All about Kang: Who is he and why is he so terrifying?

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has introduced a new villain with a thirst for destroying universes: Kang the Conqueror, played by Jonathan Majors. He made his debut in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, but this isn’t the last we’ll see of him.

But who is, what is his history, and why should we all be scared? Will we be seeing Dr. Doom, who is rumored to be the same person as Kang, or at least a direct descendant depending on the timeline? What variants of Kang will we see next?

SPOILER WARNING: I will be discussing details of Ant-Man 3 as well as Marvel Comics in general. Let’s get started!

Who is Kang?

Kang, originally known as Nathaniel Richards, is a time-traveling super genius who uses 31st century science and technology to destroy and rule over universes. He’s responsible for creating multiple timelines, as every time he travels through time, he creates a new variant of himself and causes more chaos. If that doesn’t scream “perfect supervillain material,” I don’t know what does.

Who are all those different Kangs we saw on Quantumania?

The most well-known Kang variants from the Marvel universe are Kang the Conqueror, He Who Remains, Immortus, Iron Lad, Rama Tut, Victor Tiimely, Scarlet Centurion, Victorex Prime, and Chronomonitor #616. We met He Who Remains in the first season of Loki; he was a relatively benevolent incarnation of Kang trying to keep his more chaotic variants in check.

Ant-Man 3 has Ant-Man face off against Kang the Conqueror, although we see Rama Tut, Immortus, and possibly Scarlet Centurion in the mid-credit scene. They form a body known as the Council of Kangs. We learn that not only are there thousands of Kang variants, but they were the ones who put Kang the Conqueror in exile in the Quantum Realm to begin with to keep him from taking over and ultimately destroying every other Kang’s universe.

In the post-credit scene, we see Loki absolutely terrified of a man named Victor Timely, who establishes the town of Timely, Wisconsin in 1901 and becomes an industrial opponent to Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. He has no superpowers other than being a genius, and the fact that he can use technology from far in the future. He is, of course, another Kang variant…or possibly one we’ve already met, it isn’t clear.

All these variants overlap and are created whenever Nathaniel Richards travels through time, which brings us back to what He Who Remains tells Loki and Sylvie in the season finale of Loki:

"Without me, without the TVA, everything burns."

He Who Remains is a variant of Kang who, in an attempt to keep reality as we know it intact, killed as many Kang variants he could find along with their worlds, creating the TVA and the Sacred Timeline to keep incursions and variants from happening. When Sylvie kills him at the end of Loki season 1, she sets the Kang Dynasty in motion, teased when Loki gets back to the TVA after this interaction and finds a statue of Kang the Conqueror.

But didn’t Ant-Man kill Kang the Conqueror?

Well, we don’t know. For all we know, Kang the Conqueror could be stuck even deeper within the Quantum Realm. Or dead. We don’t know.

In the comics, after being defeated by the Avengers in Avengers #8 (1963), Kang escapes and travels back to the 1900s under the alias of Victor Timely. There’s nothing stopping the MCU from having Kang escape the second tier of Quantum Realm exile and going back to the 1900s. The presence of Victor Timely suggests something like this could have happened. Maybe that’s what they’re setting up for?

Whatever’s going on, Loki is absolutely terrified of it. We should be afraid, too.

Why is Kang such a terrifying villain?

Nathaniel Richards is a genius; it’s like combining Tony Stark, Stephen Strange and Bruce Banner into one being. All his variants are geniuses as well. He has an infinite number of variants throughout the universes, some spawned directly by Richards, and others who became a Kang on their own.

That level of intelligence, plus the incredibly advanced technology, plus the time-traveling, plus the sheer number of variants he’s created, makes Kang very formidable. Thanos was scary and a big threat with the Infinity Stones. Kang is terrifying because hardly anyone can match his technology in order to put up a fight.

When can we expect to see Kang again?

It’s safe to assume we’ll be seeing a good amount of Kang and his variants scattered among the DIsney+ series Loki and the movies of Phase 5 and 6. Even if not directly seen in all the movies, Kang will most definitely be an influential force leading up to the next Avengers movies: The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars.

Oh, and fun fact: in the comics one of Kang’s variants falls in love with a variant of Ravonna Renslayer. Maybe we’ll get to see some variant romance stories?

There’s also a good chance we’ll see variants of some of our favorite heroes. The multiverse saga presents an opportunity to introduce heroes we love but haven’t seen much of yet, like the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.

What happens between Kang’s introduction and the end of Phase 6 remains to be seen, but we can expect it’ll be absolute chaos.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels