| “ | You came to kill the devil, right? Well, guess what? I keep you safe. And if you think I'm evil, well, just wait till you meet my variants. | „ |
| ~ He Who Remains, one of Kang the Conqueror's noblest variants, warning Loki Laufeyson and Sylvie Laufeydottir about the threat Kang poses to the Multiverse. |
| “ | Let me make this easy for you. You will bring me what I need. Or, I will kill your daughter in front of you. Then, make you relive that moment. Over and over again, in time, endlessly. Until you beg me to kill you. Do we understand? | „ |
| ~ Kang the Conqueror's most infamous quote while extorting Ant-Man. |
Kang the Conqueror, formerly known as Victor Timely, is the overarching antagonist of the Disney+ series Loki and the main antagonist of the 2023 film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
He started out as a 31st century scientist from the Earth who came into contact with variants of himself from various universes stacked up on top of his own. However, rather than sharing his knowledge with his alternate selves, Kang desired control over all the universes, leading to the Multiversal War, which culminated with a well-intentioned variant known as the He Who Remains founding the Time Variance Authority to keep the Sacred Timeline steady.
He was portrayed by Jonathan Majors.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
In General/Background[]
- While most of his variants got along with each other and shared different kinds of knowledge to benefit each other's universes, Kang desired control over all of them, seeking to restructure all of time in a orderly time stream under his rule.
- To that end, he unleashed a reign of terror across the Multiverse, destroying multiple realities and timelines in an attempt to burn his variants out of time and be the sole remaining Kang, which lead to countless casualties.
- This resulted in the major cataclysmic event known as the Multiversal War where he and his other varaints rampaged across the Multiverse to annihilate other realities for the supremacy of their own.
- Kang even stated to Scott Lang that he killed so many variants of the Avengers, including some versions of Thor Odinson, that he lost count of those who he had killed, blurring them together.
- This resulted in the major cataclysmic event known as the Multiversal War where he and his other varaints rampaged across the Multiverse to annihilate other realities for the supremacy of their own.
- To that end, he unleashed a reign of terror across the Multiverse, destroying multiple realities and timelines in an attempt to burn his variants out of time and be the sole remaining Kang, which lead to countless casualties.
- His destructive actions even horrified some of his variants, namely Immortus, the Scarlet Centurion and Rama-Tut, that they opted to banish Kang into the subatomic Quantum Realm by sabotaging his ship and leaving him stranded there for several decades.
- His and his variants' actions caused the timeline to fracture across the Multiverse, leading to He Who Remains, one of his only affable variants, to found the Time Variance Authority, a timeline-monitoring organization which prevented timelines from branching from the Sacred Timeline, including pruning any variants and sending them to the Void, where they were killed by Alioth.
- Most of these variants were only pruned for doing things not dictated by the Sacred Timeline, like those of an alternate Loki Laufeyson and Sylvie Laufeydottir, as well as Deadpool and an alternate Wolverine.
- Although he befriended Janet van Dyne upon becoming stranded on the Quantum Realm, Kang quickly turned against her when she realized his true nature and destroyed his Multiversal Power Core with Pym Particle Discs, leaving both of them stranded on the Quantum Realm in real-life decades.
- Not only was this catastrophic for Kang's plans, but this also robbed van Dyne from most of her life: by using the Pym Particle Discs to enlarge the Multiversal Power Core into uselessness, Janet was unable to leave the Quantum Realm and resigned herself to live there forever, unable to see her husband Hank Pym and her daughter Hope move on from her until she was rescued by the former thirty-one years later.
- While Kang promised to give her the time she lost with Hank and Pym back with his powers, this was likely out of pragmatism to ensure her assistance on his escape, not to mention that Janet getting her reward would have become moot as Kang was planning to destroy her timeline anyway.
- Using his futuristic resources and knowledge and amassing a large army of Quantumnauts, he conquered and ruled the Quantum Realm with an iron fist, destroying many existing civilizations, displacing several of the natives from their homes in Axia and forcing several others, like those with Jentorra, to live in living parasites to serve as their buildings.
- His dominance over the realm would eventually lead Krylar to desert the Freedom Fighters, a resistance movement led by Jentorra and one which Janet herself participated in, and join Kang, showcasing how dangerous he was.
- He also killed several of the Freedom Fighters over the years.
- While he did save the life of a mutilated and shrunken Darren Cross, who was sent to the Quantum Realm after Ant-Man messed with his Yellowjacket to shrink himself, he only did it because he though Darren would be of use to him. He then put him in a hoverchair with a robotic suit, renaming him M.O.D.O.K. (Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing) and making him his personal enforcer and weapons manufacturer.
- Despite the useful intel of the outside world that M.O.D.O.K. could tell him Kang had little to no respect for his underling, flinging him with his telekinetic powers if he dared to interrupt him.
- While the heinous standards of the MCU are high, Kang stands out due to his large kill count and is one of the most ruthless villains in the franchise due to his worst crime of causing the Multiversal War, which led to countless of casualties and destroyed realities while showing that he is far more sadistic and a much bigger threat than his comic book counterpart.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania[]
- Sends M.O.D.O.K. to capture Scott and Cassie Lang from Krylar to take Janet back to him once the Langs and the Pyms accidentally send themselves into the Quantum Realm while experimenting with Pym Particles.
- This leads to the deaths of several of Jentorra's Freedom Fighters and a scuffle that claims some lives at the Axian restaurant where the Pyms were dining with Krylar and his entourage.
- Has M.O.D.O.K. take the Langs to his own Axian citadel, imprisoning both father and daughter in separate dungeons.
- Blackmails Ant-Man into assisting him on retrieving the Multiversal Power Core so he can resume his conquering campaign by threatening Scott to kill Cassie in front of his eyes and then force him to relive the moment endlessly again and again until he begged to die, forcing Lang to comply.
- Though he does stop one of his guards from shooting Cassie dead, he only did it so he could continue using her life as leverage against Scott.
- Turns back on his deal with Ant-Man due to the prospect of being able to conquer more worlds beyond the Quantum Realm with his Multiversal Power Core back.
- Tells Janet about his intentions to burn all his variants for exiling him and making him lose so much (though he never specifically says what did he lose), uncaring at the countless lives he will have to wipe out to achieve so, affirming that he doesn't care for them.
- Sends M.O.D.O.K. to kill Cassie after she hacks his screens and tells all of the Quantum Realm's population to strike back against Kang.
- Resolves to kill Ant-Man, his daughter and the Pym family so he can procceed to escape from the Quantum Realm when they keep attacking his citadel, resulting in the deaths of both Jentorra's right-hand Xolum and M.O.D.O.K., who had had a change of heart by then.
- Spitefully prevents Ant-Man from using the portal back to the outside world and tries to kill him with his own hands for messing with his plans and taunting him that he can't win the battle, resulting in Ant-Man using the Pym Particles discs on his timechair's energy core to deprive Kang from his time-traveling technology before knocking him with the Wasp's assistance into the core, which shrinks and absorbs Kang to his well-deserved death.
Trivia[]
- Despite Kang the Conqueror being Pure Evil, Jonathan Majors expressed during the premiere of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania his opinion about both Kang and the He Who Remains being able to feel genuine empathy no matter how destructive Kang's goals are. However, as Kang's sympathy for Ant-Man was solely to manipulate him, Kang qualifies as Pure Evil.
- He is the only characterization of Kang the Conqueror to be Pure Evil.
- Particularly, Immortus is considered one of the most noble variants of Kang in the comic books, being a lot more wiser than the rest and only forming the Council of Kangs to ensure that they would destroy each other. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Immortus actually leads the Council and it's the He Who Remains the one who has his noble qualities from the source material, hence why the MCU's He Who Remains is Inconsistently Heinous.
- In two interviews with Entertainment Weekly, Jonathan Majors affirmed his conviction that Kang the Conqueror's complexity resembles that to Iago from Othello and the Joker from The Dark Knight, which is very fitting, as both Iago and the Nolanverse's Joker are similarly Pure Evil.
- In an interview with Backstory Magazine, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania writer Jeff Loveness hinted at the possibility that Kang may have some sort of connection to the Ten Rings due to his technology. If it were confirmed that he was somewhat responsible for the Mandarin's crimes, this would make Kang even worse.
- Originally, he was set to be the main antagonist of the MCU's Multiverse Saga. However, after poor critical and box office performances of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in addition to the legal drama involving Majors behind the scenes, the franchise pivoted in a new direction, and Victor Von Doom was made the new antagonist of the upcoming Avengers films.
- Had Kang and his variants remained the overarching antagonists of the saga, there's a chance Kang's status could have changed, potentially becoming more or less heinous, depending on if he were given redeeming qualities and/or a tragic past, which would disqualify him from Pure Evil.
External Links[]
- Kang the Conqueror on the Villains Wiki
- Kang the Conqueror on the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki
- Kang the Conqueror on the Wikipedia
