Spoilers for Loki episode 6's ending follow.
Loki has ended on Disney Plus, with more implications for the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe than fans were surely ever expecting. The Sacred Timeline has officially been broken – and this isn't a fake-out. Plus, we've had our first glimpse of the character that's likely to be the next big bad of the MCU.
A Marvel.com article posted after the finale underlines that this event is the real deal, and confirms that it'll have far-reaching consequences for the MCU. Considering what we know about the upcoming projects in Marvel's Phase 4, it's clear that the overall future arc of these movies and TV shows is now starting to emerge.
So, what just happened? With the Sacred Timeline broken, the events promised by He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) in the event of his death appear to have come to pass – the Kang the Conquerors of multiple universes have been unleashed, variants of Majors' end-of-time guardian who promise to be deadlier than he ever was.
Where does all this lead? Multiversal war, as Loki has told us many times.
Now, some of these consequences will almost certainly play out in the already-confirmed Loki season 2. But the fallout is likely to reach beyond that, too. Below, we'll explain how we think the events of Loki's finale will tie into the upcoming MCU projects Spider-Man: No Way Home, the Doctor Strange sequel and the third entry in the Ant-Man series.
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How Loki's finale affects Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Even before Loki episode 6 released, we knew Kang the Conqueror was going to be played by Jonathan Majors in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. That movie is currently scheduled to release on February 17, 2023, and the casting was confirmed back in December. What we didn't know is that Majors would appear in Loki first.
We can pretty much be certain that the third Ant-Man movie's Kang is from another timeline, then. The Sacred Timeline's Kang the Conqueror variant – who doesn't even go by that name, just He Who Remains – was killed by Sylvie. As a result, there's surely no way that this can be anyone but a Kang from an alternate universe, unleashed as a result of that death.
Still, considering we only know a little about Kang's dominance of the TVA by the end of Loki season 1, we might have to wait and see when it comes to the truth behind this character.
We know Kang is from the 31st century, and that he's incredibly smart. And we know he likes to start wars with other universes. This is who Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne are facing off against next time – think they're up to the challenge?
How Loki episode 6 could affect Spider-Man: No Way Home
For the longest time, the third Tom Holland Spider-Man movie has been rumored to feature two other Spider-Men – those played by Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire. The former has denied he's in the movie multiple times, but has played it more coy recently.
Either way, we don't think the book is entirely closed on that one. We're five months from No Way Home and we know almost nothing about it from the official side – only that it'll deal with the fallout of Peter Parker's identity as the web-slinger being revealed at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home. More than one Spidey on-screen feels likelier than ever after what we just saw in Loki.
Without getting too into the web of Reddit and forum rumors doing the rounds, what we do know is that both Alfred Molina (Doc Ock from 2004's Spider-Man 2) and Jamie Foxx (The Amazing Spider-Man 2's Electro) have both confirmed on-the-record that they're in this movie. Molina just outright said it during a Variety interview, whereas Foxx posted it on Instagram and later deleted it.
There are more leaks about this movie out there from a proven source if you want to go find them – but we don't think anything else needs spoiling at this moment about the next Spider-Man, especially while we know so little about it officially.
What's clear is that the breaking of the Sacred Timeline in Loki opens the door to travel between universes, and removes the boundaries that were preventing a multiversal war from happening previously. Surely this will explain how the villains from other Spider-Man movie universes will encounter Tom Holland's version of the character?
If anything, Loki has only deepened our interest in this film. Let's hope it lives up to the ludicrous hype and speculation.
How Loki's finale could affect Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness
Honestly, Loki's finale doesn't shed much more light on this movie – we always knew this film would explore the Multiverse, and it was our biggest hint that Loki's 'Sacred Timeline' wasn't going to last. Still, the finale of Loki shows us how the training wheels have been removed from the MCU now, and that a multiversal war is basically upon us.
That said, it sounds like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness may have its own inciting incident that's unrelated to Loki. The official synopsis reads: "Dr Stephen Strange continues his research on the Time Stone, but an old friend-turned-enemy puts an end to his plans and causes Strange to unleash unspeakable evil.” That friend-turned-enemy is largely expected to be Baron Mordo (Chiwetel Efiojor).
That suggests Stephen Strange has his own drama that will wreak some multiversal havoc. But – as far back as 2019, Marvel's Kevin Feige stated that Loki connects to Doctor Strange. "I'm not sure we've actually acknowledged that before... but it does."
The connection here is pretty obvious, then. There's no way the events of Loki won't affect Doctor Strange's sequel if it's mostly focused on the multiverse. Whatever happens in that movie surely has to acknowledge the fallout from Loki.
Loki's finale, then, will likely reshape the Marvel movies we see across the next few years – the biggest indicator yet that the MCU shows are unmissable for anyone trying to keep up with the story.
