Who is Kang the Conqueror?

This Thursday, the 16th, ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’, a film starring Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) back to the Quantum Realm, but this time alongside his daughter, Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton), his girlfriend, Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), as well as Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas).

In addition, the plot that is responsible for kicking off phase 5 of the MCU also features a new version of the villain who should cause an even greater threat than Thanos: Kang, the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), antagonist that should cause the main events of the future films “Avengers: Kang Dynasty” and “Avengers: Secret Wars”.

Who is Kang?

First appearing in September 1964 in Avengers #8, Kang the Conqueror is a time traveler who attempts to take over the world using violence and technology across all of his existing timelines. Furthermore, Kang is widely known in the comics for his clashes with the Avengers and the Fantastic Four.

The character has several identities, as a new version of Kang is created each time he travels through time, causing even many of his clones to not get along with each other. There is also the Council of Kangs, a group that is responsible for uniting some of the representations of the character in the Multiverse. Marvel.

Though they have several, Kang’s original identity is that of Nathaniel Richards who emerged in the 30th century on an alternate version of Earth known as Earth-6311. In this reality, Earth suffered through centuries of war until the arrival of Nathaniel Richards of Earth-616 (where the main Marvel Multiverse stories take place), father of Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four, who used scientific knowledge to successfully establish peace. on Earth-6311.

However, Nathaniel of Earth-6311 ends up getting tired of his reality, and when he discovers the technology that allows him to travel in time, he leaves towards his first destination: Ancient Egypt. Upon arriving at the place, he ends up being mistaken for a kind of deity, since those people had never witnessed such technology, making Nathaniel see his first opportunity for ascension, taking the throne as pharaoh of Egypt, reinventing himself as the pharaoh Rama-Tut.

In that reality, the Fantastic Four appear and send Nathaniel to the future in an attempt to realign the timeline, since, a year earlier, Rama-Tut had been defeated. However, Nathaniel ends up meeting Doctor Doom and using the technology of the new ally, he transports himself to the 40th century, where, using arsenal and intelligence superior to that of the time, he manages to conquer that reality, giving birth to Kang, the Conqueror.

Variants

One of the most prominent variants of Kang is Immortus, the older version of the villain who often clashed with the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. Immortus became one of the Guardians of Time, one of the last beings left alive in his timeline and responsible for preserving the timelines instead of conquering them – even if he eventually becomes a villain.

There is also the variant titled Iron Boy, where Kang becomes an armored hero who took inspiration from Tony Stark. Here, the younger version of the villain ends up traveling through time in order to warn the Avengers of who he ends up becoming in the future, where he ends up joining the team of heroes until his inevitable fate is revealed.

The Scarlet Centurion also appears, an alien warrior inspired by Doctor Doom who in the comics ends up leading a complex relationship with Captain Marvel. Thus, like the others, the character ends up following the steps that led him to obtain the dreaded title.

In addition to these, in the MCU a variant of Kang the Conqueror has already been presented in the ‘Loki’ series. Here the character emerged as “The One Who Remains”, the one responsible for creating the Time Variance Authority (AVT) and for controlling the Sacred Timeline.

Powers

Kang’s abilities are bestowed through his intelligence and use of technology, as he used a rare synthetic alloy from the 40th century to develop a special mind-controlled suit that allows him to have superhuman strength, emit concussive energy blasts, electric shocks and even flying with a built-in thruster.

The suit also has nanotechnology that is used to help prolong Kang’s existence, as if he dies, his consciousness is transferred into a new body. In addition, the villain also has an arsenal of weapons of his own, and, in many cases, the support of a huge and powerful army of soldiers from all over time and space.

His most notable competency, however, is the ability to use time travel technology, which, as revealed by Janet Van Dyne reveals in the ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ trailer, allows him to rewrite existence and delete timelines.