Favorite Characters: Kang the Conqueror (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

*DISCLAIMER: the news has only recently come out, but it was saddening to hear about the allegations against Jonathan Majors. I'm not going to join the speculation train for what this might mean for the MCU. I just hope this victim and any others receive the support they need.*

*Quantumania spoilers.*

One of the best parts of the latest Ant-Man and the Wasp film is its villain, making his big splash as the MCU’s newest Big Bad (sort of—more on that later.) Even though we already glimpsed one Kang at the end of Loki’s first season, Quantumania gives us a memorable introduction to another.

When the Ant-Man/Wasp crew get pulled into the Quantum Realm, they’re pulled into a micro-universe cruelly ruled by an outsider—someone who, like Janet, wound up there by accident years ago. He has a history in the Quantum Realm with Janet, and for a time, she helped him try to fix his damaged multiverse-traveling craft in the hopes that he could get them both home. But once she realized his true character, she understood that her own freedom wasn’t worth unleashing Kang back on the multiverse.

So who is this version of Kang? As per his title, he’s a conqueror, traveling to different universes and taking them over, building tyrannical empires wherever he goes. A council of his own Variants conspired to trap him in the Quantum Realm, ridding the multiverse of his warfare and insatiable lust for power.

Janet is able to stop Kang from escaping, but not before she’s helped him repair enough of his ship that he has the technology to take over the Quantum Realm. I don’t recall if it’s ever stated when this happened in relation to Janet’s rescue at the end of Ant-Man and the Wasp, but by the time we return to the micro universe in Quantumania, it’s been thoroughly subjugated by Kang. He has a palace, ships, and a robot army to do his bidding, and they keep the people of the Quantum Realm under his brutal thumb.

One thing I really enjoy about Kang is that, as a villain, he’s both larger-than-life and remarkably understated. His power, intelligence, and abilities are enormous, such that he was only ever stopped initially by other versions of himself. Bringing Scott, Hope, and co. into direct conflict with him really feels like sending this group of characters up to the big leagues. But at the same time, his manner is uncompromisingly tyrannical and yet somehow also unassuming. He often speaks quietly and calmly. It’s an assurance, maybe, that comes from his power—he doesn’t really have to throw his weight around because his many resources will do it for him. His rage is threaded through every fiber of him, but it simmers under his skin, only rarely bubbling over to the point that he raises his voice or lashes out.

Given all this, it’s kind of disappointing that Scott, Hope, and the others are actually able to dispatch him. It gives the end of the film a somewhat anticlimactic feel, and it takes some of the air out of Kang’s sails that a second-string Avengers teams could seemingly take him down in a single movie. But the credits scenes confirm that Kang’s place as the MCU’s new Big Bad doesn’t exist within a character. Rather, it exists within an entire line, as we see the whole Council of Kangs convening to react to recent events. I’m of two minds about that going forward. On the one hand, I don’t doubt Jonathan Majors’ ability to make each Kang distinct while still feeling like variations of the same man. On the other, if Marvel isn’t careful, the next few phases could start to feel like a game of whack-a-mole with Kangs. I hope they’re thoughtful as they go into the coming films.

Character Highlight: He Who Remains (Loki)

*Spoilers for the Loki season 1 finale.*

Obviously, Kang is going to be a greater MCU presence in Phase 4. He’s already been announced for Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and with the multiversal rumblings that Loki kicked off, who knows where else he might pop up or in what form(s). All of which is to say, I’ll sure I’ll have plenty more to write about him later, and based on Jonathan Majors’ brief but stellar performance in the season 1 finale of Loki, it’s likely to be a Favorite Characters post. But I did want to sneak in here and give a write-up to this first version of the character we’re introduced to.

Loki and Sylvie go through it in the back half of season 1, to put it mildly. Both variants are pruned and sent to the dumping ground of time, whereupon they enchant a hungry alien smoke monster guarding the estate of the person behind the Time Keepers. The one running the TVA from the shadows, the one who orchestrated the Sacred Timeline and decided that these versions of Loki and Sylvie have no place in it. Together, they step through the break in the fabric of the universe to confront the person who dares to deem their lives erasable.

And who do they find there? He doesn’t name himself as Kang, not then and there. He throws out the notion that he’s had a number of different names, but here at the end of time, he’s merely He Who Remains. He tells Loki and Sylvie of his earlier life, where his brilliant mind discovered the multiverse and ways to reach other timelines. The problem, he explained, was that his similarly-brilliant counterparts in those universes had much the same idea, and chaos ensued across the multiverse as his variants battled one another for dominance. He Who Remains then created the Sacred Timeline, reducing the multiverse down to a single stream in which any rogue variations from his design get pruned away, so as not to branch off into new timelines and recreate those others worlds that would again lead to a war with himself.

It’s more complex than a simple despot at the end of time orchestrating events as he wishes. If he’s to be believed, He Who Remains is trying to prevent untold suffering, and to do so, he’s exiled himself here that he might rightly steer the course of time. But of course, to maintain this peace and order, he’s pruned away free will, erasing any timeline that strays too far from his design and erasing incalculable lives and worlds in the process. Also, this arrangement conveniently leaves him as the last version of himself standing: he’s conquered all his variants because he keeps them from existing. Loki worries that removing He Who Remains, freeing the timeline to branch as it will, will bring about the war and chaos that He Who Remains warns them about, but Sylvie argues that safety can’t be bought at the cost of freedom.

We’ll see what happens to the MCU now that Sylvie has killed He Who Remains and the multiverse is again unfurling. We’ll see what chaos rises from it and how much more dangerous any assorted variants of Kang may prove to be. But I really like that we met him first in this version, a lonely king of time entertaining the guests who’ve come to kill him with a slightly manic energy, making his case for the Sacred Timeline but not actively trying to stop them. He’s someone arrogant, someone intelligent, someone weary, someone who’s drawn the map of things to come and moves through life with the confidence of a man who knows everything. Majors’ engaging performance made the exposition-heavy season finale feel dynamic and exciting, and I’m left anticipating the emergence of Kang and any other variants into the MCU. I really don’t know what to expect, other than that it’s going to be good!