Hasitha Fernando explores Marvel’s Time Variance Authority…
A colossal tidal wave of Marvel related goodies debuted during Disney Investor Day 2020 this month. But out of this plethora of awesome new reveals, one of the clear standouts was what Kevin Feige and company gave fans on the new Disney+ TV series based on the fan favorite god of mischief Loki. There’s a lot to unpack in this full-length trailer chock full of Easter Eggs and comic book references, but one detail which stood out -larger than life if I might add – was the heavy involvement of a certain organization in the proceedings of this TV show. And by the looks of it, it seems as if our bendy horned trickster will be reluctantly assisting said organization in capturing an as-of-yet-unidentified supervillain (Sophia Di Martino as Lady Loki maybe?) in exchange for a reduced sentence for detrimental time crimes committed in his devious past. And now without further ado, let us dive right in and shed some light on this enigmatic entity called the TVA.
The TVA or the Time Variance Authority is the organization responsible for monitoring the innumerable timelines of the Marvel multiverse and keeping temporal interference to a bare minimum. In more simpler terms they can be described as a form of ‘time police’ that act as the authority to whom individuals who mess around with time travel-altering the past or future-are answerable to. Since their first appearance in Thor #372 in October 1982, created by Walt Simonson and Sal Buscema, they have metamorphosed into an important component of the greater Marvel Comics universe. However, the TVA’s influence over time is not absolute. And there have been several instances in the past where they’ve been on a collision course with the likes of Kang the Conqueror, Alioth, the Delubric Constortium and Revelation throughout the timescape.
The TVA’s base of operations is located in the Null-Time Zone dimension, a realm that exists outside of normal space and time. “Time passes differently in the TVA”, quips Owen Wilson’s Mobius M. Mobius in the trailer and his comment couldn’t be further from the truth. In the comics Mobius M. Mobius is an executive in the senior management of the Time Variance Authority who made his comic book debut in the pages of Fantastic Four #353. There are several administrators like him who oversee the bureaucratic machinations of the TVA and report to their director Mr. Alternity. But the real heavy lifting is done by a faceless group of clones called the Chronomonitors, who sit before computers in the Hall of Chronometry and monitor each event that transpires in the timeline they’re designated to. There is a Chronomonitor for every timeline in existence, with one being created every time a new reality pops into existence. The TVA’s warriors are the Minutemen, an army of soldiers clad in armour, created through cutting edge cloning and advanced cybernetics. The Minutemen are led by the Justices, temporal patrol officers with the authority to time travel and solve the TVA’s problems; the most well-known of their number is Justice Peace, who comes off more as a colourful version of Judge Dredd in the comics.
So, what significance does the TVA’s debut in the new Disney+ TV series Loki hold in the context of the ever-expanding Marvel Comics Universe? For one, the TVA’s past dealings with Kang the Conqueror would probably mean that this mysterious organization could show up in some shape or form in the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, whose big bad was recently confirmed to be that particular villain. And with Kang’s penchant for engaging in time-hopping shenanigans, the possibility of Scott Lang and company bumping into an official from the TVA is very high indeed. Jennifer Walters a.k.a She-Hulk is another character who has had previous brushes with the TVA. During Dan Slott’s 2005 run of She-Hulk, the TVA puts the superhero lawyer on trial for attempting to warn fellow Avenger Hawkeye of his impending death. If Feige and the showrunners of She-Hulk have already decided to base their new TV show on Slott’s work, chances are, that the Time Variance Authority could make an appearance there as well.
Are you looking forwarding to seeing the introduction of the TVA in Marvel’s Loki? Do you think they will play a larger role in the MCU going forward? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Hasitha Fernando is a part-time medical practitioner and full-time cinephile. Follow him on Twitter via @DoctorCinephile for regular updates on the world of entertainment.
