Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Loki season 2 episode 2

Summary

  • Marvel's Phase 5 has introduced new villains who have killed more victims than Thanos, with a genocide on a devastating scale.
  • The TVA's mission to prune branches in the timeline resulted in the destruction of entire universes, wiping out 100% of existence, and not just half.
  • The TVA's mass killing mission is arguably more evil than Thanos' plan for universal balance, as it is based on a rigid agenda and lacks randomness or consideration for the potential good in variants.

Forget Thanos, Marvel's new Phase 5 villains have just killed the most victims in MCU history, and it's not even close. If you thought the murder of millions using the Infinity Stones in Avengers: Infinity War's ending was the most devastating loss of life the MCU will ever see, Loki season 2 will make you think again. The genocide witnessed in the name of saving the multiverse from itself is as devastating in scale as its simplicity was terrifying.

There are few things that are certainties: death, taxes and the escalation of superhero movie villains. No sooner was Loki dusting himself off after his failed invasion of Earth in The Avengers than Thanos was winking at the camera in the post-credits scene. And even as the Mad Titan's dust pile was still smoking on a field outside New York after Avengers: Endgames' ending, plans were already afoot to bring Kang to the MCU. Or, more relevantly, thousands of Kangs. Even now, the conversation of what bigger threat comes after Kang is happening among fans: Galactus? Ahhihilus? The crushing weight of expanded continuity? Before any of that becomes a reality, Loki's newest villains have made Thanos' universal genocide look like a real blip.

Related: Thanos' Complete MCU Timeline Explained

Loki's TVA Just Killed Way More People Than Thanos

Branching timelines on a monitor at the TVA headquarters are watched in Loki season 1

In Loki season 2 episode 2, General Dox (Kate Dickie) delivers on her plan to "fix" the multiversal mess Sylvie created by killing He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) in Loki's season 1 finale, by leading a rogue faction of TVA hunters on a mission to destroy every branch destabilizing the Sacred Timeline. In a move designed for the Greater Good, Dox's loyalists planted bombs on countless branches, destroying them in an effort to avoid a total multiversal meltdown. Shockingly, the mission succeeded, wiping out innumerate branches in a matter of minutes, as the hunters jumped from one to another.

As pointed out by Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), the mass pruning of branches by the rogue TVA hunters killed billions, but the true scale of their genocide was underplayed by Loki season 2 episode 2. Every bombed branch represented an entire universe, and billions upon billions of lives on every planet, eclipsing the scale of Thanos' Infinity War snap multiple times over. Thanos wiped out half of existence, but the TVA just wiped out 100% of existence in any number of entire universes. The scale of those victims is almost impossible to imagine.

Related: Loki Movie & TV Inspirations Behind The TVA Explained

Why The TVA Are More Evil Than Thanos (For 2 Reasons)

Jonathan Majors as He Who Remains in Phase 4's Loki

Like Thanos, the TVA believe their mission is for the Greater Good. Even Loki himself acknowledges in episode 1 that He Who Remains made the most difficult decisions to avoid an even worse future: the Multiversal War that He Who Remains had already won against his variants. Thanos' endgame was obviously universal balance, making the difficult choice to wipe out half of existence so the other half could thrive. In both cases, there's certainly an element of right to their plans, but there's also complex moral questions too: not least, who appointed the killers gods to decide the fate of everyone else? Arguably, the TVA are also more evil in their mission of mass killing than even Thanos.

The Mad Titan's plan was at least random in the interest of balance: in both iterations of the TVA (He Who Remains and Dox's faction after his death), there is nothing random. Every branch is decided to be rogue because they deviate from the approved timeline He Who Remains decided was the Sacred one. Every variant, every imperfection, and every outsider - like Sylvie and almost every other Loki - were unacceptable, detouring the prescribed path of the Sacred Timeline in defiance of He Who Remains' agenda for self-preservation. In among the villainous Kang variants, though, there could be good that would be destroyed in the name of cruel, uncaring order. That is not balance, it's tyranny, and Loki confirms the devastating cost of it.

New episodes of Loki season 2 release every Thursday on Disney+

Key Release Dates