With the MCU’s Multiverse Saga now officially in full swing, with Nathaniel Richards (AKA Kang the Conqueror) as its overarching villain, it is safe to expect to see many more Kang variants sliding in and out of timelines, causing havoc throughout the MCU.
The MCU’s first Kang variant, He Who Remains, has already debuted in Loki and another Kang variant has been confirmed to appear in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. However, there are many weird, wacky, and downright terrifying Kang variants that could debut in the MCU.
The Scarlet Centurion
The Scarlet Centurion is a variant of Kang who traveled back in time to the beginning of The Avenger’s career, creating a branch timeline and using his will-sapping Ultra-Diode Ray to convince the team the world would end if there were too many superheroes. The Avengers then imprisoned all superhumans, setting themselves up as Earth’s only heroes. Later, he was used by Scarlet Centurion to battle their modern-day, 616 counterparts.
As this was one of the first Kang variants The Avengers faced, it would be an excellent homage to see this variant debut in the MCU, especially if it opened the doors to an appearance from the original Phase 1 Avengers team, possibly even seeing them battle the modern-day New Avengers. This battle would be unlike anything fans have ever seen before and birth an extremely entertaining storyline, with homages to Phase 1, if done right.
Mr. Gryphon
After a glitch in the timestream, Kang The Conqueror was split into two different versions of himself, with one of these versions being left confined by a ‘firewall of time’ in the early 21st century. Unwilling to wait two thousand years to catch up to his original era, this variant claimed the alias Mr. Gryphon and created his own dynasty in this time period; becoming the CEO of Qeng Enterprises, buying Stark Tower, and battling The Avengers.
After the mysterious sale of Stark Tower in Spiderman: Homecoming, there is a chance Mr. Gryphon may have already entered the 616 timeline and began building his tech empire. Plus, The Avengers team Mr. Gryphone fought in the comics included Sam Wilson, Vision, and Kamala Kang (three of Phase 4’s major players so far who could ally to form the New Avengers) suggesting a New Avengers vs Mr. Gryphon movie isn’t too farfetched.
Rama-Tut
This version of Nathaniel Richards was stranded in ancient Egypt when he traveled back in time and crash-landed in 2960 BC. After his crash landing, he used modern-day technology to easily take over the kingdom of Egypt, renaming himself Rama-Tut and becoming the earliest Kang variant.
Due to his affiliations with Egypt, Rama-Tut is a prime choice for a future Moon Knight villain, especially if Marvel wanted to see a street-level hero or street-level group (like The Midnight Sons take on a variant of Kang). Plus, due to Rama-Tuts explicit connection with Apocalypse, The First Mutant, he may be the key to starting the Mutant’s storyline within the MCU, allowing Marvel to explore an important chunk of the MCU timeline.
Iron Lad
16-year-old, genius Nathaniel Richards’ life was changed forever after Kang saved him from being brutally wounded by a bully. Soon revealing that he was Nathaniel’s future self, outfitting him in neuro-kinetic armor and showing him glimpses of his villainous future in order to inspire his younger self. However, Nathaniel was horrified by what he saw, renounced his destiny, and traveled back to modern-day 616 to become Iron Lad.
With Marvel copyrighting the title Avengers Academy and introducing characters, such as Ms. Marvel and Wiccan into the MCU, it is clear they’re preparing for a Young Avengers movie in which Iron Lad should be included. With Stature ready to battle Kang in Quantumania, it seems highly likely that some form of her love interest Iron Lad will debut in the MCU at some point soon, most likely joining the Young Avengers in the future.
Kid Immortus
After his brief stint as Iron Lad led to the death of his love interest Stature, Nathaniel Richards decided to return to his rightful place in the timeline, eventually becoming a villain. After aiming to be the most powerful of his counterparts, Richards dubbed himself Kid Immortus and traveled back in time to destroy the Fantastic Four and the Future Foundation.
If Iron Lad is to debut in the MCU, having him eventually become Kid Immortus would be an excellent arc for the character during The Multiverse saga. There’s also the opportunity for Marvel to retcon Kid Immortus so he can appear as his own individual variant to face the Young Avengers as one of their main antagonists. Plus, with Fantastic Four releasing in 2024, Kid Immortus could appear as a villain in one of their future movies.
Kang the Conglomerator
In the year 2099, Kang The Conglomerator owned all rights associated with superheroes of the modern age, using them to make profits off of associated merchandise and films, even going as far as traveling back in time to try and bring Spider-Punk into 2099, deeming him a very profitable property.
This version of Kang would be an excellent variant to debut in the MCU if Marvel wanted to see Spider-Man directly face a variant of the villain. Kang the Conglomerator could be an excellent antagonist for a second Spiderverse movie and even allow the SPUMC and MCU to crossover further (especially if Sony’s rumored Spider-Man 2099 movie featured this Kang as its villain, further proving just how much power and reach MCU Kang has).
Ultimate Kang the Conqueror
In The Ultimate Comics, Kang The Conqueror of Earth-13074 is actually Sue Storm. After being sent back in time by Reed Richards before ‘everything went wrong,’ Sue found herself in an alternate timeline, a timeline she decided she would save by gathering The Infinity Gems and rewriting history.
Having a Sue Storm variant of Kang debut in the MCU would be revolutionary, especially as a plot twist in a future MCU Fantastic Four movie. This extremely unique variant of Kang would be a game-changer for The Fantastic Four and Avengers franchises as a whole and introduce some serious conflict between the teams and their members after seeing a variant of a hero, such as Sue turn so incredibly evil before their own eyes.
Kamala Kang
Kamala Kang is the consequence of a faulty protection suit, which led to Kamala Khan being bathed in Chronogen mist (as a mist that awakened her Inhuman gene, embiggening her cosmic perspective and allowing her the ability to stretch her body through time and space itself). Her burning curiosity to explore the time stream later led to many universe-altering problems.
After the success of Ms. Marvel, there is definitely the opportunity for this Kang to debut in the MCU, potentially in a future season of Ms. Marvel, The Marvels, or in a bigger event such as Secret Wars. This variant is certainly a unique one that shows just how versatile the character of Kang can be and would translate well onto the big screen due to Iman Vellani’s talent and charisma.
Doom The Annihilating Conqueror
After an alliance between Dr. Doom, Kang, and Annihilus ended with Doom duping Kang and his powers, Doom became the variant Doom The Annihilating Conqueror – a mixture of all three villains.
With this variant being a merge of The Fantastic Four’s three biggest villains, he surely has the capability to be the main antagonist of a Fantastic Four project in the future. However, this character is so powerful that he could in fact be an MCU big bad, and the possible outcome of Secret Wars if Dr. Doom is featured in that movie. Resulting in Doom The Annihilating Conqueror being the true, cumulative villain of The Multiverse Saga.
Kangaroo the Conqueror
Kangaroo the conqueror is undoubtedly one of Kang’s wackiest and downright hilarious variants. Intended as a parody of the villain, Kangaroo the Conqueror is a Kangaroo variant of Kang, who has enslaved entire time periods and battled the likes of Spider-Ham.
Although this villain is incredibly ridiculous, there is room in the MCU for this Kang Variant, possibly as the antagonist of a Pet Avengers project. As wild as this sounds, the MCU has already debuted the likes of Throg, Howard The Duck, and Croki who could join a Pet Avengers team, alongside Lockjaw, depending on The Inhumans canonicity. The Pet Avengers are a great team to showcase in a mini-series with Kangaroo as the ideal villain.
