Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Mobius (Owen Wilson) returned for the second season alongside Loki’s female counterpart, Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) and you might have to sit tight and read who exactly they’re up against. So who is Victor Timely, anyway?
Kang the Conqueror has always been set off to become the MCU’s newest Thanos replacement as an even worse ‘big bad’ the Avengers must come up against, and the existence of the multiverse poses an even bigger problem: Kang’s variants.
Kang was never meant to be portrayed as an immortal being, but he is immortal because he manipulates time and his own multiverse versions, hence, the Council of Kangs as seen in Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania.
Kang’s variants include He Who Remains, who was murdered as early as Loki Season 1 and then of course, there’s Victor Timely, whom we have had our first look at since the Ant-Man 3’s post-credits scenes and has now been introduced in Loki Season 2.
Marvel Origins: Is Victor Timely A Hero or A Villain?
Victor Timely was first introduced in Marvel Comics as an intelligent industrialist and inventor who also founded the town of Timely, Wisconsin where he took the position as the town’s first-ever Mayor and leader.
However, what the townspeople fail to realize is that Victor Timely is actually Kang Prime, who was born in the year 3000, in the future reality of Earth-6311.
Victor just happened to have time-traveled back in 1901 (as seen in the new Loki Season 2 trailer) just so he could look for a new power base to utilize the time machine of his ancestors to its fullest potential.
Of course, you’d see him as a hero in his own city, seeing as he’s helped the townspeople with technological advancement. However, canonically, he is a villain, and with his debut set in Loki Season 2, he is most definitely still a villain in the MCU.
Considering that the citizens of Timely aren’t even aware he’s using their base power for his own selfish needs and that he’s cooking up his own plan to fruition – then of course, he’s a villain.
See, in secret, Victor Timely managed to hide his little project of building ‘Chronopolis’ amidst the town of Timely, Wisconsin.
He built Chronopolis just so he could ‘supervise his own conquests’ undetected by the timeline, all the while building his robotics and other inventions while his identity of having come from the future remained hidden from everyone in town.
Victor isn’t just any common MCU villain. Given his intelligence and power to time travel and jump through multiverses based on his inventions, his story won’t be stopping at just Loki Season 2.
In the comic books, he was actually involved in The Kang Dynasty storyline and even went so far as to have encountered prominent characters that have yet to join the MCU (Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom).
So his introduction to the franchise in Loki Season 2 could lead him to more future projects in the upcoming Avengers film.
Well, now that we’ve covered the basics of his history, let’s see more of his strengths and weaknesses that make him truly terrifying to go up against.
ALSO READ: Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania Post-Credits Scene Explained: What is The Council of Kangs?
Marvel Origins: What Are Victor Timely’s Powers and Weaknesses?
Victor Timely’s powers are rooted in his intelligence and his ability to age at a slower pace than the common humanity.
This is because he has mastered the technological knowledge he requires to become more resistant to the effects of radiation and time-traveling equipment.
Not only that but Victor could easily take on a new identity at each generation he appeared in, which basically meant he was immortal in the sense of his existence from every timeline he chose to travel to.
As for how he is in combat, he is described as an expert strategist who could pretty much defeat anyone who gets in his way in both armed and unarmed battles.
Being also known as Kang Prime (meaning ‘main’ Kang), this gives him the advantage of having full-body armor containing superhuman strength, force fields, and even his collection of gadgetry and weapons at the grasp of his hands.
In the comics, Chronopolis was basically his main domain where he hides his true identity as Kang Prime, along with the other robot doubles he keeps to play the role of Mayor Timely for when he needs someone else to serve his time.
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Is Victor Timely Also Kang the Conqueror?
Victor Timely as ‘Kang Prime’ also means he would be difficult to one-up or outsmart, given he’s basically planned every possible antic and disruption he could face, including possibly being discovered for his crime.
As he is the third (and certainly not the last) Kang variant we’re about to meet in the MCU, it’s hard to say if he will be the strongest Kang villain the franchise will be presenting.
But given he came from the 31st century, this lessens the chances of defeating him even more.
As for if he is the same as Kang the Conqueror? Well, in a way, he is. He is one of the many variants
The only difference is, as shown so far in Loki Season 2 Episode 3, Victor Timely has been portrayed as a renowned scientist who likes to swindle his audiences for money, whereas Kang is supposedly one of the most powerful variants in the multiverse.
It remains to be seen if this will be the extent of Mr. Timely in the Loki series or if his character will eventually follow his comic book footsteps, that this meek human is all but a disguise for him to take over the TVA once more.
RELATED: Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania Post-Credits Scene Explained: Who is Victor Timely?
Who is Victor Timely in Loki Season 2? Marvel Comics vs. MCU
He was first teased in the post-credits of Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania post-credits scene, where many of the future Marvel movies and series have been set up from.
The Loki Season 2 trailer depicted Victor as the main villain of the story, and much like with how the first season worked, Loki won’t be working alone or just with Mobius, but even with Sylvie’s return and the newest character to the team, ‘OB’ or Ouroboros (Ke Huy Quan).
As far as the canon Marvel Comics plot goes, it is likely we’ll be seeing Victor in the same light as what he did to Timely, Wisconsin.
Not to mention, one of his few lines in the trailer involved a similar idea, “Time is everything. It shapes our lives, but perhaps we can shape it.” These words he told in his own show upon Loki and Mobius traveling back in the past.
Once Victor Timely debuted in Loki Season 2 Episode 3, he's... a much more different variant than we initially thought.
Though he's started off showing his tendency to choose to work alone rather than team up with Miss Minutes and Renslayer, we have yet to grasp his powers at his fullest potential.
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