In the context of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) TV show "Loki," a variant is a person who diverges from a selected "main" timeline and creates another timeline with events and history that differ from the original. The Time Variance Authority (TVA) coined the term "variant" to describe a person who does something they are not supposed to in the so-called "Sacred Timeline" of the MCU, and thus branches away into an alternate version of events. In the show, Loki is a variant, as he escaped with the Tesseract during the time travel sequence in "Avengers: Endgame". The show introduces us to several other Loki variants, including Kid Loki, Classic Loki, Boastful Loki, Alligator Loki, President Loki, and Sylvie. These variants have different appearances, personalities, and histories, depending on the choices they made in their respective timelines. The TVAs mission is to prune variants from the Sacred Timeline to prevent another multiversal war.