Kang’s Iron Man Fear Makes The MCU’s Mr. Fantastic Even More Important

A popular Avengers: Endgame theory posits that the only Avenger Kang is afraid of is Iron Man, with Kang only making moves now that Tony is gone – making Mr. Fantastic even more important to Avengers: Secret Wars. Tony is undeniably one of the most brilliant men in the MCU, but he sadly couldn’t escape Thanos with his life, sacrificing himself to save half the universe. With Tony Stark out of the way, there’s only one group that can stop Kang the Conqueror in Avengers: Secret Wars: The Fantastic Four.

Kang the Conqueror is set to be the main villain of The Multiverse Saga, acting as the linchpin of the MCU Phase 4 through Phase 6. Kang is a supervillain who possesses many powers, as he has a grasp on the timeline like no other. The villain actually consists of an infinite number of Kang variants from different timelines, with Loki‘s He Who Remains being the first Kang variant introduced. Now that the multiverse has entered a state of madness, Kang variants will soon start entering the mainline MCU, with a Kang variant set to be the main antagonist of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantimania. Although it isn’t known which version of Kang will be the villain in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars, it’s certain that the only way to defeat this time-meddling menace is for the Avengers to once again meddle with time themselves.

Avengers: Endgame heavily features time travel, with Tony Stark being the mastermind behind it. Because of his understanding of time travel, the theory states, Kang is fearful that Iron Man could take him down. It is possible that He Who Remains set up the flow of time in a way that Tony Stark died while fighting Thanos, giving Kang the opportunity time to invade. The theory of Kang being scared is further backed up by his appearance in Quantimania, with it being possible that he is going after Scott Lang due to his familiarity with the Quantum Realm, the means by which the Avengers time traveled in Endgame. While the MCU is populated by various powerful superheroes, it seems that Kang is only worried about those smart enough to use time against him. However, there is one Secret Wars supergenius that Kang hasn’t gotten to yet – Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, who possesses a lot of similarities with Iron Man himself. These similarities set up Mr. Fantastic to potentially take on what would have otherwise been Iron Man’s role in taking down Kang.

The Fantastic Four Could Be Key To Defeating Kang

In the comics, Mr. Fantastic is often called the smartest man on Earth – and his MCU counterpart is sure to live up to that title. Reed Richards and The Fantastic Four will be making moves in the MCU by the time Kang’s plan really takes off, with the Fantastic Four movie releasing just before The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars. For a genius like Richards, time travel should be no problem to figure out. Theories about how The Fantastic Four will be introduced have been rampant, with some suggesting time travel or the Quantum Realm as the means by which they get their powers. Introductions like this could explain why they understand how Kang works, and their experience with time travel could give the team the experience they need to take down Kang.

Mr. Fantastic and his team are core to the comics version of Secret Wars, meaning that they will probably be of significant importance in the MCU as well. Without Tony Stark, Mr. Fantastic may be the only one smart enough to stop Kang – and the only MCU character close enough to take on an Iron Man-esque role in the conflict without appearing too similar to the beloved MCU Avenger. Kang may have been afraid of Iron Man, but he has no idea what’s about to hit him when The Fantastic Four appear in Avengers: Secret Wars.