Warning! This article contains spoilers for Loki season 2. If you've yet to tune in, and don't want to know anything that happens, turn back now!
Loki season 2 episode 3 sidesteps the titular God of Mischief a little to focus on Gugu Mbatha-Raw's former TVA head Ravonna Renslayer and Miss Minutes, who've been MIA since the end of season 1.
Taking us back to Chicago in the 1800s, the Marvel show's latest chapter reveals that Renslayer, essentially, created He Who Remains by dropping the TVA handbook – you know, the one O.B. wrote – through his window when he was just a child in 1868. Having grown up reading all about the Authority's timey-wimey adventures and devices, Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors), the version of He Who Remains glimpsed in Ant-Man 3's post-credits scene, goes to on become a technological pioneer – something that's made clear when Loki and Mobius catch up to Renslayer in 1893.
"She has a rich history in the comics of playing multiple roles and being more than you think she's initially going to be," Kevin Wright tells 12DOVE. "You know, Renslayer is somebody that we wanted to be really careful about, and like, she does some pretty horrible things. But I think you understand where she was coming from, and why she would be so angry and why she would be so hurt with the things that are revealed throughout the season."
Towards the end of Loki season 1, Renslayer was just as disillusioned as the others to learn that she's a variant, her memories had been wiped, and that both the TVA and the Time Keepers, the fabled beings supposedly in charge of the organization, are essentially fake. In response, she vows to find the TVA's real creator...
In season 2 episode 1, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) overheard a recording of He Who Remains telling Renslayer she's "quite the marvel" and suggesting the pair team up. Though it's hard to know when exactly that meeting took place, given how complicated the series' timeline has become. In episode 3, Renslayer tells an older Timely that he was the one who created the TVA, but her grand plan of colluding with him hits a snag when he boots her off the ship they used to escape Loki and Mobius (Owen Wilson), and she winds up being sent to the End of Time by Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino).
"It was, like, really grounding her in an understanding of that," Wright adds. "So, that potentially going forward, yeah, I mean, there's versions of the comics where it's revealed she's Kang, sometimes she's working with Kang, sometimes she's against Kang. Renslayer having her own motivations is exciting, and Gugu is so good that you just want to give her more and more."
Episode 3 ends with Miss Minutes offering to tell Renslayer a big secret; "I can tell you, but it's going to make you really angry." Perhaps that'll give us more insight into Renslayer's history, and more specifically, her dealings with He Who Remains...
Wright's comments, particularly his acknowledgement of the Marvel Comics issue that unveils Renslayer is Kang, is interesting given episode 2 director Dan DeLeeuw's recent interview with Screen Rant.
"I love all the Kangs, I think Kang's a great character. I don't know that we've seen the definitive Kang yet, in terms of what I would envision the definitive Kang [to be]," the former visual effects supervisor teased. "I think there's still someone yet to come out of the shadows." Might it be Renslayer?
Loki season 2 episode 3 is streaming now on Disney Plus. Ensure you don't miss an episode with our Loki season 2 release schedule guide. For more on the show, check out our deep-dives on:
- Loki season 2 guide
- When does Loki season 2 take place on the Marvel timeline?
- Loki season 1 recap
- How to watch the Marvel movies in order
- Marvel phase 5
- Upcoming Marvel movies and shows
- Victor Timely comic book history explained
- He Who Remains comic book history explained
- The Time Variance Authority comic book history explained
- Mobius comic book history explained
- Sylvie comic book history explained
- Loki season 2 episode 1 post-credits scene explained
- What is time-slipping?
- All the differences between comic book Loki and show Loki
- Loki season 2 episode 2 recap and Easter eggs
- What’s Sylvie holding at the end of episode 2?
- Brad Wolfe isn't the Zaniac fans know from the comics
- What is the Zaniac in Marvel Comics?
