Marvel’s Phase 4 has introduced Kang as a threat to the multiverse rather than just a time-traveling villain, and that avoids a huge Avengers: Secret Wars, which hints at Kang being the key to the MCU's multiverse.
In the Marvel comics, time travel and the multiverse are very different concepts. Characters like Mr. Fantastic and Doctor Doom are used to dealing both with multiple realities and alternate timelines, but there has always been a clear separation between those two concepts. In the MCU, however, the line between multiverse and time travel is a bit blurry. This has the potential to cause several problems for a number of key characters.
As the first Avengers movie in six years, The Kang Dynasty will have to feel as big as Endgame without replicating the story beats of the second highest-grossing movie of all time. The fact that Kang’s greatest weapon is his intellect rather than his strength already makes him different from Thanos, which will avoid comparisons between the two Avengers villains. However, Kang’s powers and background mean that The Kang Dynasty is expected to deal with time travel, something that Avengers: Endgame also dealt with. Fortunately, The Kang Dynasty can be more than just a time travel story thanks to the MCU making Kang a multiversal villain. Because of this change, the story can avoid feeling repetitious and can stand alone as the next chapter in the MCU.
Loki Made Kang A Multiversal Villain
While Loki that the idea of multiple realities in which there could be different versions of the same person was brought up. The problem is that, around a year earlier, Avengers: Endgame had established that traveling through time would necessarily create new realities. As such, the multiverse and time travel had become intertwined.
Therefore, once Kang The Conqueror was introduced in Loki through He Who Remains, the plans and the motivations of the time travel villain were now tied to the multiverse. In the comics, Kang uses his time travel technology and his knowledge of all human history to set up a future in which he will rule. In the MCU, however, it seems like the main Kang will try to conquer every possible alternate timeline/universe, thus making him a multiversal villain. This is confirmed by the fact that Avengers: The Kang Dynasty will be followed by Avengers: Secret Wars, the latter of which is inspired by the multiverse epic Secret Wars comic book. Although Kang appears in the Secret Wars comics, he is not one of the main characters in the original story.
Kang’s Time Travel Story Would Make Avengers 5 Too Similar To Endgame
If the MCU’s Kang was just a time travel-related villain, then Avengers: The Kang Dynasty would risk being too similar to Avengers: Endgame. After six years without Avengers: Infinity War and to slightly “reboot” the MCU. To make The Kang Dynasty another time-travel adventure would be to make the Avengers saga redundant, not to mention how time travel would risk becoming the MCU’s Deus ex Machina.
Obviously, how exactly The Kang Dynasty will play out is still a mystery. Still, linking Kang to Secret Wars is a refreshing take on the villain, and it allows The Kang Dynasty to be more than just a time travel story. Even if there is time travel involved in the next Avengers movie, the multiverse element and the prospect of seeing alternate versions of characters similar to what Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Madness did means that The Kang Dynasty can be different and perhaps even better than Endgame.
Kang As A Multiversal Villain Sets Up A More Interesting Secret Wars
A redefining comic book arc that wrapped up more than a decade's-worth of Marvel comics, the 2015 Secret Wars cannot be fully adapted in the MCU – nor it should be. Marvel Studios has proved several times that it doesn’t necessarily need to do one-on-one comic book adaptations for the films to work, and while Captain America: Civil War were significantly smaller than their comics counterparts, they worked in the context of the franchise. Even Infinity War and Endgame were significantly different from any comic book story involving Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet, and now the same can happen with Secret Wars.
The Secret Wars comic book is a Fantastic Four story as much as it is an Avengers story. Reed Richards and Doctor Doom are pillars of the saga, and an argument could be made that they were the main characters. However, in the MCU, that would not work. The Earth-616 Fantastic Four is expected to debut a few months before Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars, which means the MCU’s Secret Wars will have to be more than just Reed and Doom. That is why it is a great decision to add Kang to the multiverse story that will lead to Secret Wars.
