After having first appeared in the Ant-Man 3 post-credit scene, Victor Timely has become one of the most talked-about characters in the new era of the MCU. But who is he, exactly, and why is he here?
The MCU is a multiversal mess, so it’s no surprise Kang the Conqueror has multiple versions of himself running around. We got our first glimpse of Victor Timely in the third Ant-Man movie, and his introduction is a scene straight out of the best Marvel series, Loki. (We know, it’s a lot.) At the most basic level, Victor Timely is just another Kang Variant, but there’s so much more you’ll need to know to be ready for the rest of Marvel Phase 5.
Victor Timely, in the comics, explained
Victor Timely is a Kang Variant that lives in early 20th-century Earth. He’s a genius inventor and a master technician, and the founder of a town which he aptly names Timely.
He turns his town into an industrial marvel (pun intended) and forms a company called Timely Industries, using it to innovate with technologies that are secretly from the future. Think of it as an early 20th-century Stark Industries.
Over the course of his company’s development Timely ages, but as a time-traveling Kang Variant, he returns under the guise of his own son to continue his task without raising suspicions.
Victor Timely in the MCU explained
Much like comic books, Victor Timely appears in the MCU as a Kang Variant living in 1893 Chicago, where he works on developing futuristic technology, thanks to a little multiverse-hopping help from the TVA.
As we mentioned above, Timely first appears in the post-credit scene of Ant-Man 3, which actually ends up being a scene from Loki season 2, episode 3. In the scene, Loki and Mobius travel to 1893 to find Ravonna Renslayer and Miss Minutes, who disappeared from the TVA.
When they arrive, they stumble across a presentation from Timely, where he shows off his Temporal Loom machine. Loki’s horrified to see the Kang Variant, but Mobius realizes Timely might be the TVA‘s only hope of fixing the failing Loom in their world and decides they have to take him there.
We don’t think this’ll be the end of Victor Timely, and post-Loki season 2 we expect he’ll appear in some of the upcoming Marvel movies since he’s so tied to Kang. After all, why just have one of the best Marvel villains when you could have hundreds of him?
Victor Timely’s role in Loki season 2
The post-credit scene from Ant-Man 3 forms episode 3 of Loki season 2, and we learn a lot more about Victor Timely because of this.
It turns out that Victor Timely is set on his path because Miss Minutes wants to mold him into a replacement for He Who Remains, her previous master. She does this by going back in time and planting a TVA handbook in his past. However, when Loki and Mobius track him down, it appears that he’s actually something of a trickster.
Most of his inventions don’t work, but he insists it’s because the technology of the day isn’t sufficient. Still believing he can help them fix the crumbling Loom back at the Time Variance Authority, they convince him to go with them back to their base.
That would put them directly into the line of conflict with the Council of Kangs, though, and that’s a very dangerous position to be in. Loki has already died once at the hands of a power-hungry villain, and his Variant will have to work hard to avoid the same fate if he and Mobius do perhaps fall foul to any tricks Timely might have up his sleeve.
That’s Victor Timely! There’s sure to be more of him to come as the list of Marvel movies in order expands, and we don’t doubt we’ll see him in some of the new movies to come. Speaking of new movies, make sure you keep an eye on The Marvels, which is bringing back some of the best Marvel characters in recent years.
Finally, check out our list of the best movies of all time, and make sure you don’t miss our feature on why Marvel needs to learn that killing characters isn’t everything.