The following article contains spoilers for episode 4 of Loki.
Another episode of Loki has arrived on Disney Plus, bringing even more surprises than the previous weeks. Action, tears, a lot more mischief, and deaths - the episode seems to have it all. Before it aired, both Tom Hiddleston and Sophia Di Martino had already teased that there is a lot in store for fans, and episode 4, “The Nexus Event,” delivers. One specific reveal has, however, left many fans thinking that Marvel Studios might be digging into the bag of pre-existing ideas in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
For the past four weeks, fans of the series have been contemplating over the existence of the Time Keepers and whether they truly are responsible for managing the sacred timeline. Until last week, only Judge Ravonna Renslayer had met with the three beings who were quite interested in Loki’s case. But, in this week’s episode, the God of Mischief and Sylvie get an audience with them, and it turns out they aren’t “space lizards” after all.
The first that fans get to see of the Time Keepers is when Renslayer initially steps into the golden elevator alone and arrives in a well-framed dark room, which is when the focus suddenly shifts to three pairs of glowing eyes. It almost seems like the Time Keepers might just be real. But, the moment Renslayer steps through those elevator doors, it becomes obvious that it was going to end up being similar to the yellow brick road from the Wizard of Oz, the golden path that leads Dorothy towards the Emerald City.
The first proper look at the three beings comes when Loki and Sylvie are arrested by the TVA Minutemen and brought in front of the Time Keepers for an execution. The two Loki variants step into the mysterious golden elevator with Ravonna and finally arrive in the room, which is off-limits for most TVA employees. It is then that it becomes apparent that the big Time Keepers’ secret is in fact similar to the Wizard of Oz-style reveal of the man behind the curtain.
At first glance, the three beings look extremely goofy, and nothing like the big-bad villains that they had been painted out to be. When they start speaking, in their android-like voices, it is quite difficult to decipher what they are saying. They are supposedly the three beings responsible for ending the multiverse war and creating possibly the most powerful organization in the universe that monitors the timeline, but they aren’t remotely intimidating. Sylvie constantly interrupts their speech, and at some points even tries to approach them, but is immediately pulled back by Renslayer with the help of the inhibitor collar around her neck.
Before they’re done with the supposed execution, Hunter B-15 arrives through a portal after having recovered her memories of her life on Earth. She is now on team-Loki, or essentially sick of being lied to by the TVA, and frees both Loki and Sylvie of their inhibitor collars. Free to do whatever they want, the two then overpower the guards. Amid the scuffle, Sylvie manages to get a hold of her weapon and uses it to slice one of the Time Keeper’s heads off. What happens next does not come as a surprise for many Loki fans.
It turns out that the so-called Time Keepers are nothing more than animatronics, or lifelike robots, and are not the great and powerful beings that the TVA employees believe them to be. Since the series began, fans have been suspicious about the Time Keepers and their true identity. Many were not convinced that they were in fact really powerful beings controlling all the events occurring in the universe. The latest episode has now confirmed these suspicions.
Apart from Wizard of Oz, there is a film in the MCU that this scene reminded fans of as well. In Iron Man 3, fans were very excited to have finally met The Mandarin, the villain who happens to be Iron Man’s archnemesis. But, it was revealed later in the film that it was actually just an actor named Trevor Slattery who was posing as The Mandarin, the leader of the Ten Rings terrorist organization, in exchange for drugs.
Years later, fans still criticize Marvel for the decision to bring a fake Mandarin, but Marvel boss Kevin Feige seems to have no regrets. In fact, he is looking forward to having one of the next Marvel films connect to the beginning of the MCU. The Mandarin (the real one) will be making an appearance in the upcoming film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. In a recent interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Feige admitted that they weren’t ready to bring a character as complex as The Mandarin into the MCU until they could “do it supreme justice.”
While The Mandarin may be a complex character, fans are now debating whether the Time Keepers should be cast in the same light. The latest reveal, however, does put them in the same boat of being the face of something much more sinister. While Slattery was fake, fans know that the Ten Rings organization was inspired by the comics and they will finally get to meet the infamous Mandarin soon. In the same way, the Time Keepers may just be androids pretending to be the keepers of the sacred timeline, but this only goes to show that somebody else is pulling the strings.
For the past few weeks, fans have been theorizing over the true identity of the big bad villain in Loki. Judging by Renslayer’s appearances in the series so far, she doesn’t seem to be in charge, which means that somebody else, who fans haven’t seen yet, is in fact running the show. Most fans are convinced that Kang the Conqueror will be making his MCU debut in Loki and is the one hiding behind the Time Keepers.
For those who didn’t already know, Renslayer is romantically involved with Kang in the comics and the villain is confirmed to be making an appearance in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. These are both factors that point to him being the big bad of the series. However, the actor who plays Kang in Ant-Man 3, Jonathan Majors, has denied the rumors that he will be appearing as Kang in Loki. Does this mean it could be someone else entirely? Is Loki potentially heading towards a WandaVision-style reveal of Agnes being Agatha Harkness, aka the villain? With only two episodes remaining, fans are about to find out soon enough. Either way, the show definitely has a few more surprises up its sleeve that should be revealed in the next two weeks.
Loki is now premiering on Disney Plus.