Originally a Fantastic Four villain, Kang the Conqueror has gone on to not only be one of the Avengers‘ main enemies but a frequent antagonist for the Marvel universe itself. His deep comic book history makes him an iconic Marvel character, and he’s come into conflict with a multitude of heroes since his 1963 debut.
Although Marvel’s Kang the Conqueror is a frequently appearing villain, he has yet to appear in any of the Marvel movies. With the Marvel Cinematic Universe going in a new direction following Avengers: Endgame, it’s a good time to explore Kang the Conqueror’s powers and his motivations.
Updated on March 26, 2022 by Scoot Allan: Disney+’s Loki introduced fans to their first look at Kang the Conqueror in the MCU, though some were left asking “who is Kang the Conqueror?” ahead of his full debut in Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania. Fans with additional questions like “why is Kang blue?” or “who does Kang the Conqueror kill?” will soon find all the answers they need.
20 He Is A Time Traveler From The 30th Century
Kang is best known as a brilliant genius from the future and Marvel’s preeminent time traveler who has tasked himself with conquering all eras — though Marvel’s heroic age has given him trouble over the years. Using the power of his time-ship, Kang can, and has, traveled to every century.
With the MCU films having just introduced time travel in Avengers: Endgame, now is the perfect time to introduce a character such as Kang into the cinematic universe. Some have theorized that the new Avengers movie clearly pointed to his introduction. Kang’s time-traveling abilities have always set him apart and made him one of Marvel’s most interesting villains.
19 He Uses Advanced Weapons And Armies From The Future
In addition to his time-traveling ship, Kang the Conqueror’s powers and abilities are facilitated by a plethora of futuristic armor and weapons. Kang’s battle armor gives him the strength and reflexes to go toe-to-toe with Marvel’s heaviest hitters. One of the Conqueror’s most notable weapons is his neutrino-ray which might sound enormous but is the size of a handgun.
Kang commands armies conglomerated from various timelines. Many of these soldiers are from Kang’s own time in the future, equipped with similar armor and weaponry as himself. Kang loves using robots including his “Growing Man” androids, which expand their size when hit. Kang is also an extraordinary genius capable of engineering his own weapons of destruction.
18 His First Love Ravonna Sacrificed Herself For Him
“Is Kang the Conqueror human?” It’s a question many fans and even comic characters have wondered, and it’s best answered by exploring his relationships. Ravonna, a woman from the 40th century, hated Kang for conquering her kingdom. Due to her rebellion, Kang’s commanders demanded that he execute her. Because of his love for Ravonna, Kang couldn’t bring himself to do so.
This leads to an uprising, with Kang’s commanders teaming up with the Avengers to overthrow him. Just as a blast was about to kill Kang, Ravonna leaped in the way and saved his life. She revealed she did in fact love the Conqueror, though her apparent death was only the beginning of her story — later returning as the Terminatrix.
17 He Was The Pharaoh Known As Rama-Tut
On his first trip through time, Kang decided to go to ancient Egypt. Upon his arrival, Kang used his advanced weapons and robots to take over. He then ruled over the Egyptians as their new Pharaoh, Rama-Tut. Kang spent much of his time in ancient Egypt searching for the fabled En Sabah Nur.
This En Sabah Nur would eventually become Apocalypse, one of the most powerful villains in the entire Marvel universe. Kang’s ultimate endgame was to make the young Apocalypse his heir. Unfortunately for Kang, the Fantastic Four also found themselves in Egypt at the same time and overthrew the evil despot — though he would return many times over the years.
16 Kang Has Created Multiple Divergent Duplicates
Kang’s travels through time occur so often he has created an endless number of time-displaced duplicates. This leads to many complicated stories where alternate realities are created, and the course of history is altered.
The duplicate Kangs pop up throughout Marvel’s history randomly, and sometimes at the same time. At this point, it is almost impossible to know who the original Kang is, or if there truly is one given the number of times Kang has been killed or even killed himself from a different point of time.
15 Kang Was Inspired By Doctor Doom To Create His Own Armor As The Scarlet Centurion
Doctor Doom has a long history with Kang the Conqueror. Tthe first time the time-traveling villain met the armored ruler of Latveria was during his time as Pharaoh Rama-Tut. Inspired by Doom’s own armor and regal presence, Kang created a new costumed identity as the Scarlet Centurion.
Kang used this new identity to manipulate events in the Avengers timeline as he attempted to conquer the modern era. While his time as the Scarlet Centurion was a failure, a divergent version of the character became a successful conqueror in the future and Kang’s son Marcus later took on the role as well.
14 He Completely Eradicated The Cross-Time Kang Corps
The Cross-Time Kang Corps was a group of alien beings from different timelines and dimensions who had killed their version of Kang and taken over his role. They later assembled to search for an “Ultimate Weapon” which turned out to be the Celestial Madonna.
This group of Kangs actually found themselves in conflict with the “Prime Kang.” This Kang was thought to be the original in the main timeline, and he eventually killed the entire Corps using a temporal monster from Limbo known as the Alioth. If fans are wondering who killed Kang the Conqueror, the answer is confusingly Kang the Conqueror.
13 He Created A Human Identity Named Victor Timely To Observe The Age of Heroes
A divergent form of Kang tried another tactic in his goal to conquer the modern age and sett up a home base on Earth in the present day, allowing him to secretly observe and subtly manipulate the timeline. Kang created the human identity Victor Timely and used it to found the town of Timely, Wisconsin.
He developed businesses and corporations that lasted for decades and became a leader in robotics technology. Kang used androids when he wasn’t around to maintain the illusion while the guise aged and sired children over the years — all of whom were really Kang. Timely, Wisconsin also served as one of the entrances to Kang’s Chronopolis that existed outside of the normal time stream.
12 Kang Created The Time-Warriors Known As The Anachronauts
Kang doesn’t always rely on the armies he’s amassed over the years from his various conquests or the time-displaced heroes and villains he occasionally gathers when fighting his battles. Kang once assembled a team of warriors known as the Anachronauts.
These powerful warriors — Deathhunt 9000, Apocryphus, Raa, Sir Raston, Ssith, Tyndar, and Wildrun — were all undefeated until they encountered Kang, so he formed them together as the Anachronauts to protect his homeworld of Chronopolis from any and all invaders or challengers to his throne.
11 He Will Eventually Become The Master Of Time Known As Immortus
Deep into his future, Kang the Conqueror’s powers continued to grow, and he became the time lord known as Immortus. Tired of fighting and losing his loved ones in multiple timelines, Kang decided to give up his life as Kang in order to serve the Time-Keepers from the temporal Limbo dimension.
The Time-Keepers were aliens from the end of the universe who chose Immortus as their avatar to defend timelines from those who would upset them, including his younger self. Immortus often found himself on the side of the Avengers and other heroes while he battled his former self in defense of the timeline.
10 His Younger Self Became Iron Lad And Assembled The Young Avengers
Iron Lad was a fan-favorite member of the Young Avengers with a look reminiscent of Iron Man‘s and who’s responsible for organizing the team of Avengers-related teen heroes. Fans (and his teammates) were surprised to learn that Iron Lad was actually a younger version of Kang the Conqueror.
When Kang traveled back in time to convince his younger self to accept his destiny, his plan backfired. Iron Lad killed his future self instead and created a temporal paradox that was only resolved when he returned to the future to follow his destiny and become Kang the Conqueror.
9 He Raised Black Bolt’s Son Ahura To Wipe Out Inhumans In The Past
The Inhuman king Black Bolt sent his son Ahura to the past with Kang in order to save him from the incursions that led to the modern Secret Wars event. Kang agreed under the condition that he would get to keep Ahura. However, Kang manipulated Ahura and tricked him into wiping out the Inhumans in the past, leading him to eventually take over the role of Kang as an adult.
The Inhumans were forced to kill the adult Ahura, but they were able to save their young son from the past as well. Already having deep ties to the Avengers and Fantastic Four, this more recent comic story gave Kang a strong tie to the Inhumans as well. This helped establish Kang as an even bigger threat who continues to deepen his roots in Marvel mythology.
8 Kang Saved Rick Jones During The Destiny War
Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheco’s Avengers Forever attempted to clean up some of the muddy waters of Marvel’s timeline that had been created partly by Kang himself over the years — resulting in Immortus’ attempt to kill classic Avengers ally Rick Jones.
Jones was powered by the Destiny Force, which Immortus had traced to a dark future he hoped to avoid — though Kang the Conqueror arrived to protect Rick Jones. Jones pulled a team of Avengers from different eras of time to help him fight the Destiny War first alongside, and then against Kang the Conqueror and Immortus.
7 He Once Merged With Doctor Doom And Annihilus To Become Doom The Annihilating Conqueror
The younger Nathaniel Richards who helped form the Young Avengers as Iron Lad decided to speed up his own villainous timeline when he took on a new identity of Kid Immortus after he met and fell in love with Princess Ravonna and saved her from her own ill-fated timeline.
He began working with a young version of Annihilus and Doctor Doom, ultimately resulted in their merger into a powerful being known as Doom The Annihilating Conqueror in an alternate timeline. However, two versions of the Fantastic Four were able to stop the merger from happening and Kid Immortus never transformed.
6 Kang Completely Destroyed Washington D.C. To Prove His Strength During The Kang Dynasty
“The Kang Dynasty” by Kurt Busiek and a team of artists featured one of Marvel’s greatest takeovers as Kang and his son Marcus (who had inherited Kang’s former role as the Scarlet Centurion) successfully overthrew the world’s governments and claimed control.
The long-running storyline featured a number of unforgettable moments, included the complete annihilation of Washington, D.C. and its entire population as a show of Kang’s power. Thankfully the Avengers were ultimately able to stop Kang and restore order, though the damage was irreversible.
5 He Raised The Apocalypse Twins & Tried To Eradicate Mutants
Uriel and Eimin were the Apocalypse Twins, whose birth and eventual rise to power as leaders of the mutant race would have threatened Kang’s eventual rule in the future. Kang took preventative measures and kidnaped the twins as babies so he could raise them using his own brutal methods.
When The Apocalypse Twins were teenagers, they escaped from their adoptive father and actively worked against him to bring about their own rule. However, Kang’s machinations were ultimately revealed as a plan to erase mutantkind as an overall future threat, though he was stopped by the Uncanny Avengers.
4 Kang Uses Characters From Across Time To Fight His Battles As The Chronos Corps
Kang has borrowed Rick Jones’ “Destiny War” maneuver a few times over the years, pulling Marvel heroes and villains from different points in time to fight for him in important battles — like when he entered an unwinnable battle with Ultron in the Next Avengers future that ultimately broke time. To save the timeline, the Avengers had to go back and convince Ultron to lose.
When the Apocalypse Twins’ plans resulted in the destruction of Earth and the creation of a new mutant planet, Kang assembled a team of characters from other times that included Stryfe, Earth-X’s Venom, Dr. Doom 2099, Iron Man 2020, Magistrate Braddock, Days of Future Past‘s Ahab, Abomination/Deathlok, and a young Thor to help him and the Uncanny Avengers reverse events.
3 Kang Wielded The Reality Stone As A Member Of The Infinity Watch During Infinity Wars
The Infinity Stones were once again gathered by a villain named Requiem who hoped to reduce the universe’s population in half by merging characters together in a series of unforgettable Infinity Warps. Loki was one of the few characters left unaffected and was tasked with forming a new version of the Infinity Watch.
Loki split some of the merged characters to help him, which included a new version of Kang who was merged with Ms. Marvel and called Kamala Kang. They joined Hulk, Ant-Man and Emma Frost as Loki’s short-lived Infinity Watch, with Kang taking control of the Reality Stone for the final battle with the Soul Stone-dwelling Devondra.
2 He Could Be A Descendant Of Mister Fantastic Or Doctor Doom…Or Both?
What may in fact be the most interesting thing about Kang is his real name, Nathaniel Richards. Although never explicitly stated, it has been teased that Kang could be a possible descendant of Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic. However, at one time Kang actually thought Doctor Doom was his ancestor, though various writers have explored this point differently.
Some still believe this complicated and disputed theory to be true, continuing to make the mysteries of this character’s ancestral origins fascinating. As a constant foe of the Fantastic Four, this possible connection makes the villain all the more intriguing.
1 A Future Version Of Kang The Conqueror Appeared As Loki’s He Who Remains On Disney+
While fans are waiting patiently to see the more recognized version of Kang the Conqueror on the big screen in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, they were given a brief taste of a future version in the first season of Loki on Disney+.
Lovecraft Country‘s Jonathan Majors appeared as the ruler of the Time Variance Authority who existed at the end of time and became known as He Who Remains. This version of the character teased his origins as a conqueror, which only served to hype up Kang’s inevitable debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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