Who is Miss Minutes in Marvel’s Loki series? The answer, in some respects, is straightforward: one of the most important characters in the whole show, despite the fact she looks like nothing more than a mascot for the TVA.
But like many things in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the truth is more complex. Loki season 1, the best season of a Marvel series to date, showed that Miss Minutes had been manipulating the TVA for He Who Remains. It was one of the better MCU twists in recent years, but Miss Minutes still warrants much more explanation, especially with her enigmatic role in Loki season 2.
Who (and what) is Miss Minutes?
Miss Minutes is an artificial intelligence system created by the Kang Variant He Who Remains with the sole purpose of overseeing the TVA and providing it with assistance while monitoring the organization for its creator.
On a pragmatic level, Miss Minutes was responsible for technical elements too including the maintenance of the Temporal Loom, while also introducing new Variants to the TVA upon their capture. Perhaps most importantly, though, Miss Minutes was tasked with upholding the false information at the heart of the TVA: sharing the narrative that the organization was created by the Time-Keepers and reaffirming this to all the TVA workers.
That’s a big job for a talking clock. However, as Miss Minutes proved throughout the first season of Loki, this cunning and charismatic mascot of the TVA was more than capable and highly intelligent. After the death of He Who Remains, she seemingly abandoned the TVA and threw it into chaos. Speaking of which…
Why has Miss Minutes gone rogue, and what’s her plan?
After the death of He Who Remains at the hands of the Loki Variant Sylvie, Miss Minutes disappeared, leaving the TVA to flounder while she tracked down another Kang Variant, Victor Timely.
On one level, that’s a positive thing. The truth is out there (to borrow a phrase) about the real purpose of the TVA: it was a creation of He Who Remains in his quest to preserve the Sacred Timeline at the expense of all else, and its workers themselves were Variants from other timelines. Now that Miss Minutes is gone, there’s no one to hide this truth anymore. Great!
What’s less great is the fact that the TVA is crumbling, the Temporal Loom is failing, and the multiverse could collapse with it. Miss Minutes’ assistance and advice were vital to the workers in the TVA, and her absence left it in chaos. Not to be the bearer of bad news, but what’s even less great is that having gone completely AWOL, Miss Minutes now presents an active threat to our characters.
We assumed she’d gone off to find another Kang Variant to carry on her former master’s legacy, and season 2 episode 3 proved us right. Meeting Ravonna Renslayer in Chicago in 1868, Miss Minutes ensures a package is delivered to a young Victor Timely. The package, it turns out, is a copy of the TVA handbook.
All this is to ensure a spark is lit under him, and that he goes about attempting to invent a Temporal Loom of his own. Essentially, she’s molding him into a replacement for He Who Remains. When this fails and he travels back to the TVA with Loki and Mobius, she’s left with one last option: Ravonna.
What are Miss Minutes’ powers and abilities?
Miss Minutes is an original character created for the Loki series, so she doesn’t have a background in the comics or wider Marvel lore beyond what we see in the show. That means all we know about her powers and abilities comes from what we’ve seen so far and speculation.
We know that Miss Minutes possesses extraordinary intelligence (we wouldn’t expect anything less, as a creation of a Kang Variant), which she uses to spread false information and maintain the technology of the TVA. She can also ‘jump’ into TV screens to create infomercials, suggesting that her physical form isn’t as rigidly defined as other characters.
Additionally, Loki season 2 episode 3 proves that Miss Minutes isn’t constrained to looking like a clock: she can shape-shift into other forms by altering her own programming. Adding more detail to this, executive producer Kevin Wright explained to Screen Rant that she has, “the ability to write her own programming, to create her own personality, to grow, to have wants, to have needs.”
That suggests she has control over her own limitations, or lack thereof, and her ultimate potential. If Miss Minutes figures out a way to boost her programming, could she become the strongest Marvel character ever?!… Probably not. But maybe. Remember, she was created by one of the most terrifyingly powerful Marvel villains ever seen.
That’s everything we know about Miss Minutes right now, but as more episodes of Loki season 2 arrive new on Disney Plus we’re sure our understanding of the character will quickly change. For more on the world of Loki, read our Loki season 2 review and interview with executive producer Kevin Wright about keeping the multiverse manageable. Or, learn about The Marvels as Phase 5 hits its midpoint.
You can also return to the much simpler pre-multiverse days of the MCU with our guide on the best way to rewatch the Marvel movies in order (and then dip out just before No Way Home) or see our picks for the best TV series of all time. Loki isn’t on there yet, but maybe one day.