Warning: This article contains spoilers for Loki Season 2. Read at your own risk!
The Marvel Cinematic Universe introduced the next big bad in the franchise as the Multiverse Saga kicks in and as Phase 5 dives in deeper into the narrative, various variants of the villain had already appeared. Kang the Conqueror poses a huge threat to anyone and everyone who encounters him and some of his variants could be a lot more or lot less like him. In Loki Season 2, there's Victor Timely but two episodes shy from the finale, the series seems to have killed him off. Is he really dead, though? Different theories pop up from the two ends of the stick.
Loki Season 2 Episode 4, titled Heart of the TVA, puts Victor Timely in the middle of everything happening between the TVA and the fiasco of the impending Temporal meltdown as the multiple branches continuously emerging to the point that the Temporal Loom cannot weave the time anymore into the Sacred Timeline. Two brains work together in a paradoxical way with Victor Timely and O.B. trying to stop the doom that's about to happen. However, as Victor Timely suits up to be brave, the unexplainable happened to him. He's gone.
During the premiere episode of Loki Season 2, O.B. explained to Mobius how the radiation levels could peel off one's skin. That time, the Temporal meltdown was on its early stages. Unfortunately for Victor Timely, this time, the radiation levels were too strong that he immediately became a spaghetti. But is he really dead, though?
1 Loki Season 2 Theory: Victor Timely is still alive, somehow!
Yes, everyone literally saw Victor Timely turn into some kind of spaghetti but while he is, technically, a villain, the Victor Timely variant of Kang is an odd one with the way he approaches things and how he is rather scared than fierce that he had to convince himself for a time to become brave, that's quite what made everyone cheer for him. Seeing him become pasta on TV brought up the theory that he might still be alive, and this theory just makes the next item juicier!
The general rule in the MCU is that unless a character is seen as a dead person with finality like that of Black Widow and Iron Man in Endgame, then the character may still be alive. Without a corpse, Victor Timely may still be alive somewhere in the multiverse! Note that while he was torn into pieces, the Multiverse Saga opens various possibilities into Victor Timely still being alive, somewhere else, or some time else. The theory goes that his essence may have been spread over the different time branches which brings his variants to a common connection like data being connected to one hub and that hub is Victor Timely.
2 Loki Season 2 Theory: Victor Timely becomes Kang the Conqueror
In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Kang the Conqueror was seen trapped in the Quantum Realm and how he arrived there remains a puzzling question. Now, after the "spaghettization" of Victor Timely, the theory puts Timely into being lost through time and space, and the Quantum Realm is one where time works differently. As he was lost, Timely may have been sent to the Quantum Realm who later becomes Kang the Conqueror. Loki Season 2 may be the origin story of how Kang the Conqueror became an actual villain and later, the next big bad in the MCU.
It could also be the other way around where Kang the Conqueror being defeated in Quantumania sent him through time where he becomes Victor Timely. See, He Who Remains described that he and his variants already lived for eons and there can be tons of lifetimes in that. What if Victor Timely is at just another timeline which focused more on his humble beginning in a different perspective as a fresh new start as a lifetime?
3 Loki Season 2 Theory: Victor Timely is He Who Remains
A Reddit theory surfaced that Victor Timely and He Who Remains are one in the same person. This is based on how Miss Minutes knew exactly what to do when He Who Remains dies. The theory suggests that He Who Remains may have seen a future where he was defeated and thus, crafted a plan to ensure his seat at the end of time. He Who Remains wanted to rule the Sacred Timeline through being the only and supreme being there. He Who Remains may have ensured a fail-safe to be sure, in case he dies, his younger version could surface and the loop goes on and on, and in case of a defeat, a "reset" could happen and the loop will go back again from the start.
4 Loki Season 2 Theory: He Who Remains Planned A Reset of Everything
Similar to the theory above, this Loki Season 2 theory suggests that Victor Timely had to die to fulfill the plan of He Who Remains who may have already seen this possible future and this variant of him being key to the next successor of the TVA. Victor Timely is only a puzzle piece to set up a "reset" for his successor, Ravonna Renslayer. In the first few minutes of Loki Season 2 Episode 4, Miss Minutes revealed to Ravonna a secret about her: Ravonna used to be the general of He Who Remains and was supposed to be leading the TVA by his side. When He Who Remains ordered Miss Minutes to erase the memories of the TVA employees, there was remorse in his face as if knowing that he would regret his decision but had to do it.
The theory is that He Who Remains needed Victor Timely to do something at the TVA, possibly fixing the Temporal Loom or making the key to the final piece of the Loom, because he was at the Citadel at the End of Time and could not do that by himself. He probably knows that he might die and the branches might go off so he would need someone to fix it for him and for his successor, Ravonna. As the loom explodes, a possible reset happens which could provide for a fresh start to weave the Sacred Timeline, especially now with the final piece made by Timely.
5 Loki Season 2 Theory: Victor Timely is Actually Dead
As plain as it is, Loki Season 2 witnessed Victor Timely convincing himself to be brave, only to never return again after he turned into shreds following his exposure to the radiation levels despite his protective suit. This shows how Victor Timely is just human who has his own limits. The sacrifice that Timely brings light to the possibility that, maybe, not all Kang variants are evil since Timely is nothing but a braniac who invents things and doesn't even want to put up fight. Being human, he has his limits and going for the Temporal Loom just proved to be too much of him.
Regardless, there are still other variants of the same person but not all of them are like Victor Timely when it comes to how things work.
Loki Season 2 releases new episodes weekly every Friday on Disney Plus.
