Highlights
- Ravonna Renslayer, portrayed by Gugu Mbatha-Raw in Loki Season 1, differs greatly from her comic book counterpart.
- Renslayer's loyalty to the TVA and willingness to do immoral things are shattered when she discovers her true origins as a variant of Rebecca Tourminet.
- Renslayer's journey in Season 2 of Loki will likely involve her search for answers about her past and her pursuit of "free will."
Ravonna Lexus Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) started Loki as a loyal employee of the Time Variance Authority (aka the TVA), but she ended Season 1 by striking out on her own mission. Marvel comic fans know Renslayer as a royal princess. She was the daughter of King Carelius turned villainous lover of Kang. At first, she spurned him as a commoner, and he tried to win her affection by bringing the Avengers in her version of Earth. Then he resorted to trying to invade her father’s kingdom to force her affections when that didn’t impress her much. Some guys just can’t take no for an answer. The Avengers helped Renslayer stop him from taking over.
While Kang was more powerful than Thanos, he couldn’t stop his own general from turning on him in the meantime. Kang then partnered with Renslayer and the Avengers, only to watch the princess take a bullet for him. She professed her love with her dying breath. She then went on to die and come back multiple times in classic Marvel comic fashion. If none of this sounds familiar, it’s because the variant of Renslayer (Mbatha-Raw) in Loki Season 1 is nothing like her comic counterpart. Well, she’s still scheming and keeping secrets. But she at least believes she’s doing so for the greater good. Too bad things don’t go exactly as she planned in the end.
Who is Ravonna Renslayer in Loki?
In Loki, Renslayer was a judge for the TVA. She was the typical bureaucrat-type with an unhealthy obsession with following rules and maintaining order. Fans first meet her in season 1, episode 1, “Glorious Purpose” after Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is arrested for “Crimes Against the Sacred Timeline”. Remember that scene in Avengers: Endgame when the trickster makes a getaway with the Tesseract? Well, it turns out he wasn’t supposed to do that. Unlike the Avengers, his time-meddling actions weren’t supposed to happen. Loki ends up finally facing consequences for his actions in the form of a workaholic armed with a Time Stick. This is the hilarious moment in the Loki trailer when Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) apprehends Loki.
Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson) is notified of his capture, but not before the villainous God of Mischief is put before Renslayer for judgment. She’s sure in her position at (nearly) the top of the food chain as a TVA judge. As far as she’s concerned, she was made by the very Time-Keepers who created and still run the organization from behind the scenes. Loki showed her as working under the belief that she had a higher purpose that no one else understood. Still, she managed to be close friends with Mobius before everything went sideways. Renslayer often showed a softer side when she was with him. In the end, though, this didn’t stop her from putting herself first.
What Happens to Ravonna Renslayer at the end of Loki season 1?
Everything that glitters isn’t always gold, and everything a Time-Keeper represents isn’t always the truth. Renslayer’s world comes crashing down around her as her true origins are revealed in Loki. She turns out to be a variant of a woman from Earth named Rebecca Tourminet. The TVA was actually created by He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) who kidnapped her from her life as a teacher. He made them forget everything they knew about their pasts and then completely wiped himself from their minds. It’s ultimately what makes Renslayer such a great villain. Her loyalty to the TVA and her absolute willingness to do immoral things to serve them bites her in the butt when she finds out it was all a lie.
In season 1, episode 4, “The Nexus Event”, Renslayer even finds out that she used to be Hunter A-23. In fact, she was the one who stole a young Sylvie (Cailey Fleming) from her home in Asgard and brought her in as a prisoner before she made her cunning escape. Renslayer later goes toe-to-toe with an older Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) and further cements her role as the villain of Loki. By the end of Season 1, Renslayer has burned bridges with Mobius and turned on other staff members like Hunter B-15 and Hunter C-20 (Sasha Lane). Ironically, she ends up leaving the TVA “in search of free will”.
Ravonna Renslayer will return in Loki season 2
Loki has been approved for Season 2, but it’s unclear what the Disney+ series will do with Renslayer. Morbius tried to take her down before she got the drop on him, and he let her go in season 1, episode 6, “For All Time. . . Always”. Prior to their confrontation, Renslayer had been working with Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) to discover the true origins of the TVA. She rightfully believed that the true creator would be in danger if Sylvie found them first. At the same time, Miss Minutes seemed to be holding back information that fans are hoping will be revealed upon her exciting Loki Season 2 return.
In the Marvel Comics, Renslayer ends up taking on the identity of the Terminatrix. Her task was to investigate the timeline in search of a temporal creature. She was also pretending to be Kang so no one found out she had essentially put him on ice. Formidable fighting skills aside, it doesn’t seem like this little impersonation will make its way into Loki Season 2. Renslayer might not even take on the name the Terminatrix. She will, however, continue her search for answers about her past, the organization she dedicated her life to, and how the concept of “free will” fits into it all.
Renslayer spent Season 1 of Loki showing her willingness to gaslight, gatekeep, and girlboss her way to success. Years behind a desk did nothing to hinder her ability to fight an equally skilled opponent in Sylvie. She never let Loki charm her with his own manipulations because, as they say, “game recognize game”. Trying to pull a fast one on someone with her experience in lying would be like trying to out-magic Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn). Where Loki has been put through a redemption arc, Renslayer has yet to show she’s open to being a better version of herself. Loki Season 2 might just see her become even worse.
Some fans might not care for this turn, or for her return at all. Those who work so hard to challenge fan-favorite characters usually don’t get a lot of support from fans. Others might be looking forward to the establishment of another woman villain with staying power. Renslayer is fast, smart, strong, and clearly knows how to get what she wants. She ended Loki Season 1 looking for answers that she just might get around to finding in Season 2. Now that He Who Remains is dead and the multiverse is shaking up the MCU, only time will tell.