Loki episode 6: will [spoiler] be revealed as the show’s true villain? Vote for Loki in Loki episode 5.

Spoilers for Loki follow.

Loki episode 5 sets up a final encounter between our ‘hero’ (Tom Hiddleston), his counterpart Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) and whoever’s really behind the Time Variance Authority. At the end of the episode, with the help of Old Loki (Richard E Grant), the pair manage to overcome the smoky dragon entity Alioth and open up a gateway to a spooky-looking castle or mansion. 

Ahead of Loki episode 6, we still don’t exactly know who the show’s true villain is, though we do know they’re the creator of the TVA and the fake Time Keepers we met in episode 4. But the clues are starting to line up – the well-known Marvel villain and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania character Kang the Conqueror has been extensively teased in the run-up to episode 6. He’s largely expected to be waiting for our gods of mischief in that castle. 

Meanwhile, Loki’s friend Mobius (Owen Wilson) has escaped the Void to return to the TVA and burn it to the ground. No doubt he’ll face another encounter with Judge Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who wants to find the creator of the TVA before Sylvie does. 

So, is Loki’s true villain really going to be Kang the Conqueror? Below, we’ll round up the clues that suggest that’s going to be the case, and also offer up a couple of alternative theories just for fun.

Is Kang the Conqueror the villain of Loki?

Just like how fans went to great extremes in scanning WandaVision for clues about the presence of Mephisto, Loki viewers been doing the same for any hints about the presence of Kang the Conqueror. This time, though, they haven’t had to work nearly as hard. 

We know Kang – a long-time Avengers villain – will appear in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, played by actor Jonathan Majors. But a popular theory suggests he’s the TVA creator waiting for Loki and Sylvie in the castle seen at the end of episode 5, and that episode 6 will be the first time we meet him. 

Kang the Conqueror is best summed up as a time-travelling foe from the future in the comics. On that level, then, being the man behind the curtain of the TVA makes thematic sense.

Let’s run through the clues we have so far. Fans noticed the Easter Egg below in the Void during Loki episode 5, which appears to be the ruins of the Avengers Tower, only with the logo ‘Qeng’ in place of the Avengers logo. 

Qeng Enterprises is a company ran by Kang out of the former Avengers Tower in Marvel’s comics, and is part of what might be termed the universe’s recent history – Qeng was only introduced back in 2015. 

More obviously in Loki episode 5, the smoky dragon Alioth that chases the Lokis in the Void has incredibly close ties to Kang in the comics. 

There’s another connection to Kang that’s been noted multiple times: Judge Renslayer, the ruthless TVA judge in the series, is romantically linked to Kang the Conqueror in Marvel’s comics. Between Ravonna, Alioth and Qeng, then, you have a far more obvious setup for Kang’s introduction in Loki than you did for Mephisto in WandaVision. 

Finally, you might remember that in episode 1, we saw a futuristic-looking sword from the third Millennium – this too has been interpreted as a Kang tease, since the 30th century is where he hails from in the comics. 

Here’s the slight problem with this theory, though: introducing the true villain of Loki in the final episode arguably risks being dramatically unsatisfying. When we discovered Agatha was the villain of WandaVision, we had two episodes of the show to go, so that story beat could play out. Here, we’ve got one 45-minute episode to wrap up the story of the TVA and our two versions of Loki, and possibly introduce Kang. 

Sure, the stage is definitely set for a big reveal based on the hints above, but the final episode of a six-part TV show is a weird time to introduce what’s likely to be a long-term MCU big bad. Still, we know that Loki will tie into a host of upcoming MCU projects, so it’s far from implausible. 

Could the villain of Loki be anyone else besides Kang? Read on for a couple more wild guesses. 

Is Miss Minutes the secret villain of Loki?

This is the Reddit theory that we’ve enjoyed the most. Marvel loves a villain hiding in plain sight – see Agnes in WandaVision, as discussed – and the idea that helpful cartoon TVA assistant Miss Minutes (voiced by Tara Strong) could be Loki’s ultimate foe is incredibly entertaining. She does have access to everything about the TVA, and at the end of episode 5, Renslayer tasks her with finding all files relating to its origin. 

We think this is too wacky a conclusion to the series, especially with Sylvie out for revenge against whoever the TVA’s founder is. Besides, Kid Loki gave our Loki a knife at the end of episode 5, which is clearly going to come into play next week – what good will that do against an animated character?

Is yet another Loki the villain of the series?

The idea of a single Loki creating the TVA to essentially prune different versions of themselves from the timeline is very Rick and Morty – and indeed, showrunner Michael Waldron worked on that show. The many Loki variants we’ve met to date definitely recall the animated show’s approach to the different versions of Rick and Morty we meet in other timelines. 

But we think the show’s big bad needs to be someone more satisfying than another Loki, since we just spent a whole episode meeting loads of fun spins on the character. Besides, how is anyone going to top alligator Loki?

Loki episode 6 will release on Wednesday July 14 on Disney Plus.