Loki season finale recap: Post-credits scene and ending for episode 6 explained

Loki's time-hopping adventure reached its end Wednesday, with the sixth and final episode of the Marvel Cinematic Universe hitting Disney Plus. The season finale, entitled For All Time, Always, picks up with Gods of Mischief Variants Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) after they uncovered the path to the castle hideout of the mastermind behind the Time Variance Authority, and leaves us with a post-credits scene that opens up a multiverse of Marvel possibilities.

Separately, former TVA agent Mobius (Owen Wilson) returned to his old workplace, determined to reveal the truth that he and his former co-workers are all Variants who were snatched from their old lives and had their memories erased. It's unclear if TVA Judge Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) will help or hinder Mobius in his quest.

Let's dodge the SPOILER Variance Authority and dive in one last time (or maybe not).

Stepping into the Citadel at the End of Time, Loki and Sylvie meet He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), who appears to be a version of time-hopping comic villain Kang the Conqueror. We already knew this guy was meant to make his MCU debut in February 2023 movie Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

Since he's never referred to as Kang in this episode, it seems like the Kang has yet to appear. He Who Remains claims to be the last survivor of a multiversal war that broke out when multiple versions of him made contact after the multiverse was discovered in the 31st century.

He tamed and weaponized Alioth, using the trans-temporal being to end the war (presumably by gobbling up the other timelines). To stop it happening again, he created the TVA to manage the Sacred Timeline.

In the comics, Kang is a baddy from the 31st century who's faced off against the Avengers many times since his '60s debut.

Loki and Sylvie fight over He Who Remains' fate, with the latter coming out on top (after a little Variant kissy time). She flings Loki back to the TVA and slays He Who Remains, which lets the timeline branch like crazy -- apparently letting many versions of Kang run amok across the multiverse.

Their influence is soon made apparent in the TVA, when Loki tries to warn best bud agent Mobius (Owen Wilson) and Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) about the threat. They can't remember him, and Loki turns to see a statue of Kang wearing his comic costume towering over the TVA -- it seems the God of Mischief has been sent to a different timeline's version of the agency, one that Kang is openly controlling.

This presumably leads directly into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which is due out March 2022, and ties into the WandaVision finale, where Wanda heard her lost sons calling out from some plain of reality -- her search is likely to continue in the Doctor Strange sequel.

It also mostly likely kicks open the doors for What If…? to slot into canon. The animated series, which kicks off on Disney Plus on Wednesday, Aug. 11, explores alternative realities based on events playing out differently in the MCU. And maybe, just maybe, it'll tear down the walls between realities for Spider-Man: No Way Home.

A stamp hits Loki's TVA case file, revealing that "Loki will return in season 2" -- the timeline tomfoolery and Variant kissing will continue.

As the Marvel Studios logo appears at the start of the episode, we start hearing lines from various points in the MCU timeline and real life. Here are the clear ones:

"Way to go, Tic-Tac." -- Sam Wilson in Captain America: Civil War

"That's how you punch." -- Hope Van Dyne in Ant-Man

"You wouldn't have heard of me." -- Scott Lang in Ant-Man

"Let me put you on hold" -- Natasha Romanoff in The Avengers

"Dance-off, bro." -- Peter Quill in Guardians of the Galaxy

"I can do this all day. Yeah I know." -- 2012 Steve Rogers to 2023 Steve Rogers in Avengers: Endgame

"We have a Hulk." -- Loki in Avengers: Infinity War

"We're gonna jump on that spaceship and get out of here. Wanna come?" -- Korg in Thor: Ragnarok

"We think of time as a one-way motion." -- philosopher Alan Watts in real life

"One small step for man…" -- Neil Armstrong in real life

"How dare they!" -- Greta Thunberg in real life

"We have fought for the right to experience peace." Nelson Mandela in real life

"Motivated by women throughout the world." Former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in real life

"What is grief, if not love persevering?" Vision in WandaVision episode 8.

We also hear the 1945 song It's Been a Long, Long Time (specifically the Harry James Orchestra version, with vocals by Kitty Kallen), which you might remember Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter dancing to in their alternate timeline marital bliss at the end of Avengers: Endgame, and Kylie Minogue's 1987 debut single I Should Be So Lucky. Oh look, it's the glorious '80s.

This article will be updated shortly.