Forget the ‘Thanos Was Right’ Debate: What About MCU’s He Who Remains?

Summary:

• Loki is a significant MCU TV show on Disney Plus, featuring He Who Remains, a variant of Kang the Conqueror, who founded the Time Variance Authority.
• He Who Remains established the TVA to prevent a multiversal war that arose from conflicts among different versions of himself across parallel universes.
• The ethical dilemma faced by He Who Remains in sacrificing trillions to prevent a multiversal war can be likened to the philosophical Trolley Problem.

Loki is arguably the most important TV show of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on Disney Plus so far. The finale of the first season introduced us to He Who Remains, a variant of the infamous Kang the Conqueror, who founded Time Variance Authority (TVA).

Why Did He Who Remains Found TVA?

He Who Remains found out that there's a whole bunch of parallel universes, and in each of these universes, there are different versions of every person. This discovery actually got all the different versions of He Who Remains working together across these universes.

But the differences in their personalities and agendas eventually led to conflict. This escalated into a full-blown multiversal war, with each version trying to annihilate the others to become the sole dominant universe.

After the war, He Who Remains established a single, unified timeline (the Sacred Timeline).

The TVA's mission is to monitor the timeline, prune any branches that occur, and reset any deviations, which automatically means that no other timeline must exist and trillions of people living in other timelines must die. It paints He Who Remains as a villain, or at least someone who's got a lot of deaths on their hands.

He Who Remains Was Actually Right

That is the opinion a fan shared on Reddit with many agreeing with it. First off, let's get one thing straight: nobody's advocating for genocide here. Killing trillions of people is definitely not cool. But the question posed is: what's the alternative to the TVA's actions that would prevent the destruction of reality?

If certain timelines inevitably lead to the emergence of a Kang, especially those with the tech to traverse the multiverse, then pruning those timelines might be the only way to prevent another multiversal war.

He Who Remains Basically Faced the Trolley Problem

The Trolley Problem is one of the most famous thought experiments in ethics and philosophy. It presents a moral quandary that challenges our intuitions about right and wrong, and it has been the subject of countless discussions, debates, and variations.

Picture yourself beside a railway junction lever. There's a trolley speeding towards five workers who are oblivious to the impending danger and unable to escape in time. You have the option to operate the lever, redirecting the trolley onto a different track.

However, there's a catch: there's a single worker on the other track. If you choose to operate the switch, you'll rescue the five workers, but unfortunately, the trolley will kill the lone worker on the other track.

The question is: What is your choice? Will you pull the lever to rescue five lives, even though it means sacrificing one, or will you abstain from taking action, leading to the demise of five workers?

He Who Remains had to sacrifice trillions to prevent a war. Yes, it might seem immoral but if he didn’t, the cycle of multiversal wars might just continue until there's nothing left.

Is This the Same ‘Thanos Was Right’ Point?

Some users drew parallels with Thanos' ideology. You definitely remember the whole "Thanos was right" debate. Some fans believe that the idea that He Who Remains was right is pretty much the same deal.

But there might be a big difference. Thanos’ solutional of wiping out half of all life was not just immoral, but also downright inefficient.

But in He Who Remains’ case, there might be no other solution. If there was nothing else he could do except pruning other timelines to prevent multiversal war, maybe his actions were justified?

Source: Reddit