Who is Kang in Marvel?
Kang the Conqueror is one of the most feared and fascinating characters in the Marvel universe. As a master of time travel, he has adopted multiple identities and incarnations throughout the ages, each with its own goals and motivations.
The origins of Kang
Kang, whose real name is Nathaniel Richards, comes from an alternate future of the 31st century. Some stories present him as a possible descendant of Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four) or even Dr. Doom (Victor Von Doom).
From a young age, Nathaniel was exposed to advanced technology and developed an exceptional intelligence. Upon discovering the secrets of time travel through a machine created by Victor Von Doom, he decided to explore different eras, becoming the pharaoh Rama-Tut in ancient Egypt, the Scarlet Centurion, and finally Kang the Conqueror.
The Earth plays a central role in his plans for domination. Kang repeatedly attempts to make it the center of his time empire, focusing on specific historical periods where he can influence the course of events to consolidate his power.
This quest for control over Earth leads him to face many heroes, including the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, with whom he maintains a long-standing rivalry.
What is Kang's goal?
Unlike other villains who seek only power or destruction, Kang is driven by a more complex quest: he wants to transcend human limits and master time itself.
For him, conquest is a way to prove his superiority, impose his will on history, and create a future that matches his personal vision.
Throughout his various eras, he seeks to establish absolute control, using advanced technology and machines to shape historical alternatives to his desires.
Kang is also obsessed with the idea of correcting the mistakes of history, and he sees time travel as a means to accomplish this goal.
By manipulating events across the ages, he aims to establish a timeless empire that would allow him to rule over all timelines.
However, his many failures to establish this empire have led him to evolve, sometimes adopting a more nuanced approach, such as when he becomes Immortus, a guardian of time who prefers to manipulate events rather than conquer directly.
What makes Kang special?
Kang stands out from other Marvel villains due to several unique features, including his mastery of time travel and his numerous identities throughout the ages.
Kang uses his intelligence, his futuristic technology, and his accumulated knowledge over centuries to achieve his goals.
Here is what makes Kang particularly special:
- • Mastery of time: Kang can not only travel through eras but also alter events to create alternate realities, allowing him to exert considerable influence over history.
- • Multiple identities: Over the centuries, Kang has taken on various roles, such as Rama-Tut, Immortus, Iron Lad, Victor Timely, and the Scarlet Centurion, each with its own objectives and methods. This plurality makes his story complex and intriguing.
- • Unmatched knowledge: Thanks to his travels, Kang has accumulated a considerable amount of knowledge about different eras, advanced technologies, and war tactics.
How did Kang become so powerful?
Kang's power is based on his technology, his accumulated knowledge over time, and his ability to manipulate realities.
Early in his life, he showed an insatiable thirst for power and adventure. The peaceful future he grew up in bored him, and he chose to become a conqueror by using time travel technology to gain power.
The keys to his power include:
- 31st-century technology: Kang's armor is equipped with advanced capabilities such as teleportation, matter control, and enhanced strength, giving him a decisive advantage over his opponents. He also possesses spaceships and robot armies.
- Knowledge of different eras: As a time traveler, Kang has experienced various historical events and cultures, thereby strengthening his strategic skills and his command of history.
- Mastery of his variants: The Kangs are not limited to a single version of themselves. Through parallel realities and his variants such as Immortus, Iron Lad, Victor Timely, and others, he can exploit the different facets of his own existence to influence events.
Timely, a strategic identity of Kang
Among the many identities adopted by Kang throughout the ages, Victor Timely is one of the most intriguing.
At the end of the 19th century, Kang chose to settle in a small town in Wisconsin under the identity of Victor Timely, a visionary inventor and industrialist. Timely used his knowledge of the future to discreetly influence the technological development of humanity by introducing inventions ahead of their time. This period allowed him to control technological progress in the long term, indirectly shaping future events.
The identity of Victor Timely is also a way for Kang to remain discreet, maintaining control while avoiding suspicion from superheroes and cosmic forces.
By influencing the technological and industrial alternatives of that era, he lays the groundwork for his future conquest plans, ensuring that key technologies fall under his control.
Kang's connections with other Marvel universe characters
Kang has numerous interactions and rivalries with various major characters in the Marvel universe, influencing both heroes and other villains.
The Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four have played a crucial role in Kang's story, particularly through their confrontations with his pharaoh version, Rama-Tut. They were the first superheroes to confront Kang, discovering his futuristic technology and thwarting his plans in ancient Egypt.
This encounter marked the beginning of the rivalry between Kang and the Richards family, especially with Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic), who is often presented as a possible ancestor or mentor of Kang.
The interactions between Kang and the Fantastic Four are not limited to Egypt. Kang sees them as worthy opponents of his ambitions and does not hesitate to challenge them in different time realities and alternatives.
His relationships with Reed Richards are particularly complicated, as they fluctuate between rivalry, mutual respect, and sometimes forced cooperation to protect the time continuum.
Victor Von Doom (Dr. Doom)
The connections between Kang and Victor Von Doom (also known as Dr. Doom) are close and intriguing.
Some stories suggest that Kang could be a distant descendant of Dr. Doom, sharing a common lineage with the Richards family. This connection adds a personal dimension to their rivalry, as Kang and Doom see each other as both potential allies and formidable adversaries.
Victor Von Doom, as one of the greatest geniuses and tyrants in the Marvel universe, represents a kind of mirror for Kang. Both seek to dominate their respective environments and use complex strategies to achieve their goals.
However, while Doom mainly focuses on the present and the conquest of Earth, Kang takes a long-term approach, seeking to influence the course of history over millennia through different eras.
Janet Van Dyne (The Wasp)
Janet Van Dyne, also known as The Wasp, has also played a key role in Kang's stories.
During their many confrontations, Kang has shown a particular interest in Janet, sometimes respecting her for her courage and intelligence. In some story arcs, he even expresses ambiguous feelings toward her, adding a personal dimension to their battles.
The relationship between Kang and Janet highlights the duality of the character: even as a ruthless conqueror, he is capable of feeling affection and fascination for his enemies. This makes him more complex than other villains, showing that he is not solely driven by a thirst for power.
Ravonna Renslayer
One of Kang's most notable relationships is with Ravonna Renslayer, a princess he falls in love with during his travels.
In many eras, Kang tries to conquer Ravonna's kingdom, but he is torn between his love for her and his thirst for power. Ravonna represents both a weakness and a strength for Kang, as she questions his choices as a conqueror.
In some arcs, Ravonna accepts her feelings for Kang, while in others, she rejects him due to his tyrannical nature.
This relationship shows a more human side of Kang, revealing that even a master of time can be vulnerable to human affections. In the MCU, she appears in the series Loki, where her role and motivations are further explored.
The Avengers
Kang is one of the most feared enemies of the Avengers, with whom he has had many memorable confrontations.
He has repeatedly sought to dominate the world or alter history to impose his will. As the Scarlet Centurion, Kang tries to manipulate the Avengers by creating time divergences to divide them.
The battles with the Avengers reveal Kang's strategic nature, who prefers to use complex tactics and advanced technologies rather than relying solely on brute force.
His ability to anticipate his enemies' actions makes him a formidable opponent for Earth's mightiest heroes.
Loki
Kang and Loki have a complex relationship marked by time travel and the manipulation of realities.
In the MCU, their connection is particularly evident in the series Loki, where a variant of Kang known as "He Who Remains" is introduced. This character, an older and wiser version of Kang, leads the Time Variance Authority (TVA) and controls the flow of events to prevent the creation of dangerous variants of himself.
Their interactions highlight similarities, such as their tendency to manipulate events and people to their advantage.
However, while Loki is often motivated by the quest for power or recognition, Kang seeks to impose absolute control over time itself. This dynamic creates an intriguing power relationship, where each can be both ally and adversary, depending on the circumstances.
The Young Avengers
A teenage version of Kang, known as Iron Lad, refuses to become the ruthless conqueror of his future. In an attempt to escape this fate, he forms the Young Avengers, seeking to use his knowledge and skills to fight for good.
However, even this version of Kang faces the moral dilemmas of his legacy and must confront the reality that he could still end up becoming the tyrant he seeks to avoid.
Who is stronger: Thanos or Kang?
Kang and Thanos are two of the most formidable adversaries of the Avengers, but their strengths lie in different areas.
While Thanos relies primarily on his physical strength and the power of the Infinity Stones, Kang depends on his advanced technology, his machines, and his time manipulation abilities to achieve his goals.
Advantages of Kang:
- Temporal strategy: Kang can anticipate Thanos's actions by altering the past or creating alternate realities, which allows him to avoid Thanos's attacks before they even happen.
- Multiple incarnations: The Kangs can call upon their variants across the multiverse to bolster their forces and coordinate attacks from different eras.
Advantages of Thanos:
- Raw power: Thanos possesses a physical strength and endurance far superior to that of Kang, especially when he wields the Infinity Stones.
- Cosmic power: With the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos can manipulate reality, space, time, the soul, the mind, and power itself.
The outcome of a confrontation between the two would therefore depend on the specific circumstances and the resources each possesses.
However, one might recall the infamous use of the Infinity Stones as mere paperweights in the Loki series!
Which villain is stronger than Kang?
Although Kang is one of the most powerful supervillains in Marvel, there are some opponents who could potentially be even more formidable. Here are a few examples:
- Galactus: As the devourer of worlds, Galactus possesses a cosmic power that far exceeds Kang's. However, Kang could use his time manipulation skills to try to deceive or influence him.
- Beyonder: A nearly omnipotent being capable of reshaping reality at will. Kang does not possess the same level of power as the Beyonder, but he could seek to exploit the weaknesses of his enemies.
- Doctor Doom: Although Kang is connected to Doom through their potential lineage, Doom possesses a unique combination of intellectual genius and magic, making him a formidable adversary for Kang. Their battles often extend beyond time and space.
Why was Kang removed from Marvel?
Kang has not always been at the center of Marvel's stories. Several times, the character has been sidelined, often due to changes in narrative trends or to introduce other major antagonists.
However, in the current context, a recent controversy has raised questions about Kang's future in the MCU: the controversy surrounding actor Jonathan Majors.
The controversy around Jonathan Majors
Jonathan Majors, who portrays Kang in the MCU, was involved in a controversy in 2023 following accusations of violent behavior. These allegations led to investigations and speculation regarding the actor's future in the role of Kang.
This situation created uncertainty for Marvel Studios, as Kang was meant to become the main villain of Phase 5, appearing in films such as Loki and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
The future of Kang?
Kang the Conqueror is a central character in the Marvel universe, with a complex history and motivations that set him apart from other supervillains.
His evolution through various identities, his connections with key characters like the Fantastic Four, Loki, Ravonna, and Doctor Doom, and his ability to manipulate time make him one of the most fascinating adversaries.
Whether in the comics or the MCU films, Kang continues to push the boundaries of storytelling and captivate the imagination of fans.
There is no doubt that Marvel recognizes this, and future plans for him are already in the studio's pipeline.
By the MySuperSuit team
