Loki Writer Reveals Key Difference Between Kang and Thanos

by PopCorn Princess
August 5, 2021

Loki‘s lead screenwriter, Michael Waldron, has analyzed the differences between Thanos and Kang the Conqueror. Take a look at what are the main dissimilarity between the characters – at least in his opinion.

In a guest appearance on The Playlist Podcast, Waldron revealed that the new Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) villain has a “more erratic” personality than his predecessor, which carries a much more chaotic potential.

It is believed that the even more evil variant of He Who Remains is expected to take over the post left by the Mad Titan as the next “big threat” within the so-called Phases 4 and 5 of the franchise.

“The exciting thing about getting to originate that character on the page in the MCU was sort a creating a totally different energy than what Thanos is, which is measured and principled, almost monk-like in his evil aspirations,” he explains.

On the other hand, Loki‘s screenwriter goes on to say that,

“…obviously, He Who Remains is a much more squirrelly, chaotic, narcissistic presence, and so that was a lot of fun.”

As it turns out, Kang seems to be a real villain, a real bad guy – unlike Thanos, who turned out to be an empathetic villain who, despite having done the wrong thing, still tried to justify it in a way that many people even agree with.

Keep Reading! From Geek Blog

Who Were Thanos's Parents? Why Did He Kill Them?

Who Were Thanos’ Parents? Why Did He Kill Them?

PopCorn Princess 2021-09-01

In the movies, Thanos was one of the greatest genocides in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Many people don’t know that in addition to causing the deaths of millions of innocent beings, he was also responsible for wiping out his own family.

To understand this correctly, we need to dig deeper into the relationship between the Mad Titan and the Eternals, stars of Marvel’s next big cosmic movie.

Who were Thanos’ parents?

A'Lars was the heir to the Eternals' royalty — A’Lars was the heir to the Eternals’ royalty.

Thanos is the son of an Eternals couple – his father is A’Lars, and his mother, Sui-san.

Heir to the throne of the Eternals, A’Lars left his life behind, going into exile on Titan so as not to betray his pacifist ideals. During this exile, he met Sui-san, the last surviving member of the clan responsible for instigating the war between the Eternals on Earth.

They began to work together and were responsible for transforming the distant moon of Titan into a lush paradise, home to a new generation of Eternals that emerged thanks to technological advances. While leading their people into an era of prosperity, they eventually fell in love and had two sons: Eros and Thanos.

Why did Thanos kill his parents?

However, while all members of his species look like humans, Thanos was born with Deviant Syndrome. This rare condition causes his appearance to resemble that of the Deviant race, cousins, and enemies of the Eternals. His gray skin and deformed body terrified his mother.

She swore that this was a sign that he would bring ruin to the universe and tried to kill her son soon after giving birth to the little one. Completely horrified, A’Lars committed his wife to a hospital so that she could not pose a danger to his children, whom he raises with great affection.

But even with his father’s efforts, Thanos would carry traumas for the rest of his life.

During his early school years, Thanos was a peaceful boy. However, he became a dark and vengeful boy due to the discrimination he was subjected to, both from his family and the rest of the Eternal society.

When his mother tries to reconnect after many years, the Titan unceremoniously takes her life. How this happens varies depending on which comic you are reading: in one version, she dies in an attack on Titan; in another, she is dissected by her own son in an attempt to understand what was wrong with him.

Anyway, facing the fact that his son was a monster was not easy for A’Lars either. So he begins to help any hero who would be willing to stand up to Thanos’ atrocities.

Many years later, when the Mad Titan is sick, he tries to turn to his father for a cure. But A’Lars says he couldn’t develop a drug in time, and even if it were possible, he would never help someone so cruel. So in retaliation, Thanos kills A’Lars in the most brutal way possible…

In the MCU

Despite all this, a direct connection between Thanos and the Eternals has yet to be established in the MCU. The closest we’ve come to uncovering Thanos’ origin is a brief reference made by the Red Skull and the villain’s own unreliable accounts of how the planet of Titan collapsed.

Still, the physical resemblance between the deviant Kro that appeared in the Eternals final trailer may be a clue that we could get an explanation in theaters very soon.

In the comics, Kro is very similar to Thanos.

WHAT IF…? Makes Reference to Thanos in Hidden Easter-Egg

PopCorn Princess 2021-08-16

Time passes, production changes, but Marvel fans never tire of looking for easter eggs. Whether in animation or live-action format, no matter the series, we know that the studio is known for hiding any reference to previous productions in their releases.

The new wave of easter eggs started in WandaVision but followed the tradition in Loki and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. In What If…?, it all started just now, but of course, the audience has already found its first treasures.

The first episode of the animated series arrived last Wednesday on Disney+, revealing an alternate version of Peggy Carter. The last time we saw her was in Avengers: Endgame, when Steve Rogers went back in time to return the jewels and ended up sticking around, living the life Tony Stark always told him to.

The first episode showed what would have happened if Peggy had taken the supersoldier serum from Steve Rogers, who, as we saw in the episode, took over a machine from Howard Stark and became a sort of mechanical Hulk. On the other hand,

On the other hand, Peggy assumed the role of Captain Carter, a version of Captain Britannia from the comics. The success was such that the character is being tipped to win a solo production, which has not yet been confirmed by either side.

Many of the script elements from the first Captain America movie were changed in the episode, including the Red Skull’s hunt for the Tesseract.

His goal was to win World War II on behalf of Hydra, but he was eventually stopped momentarily by Peggy. So when the US military begins investigating the Tesseract, we see a well-hidden Easter Egg that only a magnifying glass would be able to spot.

In case you don’t have eagle eyes and can’t speak Italian yet, the page in the book that talks about the Tesseract carry the words:

“Don’t let the angry purple boy touch this”

It doesn’t take much MCU knowledge to guess who the purple boy is. Thanos begins his hunt for the Infinity Stones with the Tesseract in the Loki in the Avengers timeline.

After gaining mastery of the artifact, he continues his quest, and we know that he conquers it, taking over the Stones and being able to wipe out half the world’s population.

Why is Thanos Purple? The Reason Behind Mad Titan’s Color

PopCorn Princess 2021-08-15

Since the release of Avengers: Infinity War, MCU fans have had many questions about the main antagonist of Infinity Saga. While some questions have been explained, such as the story of the planet he comes from, others remain unexplained.

Among these major questions, some of the main ones are related to Thanos’ appearance, questioning why the Mad Titan is purple or why his chin is that way, especially after the suggestion that he is connected to the Eternals.

Why is Thanos Purple?

In the comics, Thanos is said to be part of the race of Eternals, who were created by the Celestials. In general, the Eternals are closer in appearance to humans and have a predominantly more peaceful disposition.

The Deviants, who are also the creation of the Celestials, were supposed to be a “derived” race, whose appearance was generally uglier, with their behavior being more warlike. However, after the changes made by the Celestials, the Deviants became a race with destabilized DNA, which resulted in various mutations.

The two groups have a long history of conflict, but the Mad Titan makes this animosity somewhat complex since he has a particular connection to both sides.

Simply put, the reason for Thanos’ appearance is that the antagonist was born with Deviant Syndrome. Despite this, he is not a Deviant per se, since, in the comics, it is shown that his parents, A’lars and Sui-San, were both Titan Eternals.

Thus, he is an Eternal born with the Deviant gene, manifested through his appearance and other physical features and abilities.

Thanos behind Ikaris, one of the Eternals, in Eternals #1 (2021)

Because of this gene, he is pretty different from other Eternals. Besides this being the explanation for his purple and more resistant skin, the character is much bigger than others of his race and has many superior physical attributes.

In addition, his peculiar chin is another trait resulting from this fact. So although the shape of his chin is similar to the shape of the Skrulls‘ face, they are not directly related.

Thanos‘ chin shape seems to be a trait commonly found in races that originate from Celestial experimentation, which is also the case for shapeshifters.

Besides these reasons within the story itself, it is worth noting that there were external influences on the creation of the character, coming from the experience of his own creator, Jim Starlin.

According to him, his work was influenced by Jack Kirby‘s New Gods comics.

Thanos’ creator revealed to CBR that his biggest inspiration initially was Metron, but he was instructed to adapt Darkseid instead of the character he was initially based on.

“Kirby had done the New Gods, which I thought was terrific. He was over at DC at the time. I came up with some things that were inspired by that.

You’d think that Thanos was inspired by Darkseid, but that was not the case when I showed up. In my first Thanos drawings, if he looked like anybody, it was Metron.

I had all these different gods and things I wanted to do, which became Thanos and the Titans.

Roy took one look at the guy in the Metron-like chair and said: “Beef him up! If you’re going to steal one of the New Gods, at least rip off Darkseid, the really good one!”

What Other Impacts Does the Deviant Syndrome Have on Thanos?

As explained, possessing the Deviant gene led Thanos’ appearance to be as it is, significantly distancing himself from the other Titan Eternals.

This, however, is not the only result of the mutation, which increased the powers that he naturally possessed due to his race. As if this were not enough, his body has undergone many modifications over the years.

As shown through Mad Titan’s adopted daughters, Nebula and Gamora, he has become adept at cybernetic changes and enhancements, so he has improved himself.

In Annihilation: The Nova Corps Files, an excerpt about the character demonstrates his superior strength and abilities to the other Eternals, describing:

“Thanos possessed incalculable superhuman power. By far the most powerful of the Titanian Eternals, Thanos was a mutant whose massive, heavy-bided body was born with the capacity to synthesize cosmic energy for certain personal uses. […]

Thanos augmented his power in still other ways, enabling him to tap, transform, and direct vast quantities of cosmic energy for destructive force. His skin is nearly invulnerable, […] he can survive indefinitely […].

Deadliest of all Thanos’s attributes, perhaps, was his mind, whose superhuman level of intellect was totally dedicated to the annihilation of life.”

At the same time, he has equal or inferior abilities to some of the Eternals in the comics. But, like the other members of his race, the Mad Titan is immortal, immune to disease and infection, and does not age.

On the other hand, although more resistant than the other Eternals, his powers of regeneration are not as developed since he cannot regenerate any destroyed tissue. Thus, the Deviant Syndrome can be considered a mutation, leading Thanos to appear very different from other Eternals.

But this does not take away his qualities in common with his race, such as many of his powers. So, in reality, what happens is that, concerning most of his abilities and attributes, the character is superior to the other Eternals, being stronger, more resistant, and powerful.

Loki Easter-Egg Explains How Blade Entered the MCU

PopCorn Princess 2021-08-14

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is already all geared up for What If…?, but Loki‘s success has been such that fans still can’t get over the God of Mischief.

In addition to all the theories involving timelines, Kang the Conqueror, and Tom Hiddleston variants, fans have now spotted what may have confirmed where vampires enter the MCU timeline, namely how Loki could be setting the stage for Mahershala Ali’s Blade movie.

The Blade movie was announced in 2019 during San Diego Comic-Con, with Ali appearing alongside Marvel stars. In Loki episode 4, Mobius suggests that Blade may be just as relevant as Thanos by putting them on the same side of the scale, saying,

“You know, we brought in Kree, Titans, vampires”

Also, to everyone’s surprise, Loki quickly introduced a lost artifact confiscated by the TVA. An ornate cross doesn’t seem like something anyone carries around without a purpose.

In the end, the object met the same fate as the mighty Infinity Stones and, like them, became a paperweight. And if the theory is true, this suggests that vampires have been around for a long time at Marvel.

Loki has made it clear that the multiverse has begun, and its branches will still have great importance for the current Phase 4.

The obvious benefit of these branches is the prospect of other variants being introduced into the series and movies, allowing space for new faces and old acquaintances to return to Marvel in style.

Such was the case with Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), who is already being considered for a solo film for the What If…? character.

It is already known that the Fantastic Four, mutants, and vampires are all coming. But we still don’t know when, where, or how. Kevin Feige has already revealed that it should be a while, for example, before the X-Men arrive, but no new information has been disclosed about Blade.

Byzantine or Orthodox Cross

Loki clearly explained that the TVA encountered vampires at some point in their journey or someone trying to protect themselves from them since the metal cross drew attention in the fourth episode.

The cross shown is a Byzantine cross, dating from around 800 AD, suggesting that vampires could have been around for hundreds of years. Yet, we never saw Iron Man or Thor carrying a crucifix in his pocket, and the object was never even mentioned.

Still, the idea that vampires have been around for a long time fits in with the established tradition of the previous Blade films, which showed that the creatures were ruled by a secret cabal. The organization was even compared to the Mafia at the time of its release.

WHAT IF…? Why Will TVA Be Left Out of The Scenario?

PopCorn Princess 2021-08-11

Loki has always made it very clear that it would be the most crucial series in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, at least for a reasonable amount of time.

By telling the story of a character who is dead in the main timeline, the series has turned Loki into a sort of link between releases, connecting him to WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Madness Multiverse and expanding the universe into a chaotic multiverse created by Sylvie.

One of the most significant new things that Loki brought us was the concept of TVA (Temporal Variance Authority), which will be of great importance to the future of Marvel as we know it.

After all, it was from there that Kang (He Who Remains) variant controlled the world for a long time, pruning out whoever was messing with the sacred timeline and letting the rhythm of things go according to what he planned.

The next Marvel project will arrive today (11) with the release of What If…? Aside from being the first animated series in the MCU, it will be the production that should most address the essence of what the multiverse means.

Addressing several ramifications on the timeline, one might assume the TVA would play an important role in the animated series; after all, that’s where it all began. So the importance is there, but it won’t be that vital.

In an interview with io9, the series’ screenwriter A.C. Bradley joined director Bryan Andrews to comment on what’s ahead in What If…?

“We were already deep in development and writing the show by the time Loki got up and running,” said Bradley, who signed onto What If back in the fall of 2018. “So we had a meeting and talked about what we wanted to do with the multiverse—kind of as an aside—because Doctor Strange 2 was still in the very early stages.,” Bradley revealed.

The initial idea for What If…? was to focus only on telling the alternate versions on the timeline and bringing out whatever was possible from the multiverse. Bradley left much of the multiverse rules, such as TVA, to Loki and Doctor Strange 2 productions.

“Basically I was like, OK, I’m just going to go and show all the fun we can have in the multiverse,” Bradley said. “I’m going to show all the things that can happen and the places we can go, I’m not going to lay down any serious rules I’m not going to touch anything to do with the TVA.'”

According to Andrews, there wasn’t much collaboration between What If…? and any other Marvel project, just a general understanding of what could and couldn’t be shown.

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PopCorn Princess

Hey there, I'm Princess. I’m an annual comic con attendee, Star Wars-loving, and collector freak. My mission is simple: To bring cool geeky news and content and share my passion with the rest of the world. (... I secretly wish to save the world as a superheroine...)