It must be a blast working as a concept artist, production designer or costumer on a Marvel Cinematic Universe project, where Easter Eggs tend to be bursting out of almost every frame. The movies and now TV shows are packed with visual gags, hidden references and nods towards comic book history, and Loki was no different.
Episode 5 in particular stands out as a highlight, with creator and lead writer Michael Waldron revealing he was given carte blanche to tackle some of the deeper cuts from Marvel lore, which extended to Chris Hemsworth recording new audio for Frog of Thunder Throg, as well as the canonical debut of the legendary Thanos-Copter.
New concept art from Loki has been revealed, and as you can see below, in the background of He Who Remains’ chamber there’s a glimpse of an Iron Man helmet tucked away on a shelf, which creates all sorts of questions and possibilities.
We know that He Who Remains is just one of Kang the Conqueror’s many variants, who battled each other in a great multiversal war where only one of them would emerge victorious in the end. An Iron Man helmet presents the notion that there’s a timeline out there somewhere that saw Kang not just meet Tony Stark, but take part of his armor as a trophy.
Jonathan Majors is set to make a huge impact on the MCU as Phase Four’s end-of-level boss, so while the Iron Man wink is just concept art for now, it definitely can’t be ruled out that the Avengers will have some serious trouble on their hands when Kang the Conqueror’s more nefarious personalities begin making their presence felt.