Who is Kang and what did he conquer?

Kang the Conqueror/Immortus makes his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the last episode of Loki. I didn’t care for this show. I liked the first episode but I quickly lost interest. I don’t care about Sylvie or the relationship between Loki and Luke (or is it Owen?) Wilson. The pace of the show was mired in molasses at times with a lot of Significant Looks that were held a beat too long. Plus Loki was curiously underpowered for a Norse god. I know he was powerless in the grip of the Tennessee Valley Authority but once free of the TVA, the only things he really did were throw a few energy bolts and conjure a blanket. This show just didn’t grab me. But anyway.

 

I’m in a holding pattern this week at work so I’ll briefly explain the long and twisted history of Kang. He debuted way back in Avengers #8 in 1964 and since then, he’s been the team’s foremost nemesis, even more so than Loki or Thanos. He’s a regular human with no powers but does have access to a time machine and advanced technology. Kang has taken on several different identities over the years.

 

Kang’s real name is Nathaniel Richards and he is an apparent descendant of Reed Richards’s father, also named Nathaniel. Kang was born in the 31^st century and to liven up the tedium in his life, sought out Dr. Doom’s time machine and traveled back to ancient Egypt in a ship shaped like the Sphinx. There he took on the identity of Pharaoh Rama-Tut and was defeated by the Fantastic Four, who were unstuck in time themselves. (This was about a year before Kang’s debut so his first appearance in publishing history was as Rama-Tut in Fantastic Four #19.) 

 

Kang ends up traveling into the 41^st century and conquers an already troubled Earth. He decides he wants to conquer a less war-torn planet so he travels back to the 20^th century and battles the Avengers, who defeat him. He returns to battle the team repeatedly and becomes involved in the search for the Celestial Madonna, who turned out to be the Avengers ally Mantis, who was destoned to birth a powerful child (a story that went nowhere). Kang ended up falling in love with Ravonna, a subject from one of his conquered worlds who later fell in love with him.

 

There was that time when it was revealed that Kang had been manipulating Iron Man from the beginning, and caused Iron Man to betray the Avengers and nearly kill the Wasp. This led to Iron Man being replaced by “teen Tony” from an earlier point in the timestream. Everybody hated this story and it has mercifully been forgotten.

 

Aside from Rama-Tut, Kang also assumed the identity of the Scarlet Centurion and fought the Avengers. His son Marcus later became the Scarlet Centurion. Kang’s other aspect is Immortus, basically an elderly Kang. The young Kang resents who he becomes as an old man, subservient to the Time Keepers. (Technically, the character in Loki may actually be Immortus, since it’s the end of the timestream and his costume is flowy like Immortus’ costume. However, the design of the statue at the end of the episode is pure Kang.)

 

So with all the time travel, Kang has split into many versions of himself. This tracks with Loki’s variant theory. There’s basically a whole lot to Kang’s history and I don’t even understand all of it.

 

Of course, there was that time when Kang actually conquered present-day Earth for a time. He warned the Avengers about the possible terrible futures they faced (everyone irradiated and dying, the Avengers being replaced by Ultron versions of themselves, etc.) and announced he would take control of the planet to keep it safe from those possible futures. He fought a vicious war against the Avengers with the help of the villainous tribes of the world, like the Atlanteans and the Deviant Inhumans.

 

This story started in Avengers comics in 2001 and ran for over a year, with many subplots and long-running stories getting resolved in the larger story. Usually, comics have a blurb on the cover saying “Part 1 of 6” or whatever. But the Kang story just went on and on and on, which was kind of cool since it mimicked a real war in that nobody knew when it would end. After a long battle, Kang nuked Washington, DC (which made Thor snap and leave the team since he couldn’t take the grief of surviving the attack when so many civilians died) and forced a surrender. The president of the United States went to sign the articles of surrender but Kang instead made then–Avengers chair the Wasp sign, just to stick the knife in further. Earth rebelled against their conqueror and it ended with Captain America punching out Kang in outer space.

 

The weird thing was, no other Marvel comic referenced the fact that Earth had been conquered, and nobody ever referenced this story again. You think you’d remember a thing like that.