As Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the Avengers have made a lot of enemies and challengers to their power. Whether it’s bad guys they’ve fought individually or the biggest names in villainy that take on the entire team, there are plenty of villains who can give the Avengers a run for their money. When it comes to the most dangerous, Kang the Conqueror nearly tops the list.
Hailing from the far future, Kang has technology the Avengers can’t even dream of. Kang does have a tendency to lose to the Avengers when he faces them directly, but his schemes don’t end there, and he is never completely defeated. As a master of time, Kang plays the long game and has pulled off some solid victories.
10 Kang Took Down A Futuristic Ultron
Danger attacks the Avengers from all sides, and that includes threats from beyond time itself. In one such cataclysmic future, Kang was stuck in a time loop. With time unraveling, Kang needed the help of the present-day Avengers.
This future set Kang against Ultron, another who can claim the title of most dangerous Avengers’ villain. In Kang’s time, he was even more powerful. The Avengers had to convince Ultron to lose against Kang to fix time. So while Ultron wasn’t going all out, Kang and his army did defeat him.
9 Kang Manipulated His Enemies Into Taking Each Other Out
Kang’s weapons are deadly, but his mind is even deadlier. Stopping one of his attacks may very well play into his hands. Such was the case in Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective, which introduced Alioth, a time-consuming being Kang fears.
The Avengers became involved in the situation, and while Kang refused to fight Alioth, he gave the Avengers a temporal power-absorbing weapon of his own design called Tempus. The Avengers used Tempus against Alioth, trapping both beings in a stalemate. With the Avengers having served their purpose, Kang sent them away with a gesture.
8 Kang Won The Heart Of The Woman He Loves
During one of Kang’s very first appearances, he brought the Avengers to his time to defeat them in battle and prove himself to Princess Ravonna. Rather than conquer her kingdom, Kang wanted to win her over by impressing her.
Kang held off on commanding his army, but that only incited his men to decide to attack the kingdom without him. Not wanting any harm to come to Ravonna or her kingdom, Kang allied himself with the Avengers and not only stopped the coup but earned Ravonna’s love as well.
7 Kang Saved The Avengers’ Lives
When dealing with a time traveler, divergent timelines are going to happen. There came a point where there were so many different versions of Kang that they created a Cross-Time Kang Korps to pool their knowledge. Unbeknownst to them, they had a traitor in their ranks named Nebula-Kang.
Our Kang discovered her deception and earned the respect of the Executive Kangs. Nebula took over the Avengers’ minds, but Kang snuck aboard the Quinjet and used one of his devices to free their minds. The Avengers proceeded to defeat Nebula-Kang.
6 Kang Ultimately Triumphed Against The Young Avengers
The Young Avengers were created, in part, by Iron Lad to avert the future where he would become Kang. Not too long into his career, Kang paid him a visit and ended up fighting both Avengers teams.
Kang tried to convince the Avengers to stand aside and let destiny take Iron Lad, but a fight inevitably broke out. Kang, having designed Iron Lad’s armor, wasn’t threatened by his younger self. The timestream began to unravel, which left Iron Lad no choice but to return to the future and become Kang.
5 Kang Conquered Thousands Of Worlds
Kang is canonically the most successful conqueror in the Marvel Universe. His defeats at the hands of the Avengers are minuscule compared to his countless victories across time and space, and it can’t be overstated how many armies he has defeated.
Avengers Forever #9 offers insight into Kang’s backstory as he reflects upon his history of being a pharaoh in ancient Egypt, designing his armor, creating allies, and finding fulfillment in working his way through alien worlds and conquering them all. His victories include conquering thousands of worlds and enslaving trillions.
4 Kang Outmaneuvered Dr. Doom
Some of Kang’s history is known, but some of it has yet to be revealed. One thing that is certain is that there is a shared ancestry between him and Dr. Doom, one of the most fearsome present-day villains.
Kang wound up tethered to Doom and paid him frequent visits, all while staying a few steps ahead of him. Kang knew only Doom could save the world, so Kang positioned Doom to become the world’s savior. Kang had a special interest in preserving the world that he eventually rules.
3 Kang Killed An Avenger
Kang’s quest to find the Celestial Madonna put him at odds with not only the Avengers but also Rama-Tut, another version of Kang. Kang rejected Rama-Tut’s more peaceful ways and the idea that he would ever turn into him.
The Avengers were able to save Mantis while Kang fought Rama-Tut. The two were fairly evenly matched, and as they fought, Kang fired a shot that struck and killed the Swordsman. Although Swordsman wasn’t his intended target, Kang is one of the few people who can boast that he killed an Avenger.
2 Earth Surrendered To Kang
One of Kang’s attempts to conquer Earth involved creating a sword-shaped space station called Damocles Base and threatening the planet from orbit. The Avengers united with the governments of the world and took an army of sentinels to fight him. Kang hijacked the sentinels’ programming and then came down to Earth.
Using his superior technology, Kang ignored the Avengers’ attack and unleashed a powerful attack on Washington DC that killed everyone in the city. Feeling the collateral damage was too much, the Avengers and the US government surrendered to Kang.
1 Kang Averted His Own Destiny
Kang has lived many lives under many names, but he was always destined to become Immortus. Kang grew to hate Immortus, fighting him whenever their paths crossed.
During Avengers Forever, the Time Keepers decided they would speed along Kang’s evolution into Immortus. Kang managed to fight off their influence through sheer will right before gunning them down. During the struggle, Immortus split off from Kang and became a separate entity. Kang achieved his ultimate victory knowing that with the creation of this Immortus, he would be free to create his own destiny.
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