Kang the Conquerer is set to be the villain of Kang is often regarded as the only villain who has truly beaten the Avengers, so his role in the MCU cannot possibly be solved in a single movie to utilize him correctly. Instead, he’s likely to become the looming threat of at least an entire phase, opening doors for future projects that deal with his mission of conquest through time.
Kang the Conquerer began as Nathaniel Richards in the 30th century of a different Earth, a brutal and war-torn time, and brought peace to his century through conquest. However, then he discovered a time machine and decided to use it to find more worlds to conquer. Since then, he has become an ever-more-complicated antagonist in multiple time periods, traveling throughout history to recruit heroes into his army, find new technology, and generally take over the world. Kang has incredible powers thanks to his journeying through time, and he is an expert tactician, no villain to underestimate.
To make things worse for the Avengers, he is almost impossible to defeat. Even if he is beaten or destroyed in one movie, he could still pop up again in the next. Because of all his meddling in time, multiple alternate versions of him can exist at once, and he has taken on and shed various other identities like Immortus, the Scarlet Centurion, Pharaoh Rama-Tut, Iron Lad, and Kid Immortus. He does not follow any time travel rules and frequently interacts with his own history, often causing those alternate versions and different identities in the process. His multiple identities even sometimes end up fighting on different sides of the same conflict. As such a powerful and elusive villain, Kang can change the MCU significantly in Phase 5.
Since he is such a lasting villain, more lasting than even Thanos, he opens up unlimited possibilities of time travel in the MCU, creating room for Marvel to delve into historical projects at any time in the future. Kang’s elusive nature means the Avengers will likely be dealing with his mission or the fallout from it for years, and multiple actors could portray him over the years if necessary because of his various guises. Kang could be the catalyst for movies and shows across historical periods in the phase that is sure to focus on him.
Related: Ant-Man 3 Is The Perfect Young Avengers Movie (Because Of Kang)
Why Kang Will Time Travel In The MCU
It’s unclear yet how Kang’s mission to conquer history will come into the MCU so far, but the most likely explanation is that the time travel in Avengers: Endgame will attract Kang’s attention. The branching timelines the Avengers created while interfering in the past might create an irresistible opportunity for Kang to insert himself into their time. In addition, they are time-traveling using the Quantum Realm, which is likely the MCU’s version of Limbo, the realm outside of time that one of Kang’s identities rules in the comics. Since Ant-Man and his allies are now experimenting more in the Quantum Realm, they may find themselves up against Kang because of their use of one of his conquests. Depending on how much they change Kang’s backstory, he may not have been able to invade their time until their quantum meddling. Once they give him a reason or the means to visit their time, Kang could easily get involved in the history of any of the Avengers or Earth itself to take over or stymie the heroes.
Alternatively, Kang could start his mission because of another Endgame loose end: Loki. During his show, Loki could bring Kang into the MCU through his work with the Time Variance Authority, the organization responsible for managing all the realities of the multiverse. Loki might accidentally attract Kang with his own intrusions in time or take action against the TVA. The TVA’s power may be keeping Kang in check for now, but if the TVA was stopped in its purpose, Kang could wreak havoc with no one but the usual heroes (and antiheroes) to stop him. The releases will reveal the reasons why Kang is just now coming into play, but once he arrives, he will be there to stay for a while, only looking for new worlds and new times to rule.
Marvel Promised "New Time Periods"
Marvel promised that future movies will expand into different worlds and new time periods, and Kang the Conqueror fits perfectly into that plan. His mission is a doorway into increased time travel; if he leaves the present to meddle in Earth’s history, the story has to follow. The current Marvel projects continue the fallout from Endgame, but Kang will be a giant new problem all to himself. The next phase could commit entirely to dealing with his fallout, chasing Kang through worlds and times to stop his plans. Especially with Marvel’s recent expansion in TV shows that focus on stories unlikely to get a theatrical movie release, the next phase could vary time periods greatly from project to project.
Kang Can Lead To MCU Movies In The Past That Tie To His Mission
Kang has a limitless ambition to conquer through history, so any time period Marvel wants to explore could become part of his mission for Phase 4 and onwards. Marvel could use that opportunity to create projects around any number of periods that have been referenced but little explored. He could bring back heroes that have been left behind when stories shifted to the present, like the Howling Commandos or Hank Pym’s Ant-Man. He could dive into the histories of immortal heroes, such as running up against Thor and Loki’s Viking-related past. Marvel also has several important historical or alternate history storylines waiting to be adapted from the comics in addition to the historical periods introduced in the movies. The opportunities for historical projects are endless once Kang s the MCU, and Ant-Man 3 is just the beginning.
