Kang May Conquer—but Who Conquers Him?
Kang the Conqueror officially entered into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in Loki in 2021 as the variant He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors). On February 17, 2023, he made his highly anticipated return as another more brutal and domineering Kang variant in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quautumania. After seeing his power displayed throughout the film and in the exciting post-credits scene, some viewers may be wondering how the MCU’s heroes are going to stop this threat.
Even though Kang is human and has no intrinsic superpowers, he is one of Marvel’s most powerful villains and one of the very few who succeeded in world domination. The reason he is so powerful is largely due to his intelligence. He has a genius-level intellect that is on par with that of his ancestor, Reed Richards, who was considered the smartest man in the world. As a result, he’s a master strategist and inventor who succeeded in time traveling.
Considering he originally comes from the 31st century, his technology is already far superior to anything in the present day. However, time travel gives him further access to technology and resources from any period and any universe. Plus, his travels have resulted in him creating countless variants across the multiverse. With intellect, weaponry, time travel abilities, and experience, he seems nearly unstoppable. Yet, he definitely does face defeat in Marvel Comics.
Who defeats Kang the Conqueror in Marvel Comics?
The thing about Kang is that, even though he’s a powerful villain, his victories are almost always short-lived. He has faced numerous humiliating defeats, as have many of his variants across the multiverse. So, technically he has been defeated a lot of times by a lot of different heroes. However, one of the most popular Kang storylines is Kang Dynasty, which seems to be the inspiration for the upcoming MCU film, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
In Kang Dynasty, Kang and his son, Marcus (a.k.a. Scarlet Centurion), succeed in invading the earth in a massive spaceship called Damocles Base. Although the Avengers rise to confront him, they are forced to surrender after he uses technology to begin devastating the country and killing millions. It doesn’t take long for Kang to begin invading other parts of the world, and he soon achieves world domination. However, the Avengers continue to secretly form a plan and eventually decide to target Damocles Base. After succeeding in bringing down the ship in a crashlanding, Kang is defeated by Captain America, who spares his life and imprisons him.
While Captain America (Chris Evans) is no longer in the MCU, due to returning to the past to be with Peggy (Haley Atwell), it is likely that the Kang Dynasty storyline will still be loosely followed in the MCU and feature the Avengers taking down Kang, possibly lead by Sam Wilson as Captain America. However, as said above, numerous heroes have defeated some variant of Kang in countless stories, including Ahura Boltagon, Havok, the X-Men, Hulk, Moon Knight, and Scarlet Witch. Even Squirrel Girl defeated Kang at one point. So, even though the Avengers most iconically defeated Kang in Kang Dynasty, pretty much anyone in the Marvel universe can also defeat Kang.
(featured image: Marvel Comics)
Have a tip we should know? tips@themarysue.com
