The debut of The Multiverse Saga’s main antagonist is almost upon us! Following Jonathan Majors’ outing as Kang variant He Who Remains in the Loki Season 1 finale, the Creed III actor will make his first appearance as the main version of Kang the Conqueror next month in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Like his comic book counterpart, Majors’ Kang is an intelligent strategist with “dominion over time,” but Quantumania writer Jeff Loveness shared that there was an aspect of Avengers: Endgame which required him to change the MCU’s version of Kang in a particular way.
Thanks to Scott Lang being spit out of the Quantum Realm after five years of being trapped in there, even though for him it was only five hours, the starring heroes in Avengers: Endgame were able to take advantage of time passing differently in that other dimension and embarked on the Time Heist, where they acquired past versions of the Infinity Stones. Because Endgame made use of time travel, Jeff Loveness was forced to tweak Kang the Conqueror for the MCU, telling SFX Magazine (via CBR):
I haven’t seen a time-traveling character done with such intricacy and exploration. I’m a little bummed because Endgame did so much time travel, so you almost need to broaden him out a little bit too, maybe broaden out into the multiverse a little more, the dimensionality of the character, the limitless freedom he has while also being completely uprooted from his time and himself. Is it just going to all fall apart again because another version of him can destroy it as well? What’s the purpose of building Rome if you are going to burn it down the next day, because they want to have their own Rome?
The Kang the Conqueror from the Marvel Comics universe usually limits his scheme to just one timeline, i.e. how events unfold across Earth-616, and the different versions of Kang we’ve seen, like Rama-Tut and Immortus, are just variations of him from that same timeline rather than doppelgängers/variants from other universes. But because Avengers: Endgame had already prominent featured time travel, Jeff Loveness decided to incorporate a multiversal aspect to Kang. That then begs the question of how much we’ll see Majors’ Kang traveling through time vs. traveling to other realities in the coming years.
Jeff Loveness’ statement also makes it sound like other versions of Kang the Conqueror could surface to cause trouble in other upcoming Marvel movies and TV shows. In fact, with Loveness also writing Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, perhaps he’s moving pieces into place to have other Kangs fight Earth’s Mightiest Heroes alongside the main version. As Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is concerned, the threequel will see Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang crossing paths with the villain in the Quantum Realm. While Kang will initially try to reach an arrangement with the superhero that benefits them both, as seen in the most recent Quantumania trailer, eventually these two will come to blows.
Kang the Conqueror hits the MCU scene when Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania comes out on February 17, and while Avengers: The Kang Dynasty doesn’t hit theaters until May 2, 2025, it’s a good bet will pop up in a few other projects before then. Remember to use your Disney+ subscription to stream the Marvel movies in order and check out this franchise’s original TV shows.
