Loki finale could be hiding a Fantastic Four reference in its intro

The Loki finale introduced He Who Remains, set up Kang the Conqueror, and turned the TVA timeline on its head with its shocking ending. But, as we know, all good things come in… Fours?  

That's right: some Marvel fans think they've spotted a possible Fantastic Four Easter egg in the opening minutes of the show's sixth and final episode (via ComicBook.com).

The sequence that spans the cosmos in the finale's opening act brings in famous figures from 20th and 21st Century history. Greta Thunberg, Nelson Mandela and, crucially, Neil Armstrong all feature via voiceovers.

It's the latter that is drawing the most attention, because it also coincides with a mysterious looking spaceship floating among the stars.

This isn't a case of putting two and two together and getting five, either. Fantastic Four's origins revolve heavily around a trip to space gone very, very wrong, even without the Neil Armstrong "One small step for man" quote hammering the point home. In the comics, the group are then exposed to cosmic radiation, which imbues them with superpowers.   

It's a Mister Fantastic-style stretch, sure, but something appears to be brewing. Coincidentally, a reference to Fantastic Four villain Doctor Doom's fictional country of Latveria didn't make the cut in Black Widow. It's also not the first time the Marvel rumor mills have run rampant this year over a potential Fantastic Four setup.

If you recall, a reference to an astronaut training program in WandaVision from Acting Director Hayward sparked off theories that SWORD would have links to Fantastic Four. That has, for now, been unproven – but Fantastic Four is very much officially happening. 

Kevin Feige revealed last year that Spider-Man trilogy director Jon Watts would be helming a movie starring Marvel's First Family. No release date has been given, nor do we know who will be playing Mister Fantastic, Sue Storm, The Human Torch, or The Thing.

But that's a thread Marvel will pick up in due course. Marvel Phase 4 is already looking stacked, with Jonathan Majors' Kang the Conqueror set to appear in Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania, Loki season 2 on the cards, and a whole host of new Marvel TV shows and movies to get excited about.