Who is Kang the Conqueror?

Comics

Feb 21

One of the great benefits of comic book universes such as Marvel and DC is that they have such a vast continuity. This allows them to create a lot of different characters, concepts and, of even variations of common known characters. That is something we are going to talk abou Kang the Conqueror.

Kang is a name reaching a lot of ears these days due to his main MCU antagonist premiere in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, but who is this character? Where did he come from?

Creation and the early days

Kang the Conqueror first appeared in Avengers #8, which was published by Marvel Comics in September 1964. The issue was written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Jack Kirby. In the story, the Avengers are transported back in time to ancient Egypt, where they encounter the pharaoh Rama-Tut, who is actually Kang in disguise. The heroes eventually defeat Kang and return to their own time, but the villain would go on to become a major antagonist for the team and other Marvel heroes in the years to come.

What is even more interesting that Kang has two “debuts” in the comics: the first one came in 1963 during the 19th issue of the Fantastic Four, where we are introduced to a criminal from the year 3000 known as Rama-Tut, who travelled back in time to conquer ancient Egypt. A year later, in the 8th issue of the Avengers, we are told that Rama-Tut escaped to the future, specifically the year 4000, and adopted the identity of Kang the Conqueror.

These storylines cemented Kang’s role as a recurring villain in the Marvel universe while also developing the concept of time travelling and that of an antagonist adopting several identities. It was later revealed that he was a descendant of Reed Richards, known as Nathaniel Richards.

His constant shenanigans through time-travel do make him a harder character to pin down and analyze because there are a lot of different timelines, which leads to having a lesser understanding of who he is and who the “right” Kang is. This is an element that Marvel Cinematic Universe has already explored, with the Kang of the Loki series and the one from the Ant-Man not being the same version of the character.

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Character and abilities

Kang's abilities are primarily based on his mastery of time travel and his advanced technology. He has access to a vast array of futuristic weapons and devices, as well as the ability to manipulate time itself. He can travel through time, control the flow of time, and even create alternate timelines and realities. Despite all this, Kang doesnt actually have any Super Powers per say. He is a normal power level humanoid, although with futuristic technology, he is able to shield and power up himself.

Kang vs Doom?

There are a lot in common between Kang the Conqueror and one of the most , Dr. Doom. Not only do they have genius-level intellects, but they are also egomaniacal rulers, they have a lot of arrogance and they tend to rely on their technology, although Doom has proven to be quite crafty with sorcery as well. During the Infinity War events in the comics in the early 90s they happened to team up, and the results were quite hilarious, giving us a sample how they similar they can be and how much they despise one another.

Another important aspect that is worth taking into account when analyzing Kang is that, while he doesn’t have any kind of power, he is capable of collecting a lot of powerful weapons from different periods of human history. He also has access to technology far more advanced due to him coming from the future, thus making him a very powerful adversary in the Marvel universe, even if he doesn’t stand out because of his physical strength.

The Kang Dynasty

Kang has been a running villain in the Marvel universe in the comics, mainly against the likes of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. And if there is a storyline that is widely regarded as the best featuring the character in a big role, it’s done that is apparently going to be adapted in the next Avengers movie, The Kang Dynasty.

This was an Avengers storyline that ran from 2001 to 2002 during Kurt Busiek’s legendary tenure, which features Kang going back to present Earth and conquering it, with our heroes having to find a way to stop him once and for all. It plays around with a lot of the concepts that have been established with the character over the years and it is widely regarded as one of the finest Avengers stories of all time.

Busiek himself did have this to say about the character of Kang for an article in Polygon:

“I think he works best when he isn’t treated as some generic time-traveling villain… Any story where Kang uses time travel to sneak around and set things up for him to win easily in some coming conflict seems to me to miss the point of the character. He doesn’t want easy. If he did he could have stayed at home.”

Kang is set to play a very big role as the next big villain of the Marvel Cinematic universe, taking over from Thanos in the aftermath of Infinity War and Endgame. The Kang Dynasty seems like a logical progression in the franchise and, after the events of Loki and Ant-Man, we cannot wait to see what the most iconic time-traveller in comics has to offer to the big screen.