Kang’s New Adventure Proves the MCU Is Right To Change His Origin
In Fantastic Four #35, Kang the Conqueror’s newest adventure proves that the MCU was right to change his origins for Marvel’s Loki. Rather than facing the same version of himself on different points of the same timeline (leading to confusing paradoxes and pointless conflict), the MCU’s Kang is instead dealing with variants from different timelines and realities, which will make potential coming conflicts much more dynamic and interesting as a result. In contrast, the latest gathering of Kangas in Marvel Comics only serves to make Kang himself look foolish.
In Marvel’s Loki, the God of Mischief and his variant Sylvie encountered He Who Remains, the being behind the TVA, whose variants include Kang the Conqueror and other versions from different timelines. However, while he had managed to keep his variants included to prevent another multiversal war, Sylvie murdering He Who Remains has potentially led to Kang the Conqueror altering the sacred timeline so that he directly controls the TVA instead, marking the beginning of new multiversal mayhem in the MCU. While this isn’t exactly simple, the idea of many different versions of Kang fighting for supremacy is more suited to cinematic storytelling than the current status quo in the comics, where Kang competes with his time-displaced selves (who will one day become him), some of which are no longer technically part of his timeline.
In the new Fantastic Four #35 from writer Dan Slott and artist John Romita Jr., various versions of Kang from across the primary timeline gather, including Rama-Tut, Scarlet Centurion, Immortus, the current Kang the Conqueror, and the future Kang known as Scion (who’s just Reed Richards disguised as the villain.) These Kangas ceaselessly bicker and throw insults at one another, while constantly reminding each other that they all share the same accomplishments and failures, and are mostly just insulting themselves. Furthermore, none of them can assassinate the others without risking their validity. It makes for a low stakes interaction in which Kang constantly explains time travel to a gaggle of other time travellers, always aware his resentment sets are foolish but never willing to let them go. It’s always been fun to see heroes drop into different points in Kang’s timeline, but throwing him together with his past selves is a confusing mess the MCU is wise to avoid.
Essentially, this issue serves as the perfect example for why the MCU’s variant theory for Kang is a much better option narratively, being simpler and easier to grasp while also being more engaging seeing as how they can compete with one another with elevated stakes conflict. Having all the Kangas on one timeline only results in confusing contradictions (like Kang and Immortus’ relationship, where Immortus was Kang, but Kang has vowed not to become Immortus) as well as the tired gimmick of their toothless bickering.
All in all, Kang is an impressive villain (on his own), but his conflicts with his past and future versions have been thoroughly explored in past stories, and Kang is now so familiar with the other-selves that they behave additional like bad-natured siblings than a cross-time tyrant meeting his before mistakes. The issue ends with Kang and his former selves being led off by the TVA like common mobsters, and the twist that Kang’s timeline is so muddled that Mister Fantastic can pose as his fortune self without being detected. As such, the MCU made the right call using variants when introducing Kang in Marvel’s Loki, providing greater narrative freedom that’s much easier to understand while also having more significant consequences should different versions of Kang the Conqueror decide to battle once more shortly of the MCU.