Summary
- Kang the Conqueror has already defeated many Avengers in previous encounters, making them a minimal threat to his ultimate goal of controlling the Multiverse.
- Kang is not only battling against the Avengers, but also against himself, as other Kang variants pose a significant threat to his conquest.
- The Avengers may not be the key players in defeating Kang and the Council of Kangs, as upholding the status quo of the Sacred Timeline requires the return of He Who Remains or another rogue Kang variant with the same mission.
Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will finally battle the villainous Kang the Conqueror in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, but they may not be the biggest threat to Kang’s mission. Jonathan Majors portrays the new big bad of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s movie timeline, which culminates in a two-part finale event comprising the fifth and sixth Avengers films. Although the Avengers will certainly put up a fight against Kang’s various conquests throughout the Multiverse, even Earth’s Mightiest Heroes pale in comparison to an even greater opposition that threatens to end the Conqueror’s plans once and for all.
Despite his great power, however, Kang is far from invincible: He Who Remains was defeated in Loki season 1 and Kang The Conqueror died in Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania. The problem for the Avengers and the Sacred Timeline is that neither of those defeats did anything to save the timeline and Loki season 2 proves that the Sacred Timeline remains in serious danger. Ultimately, the Avengers will not win against Kang in a traditional way and it’s more likely that it will be Kang who has to defeat the Council of Kangs.
Kang Has Already Beaten The Avengers
Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania revealed that Kang the Conqueror has killed many Avengers in previous encounters. Upon their first meeting, Kang even goes so far as to wonder if he has ever killed Ant-Man before. It seems clear that not only has Kang faced many Avengers throughout his Multiversal conquests, but he has also defeated them each time, killing whoever stands between him and his ultimate goal. There’s also a dismissive, almost causal tone in the way Kang talks about defeating the Avengers, like it was a trivial achievement.
Kang even appears somewhat amused that Scott Lang would announce himself as an Avenger as if such a title would have any effect on the man who has killed countless Avengers. In his pursuit of complete control over the Multiverse and its endless realities, it’s very clear that the Avengers barely pose any threat to Kang, no matter what universe they are from or who makes up the team. And that’s with an almost unprecedented power level among Phase 5’s Avengers line-up.
Kang Is His Own Worst Enemy
The Kang in Quantumania is just one of many Kang variants, all of whom pose a significant threat to the Multiverse… and to each other. Although Phases 5 and 6 will show Kang’s conquest through the eyes of the Avengers, it is not just Earth’s Mightiest Heroes that the supervillain is battling against, but himself. Clearly, the Avengers have tried and failed to stop Kang in countless realities, but as Quantumania proves, he was stopped before – by the Council of Kangs who exiled him. It is most likely that it will not be any Multiversal Avengers team that put an end to Kang’s conquest, but one of his variants.
Loki introduced He Who Remains, the most powerful MCU character yet, who was able to script the entirety of the Sacred Timeline to fit his needs. In his Citadel at the end of time, He Who Remains was able to keep the entirety of the Multiverse at bay, commanding the Time Variance Authority from the shadows in order to keep too many branched realities from forming. Given the scale of the Council of Kangs, that feat is even more impressive. His death triggered the Multiverse’s chaotic breakdown, which emphasized just how powerful this Kang variant truly was. Despite being killed by Sylvie, He Who Remains used his final moments to make it clear that he would return, therefore posing a massive threat to Kang.
The Council Of Kangs Could Still Fight Other Rogue Kangs
Kang The Conqueror (or The Exiled One as Quantumania titles him) was exiled to the Quantum Realm because of his bloodthirsty quest to destroy timelines and solidify his own power. He was in conflict with the Council, because he was out for himself, while the thousands of variants shown in Quantumania‘s post-credits scene have seemingly united under Immortus, Rama-Tut and the Scarlet Centurion. Both Kang and He Who Remains went rogue because of their desire for order, but with themselves in the most powerful position at the cost of all of the other variants. Logically, it follows that the Council of Kangs police other rogue Kangs who refuse to align themselves under their mission (no matter how self-defeating that mission is).
Ultimately, the Kangs’ mission makes no sense: their joint pursuit of multiversal dominion will destroy the entire multiverse, leaving them with nothing to rule (and presumably also destroyed in the process). They’re incredibly powerful and can defeat the Avengers easily, because one of them killed countless Avengers, and the only way to defeat them is to uphold the status quo of the Sacred Timeline. That requires He Who Remains to return, or another rogue Kang variant with the same mission. For the Multiverse to be saved, it’s not the Avengers who will play the key role: they may prove to be the distraction in a huge multiversal war, but defeating the Council of Kangs will require far more than brute force.
Who Will Defeat Kang In Avengers 5 Or 6?
The bad news for the Avengers is that they are unlikely to win in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, as confirmed by the quick release of Avengers: Secret Wars. That story has to include the multiverse for it to be anything like the original Marvel Comics arc, which means there can’t be a resolution to the Council of Kang’s war on the Avengers and the multiverse in Avengers 5. The best Secret Wars theory suggests that He Who Remains’ replacement in the MCU forces every branch of the multiverse to fight to establish which timeline survives as the new Sacred Timeline. That requires a rogue Kang to fight the Council of Kangs, possibly alongside the Avengers, and emerge victorious, using Secret Wars as a “fair” way to choose which timeline he will then protect. That could still be Quantumania‘s Kang, given his death is not 100% certain (we saw no dead body, after all), but no matter who it is, it has to be the MCU’s new version of He Who Remains.