writers and directors can't agree how time travel works.
Marvel Comics learned this lesson long ago with the character of Kang the Conqueror. Introduced back in 1964, Kang is a future warlord who desires to conquer all of time and space. His empire is centered in a realm outside of time called Limbo. Marvel Studios is set to introduce Kang in Jonathan Majors - and naturally the comics are eager to synergize on the villain's big-screen debut. The problem is, though, that in the comics Kang's story is a mess of contradictions. He's doubled back on his own timeline many times, waged war on other incarnations of himself, created countless time loops and parallel timelines, and even come close to destroying all of time on occasion.
It seems Marvel Comics is trying to sort the chaos out in the first Kang the Conqueror miniseries, which will launch in August and unravel the mystery of Kang. Here's the full solicitation and preview art:
- KANG THE CONQUEROR #1 (of 5)
- COLLIN KELLY & JACKSON LANZING (W) • CARLOS MAGNO (A)
- Cover by MIKE DEL MUNDO
- VARIANT COVER BY RYAN STEGMAN
- VARIANT COVER BY SKOTTIE YOUNG
- HEADSHOT VARIANT COVER BY TODD NAUCK
- THE ORIGIN OF KANG!
- The man called Kang the Conqueror has been a pharaoh, a villain, a warlord of the space ways and even, on rare occasions, a hero. Across all timelines, one fact seemed absolute: Time means nothing to Kang the Conqueror.
- But the truth is more complex. Kang is caught in an endless cycle of creation and destruction dictated by time and previously unseen by any but the Conqueror himself. A cycle that could finally explain the enigma that is Kang. And a cycle that begins and ends with an old and broken Kang sending his younger self down a dark path…
- 40 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99
According to Kelly, Kang the Conqueror isn't just an origin story; it's a life story, and it will spin from the last days of the Cretaceous Period to the war-torn world of Jack Kirby's year 4,000. It will focus on Kang's humanity, exploring his love of the enigmatic Ravonna Renslayer - who's due to make her own MCU debut in Loki - and the depths of Kang's self-hatred. The solicitation is fascinating because it suggests the miniseries will essentially present Kang as a man who is no master of his own destiny, but rather one who is caught up in a paradox. Kang becomes the man he is because he has met his future self, and desperately desires to be someone - anyone - else.
Eternals. It makes sense to take this approach for Kang the Conqueror as well, a villain whose history and continuity is absolutely chaotic as a result of well over 50 years of time travel stories.
