emotional connection between the two. Could Renslayer end up as the newest Disney princess?
One last Easter Egg
Victor Timely’s name is also a fun little nod to Marvel Comics history. Timely Comics was formed in 1939 and eventually transformed into Marvel Comics in the 1960s. Several classic Marvel characters debuted in Timely Comics, including Namor, Black Widow, Captain America, and Bucky Barnes. So, perhaps this is a hint that Victor Timely is going to have an important role in the future formation of the MCU.
For now, we can only wait to see how Loki‘s time-twisted, dimension-hopping saga plays out. We don’t think it’ll adapt the comics, even if it seems clear it will at least be taking inspiration from them.