Why Kang Must Be Avengers 6’s Beyonder (Not Doom)

The MCU’s Phase 6 is set to culminate with Avengers: Secret Wars, but the film should stray away from the comics and make Kang the main antagonist of the film, rather than Doctor Doom. The original Secret Wars comic run featured a character named the Beyonder as the main architect of the event, a role that many MCU fans have assumed will be given to either Kang or Doctor Doom, given the former’s Multiverse Saga presence and the latter’s role in both Secret Wars runs. While Doom makes more sense in terms of adapting Marvel Comics’ stories, Kang should be the one to take the Beyonder’s role in Avengers: Secret Wars.

As shown from the MCU’s many stories, Marvel Studios are not afraid to take liberties with the comic books, changing elements to fit their universe. Thanos’ Avengers: Infinity War motivations, for example, were very different from the same arc in the comics, meaning the Beyonder may not be part of the MCU’s Secret Wars. This leaves the door open for Kang, which is the right decisio for a number of reasons. Not only would this approach give both Kang and Doom their own, deserved time as villains, but the Multiverse Saga’s prior hints at Kang’s main villainy and the retroactive way the MCU could make Doom part of Avengers: Secret Wars all make focusing on Kang the correct choice.

Kang Deserves The Spotlight For Avengers 5&6

The first reason why Kang should be the main villain of Avengers: Secret Wars is because of its preceding film: The Kang Dynasty. Marvel Studios’ panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2022 revealed that Phase 6 will culminate in two Avengers movies, with The Kang Dynasty releasing first in 2025. While it does risk making Kang more similar to Thanos, Kang being the villain of both of those movies ultimately makes more sense. Setting Kang up as the villain for Phases 4, 5, and 6, before killing him off in one Avengers movie would be slightly underwhelming, and giving him the spotlight for both The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars will make for a much more compelling story.

Marvel Has Established Kang As The Multiverse Saga’s Big Villain

The reason why Kang’s inclusion in both Avengers films in Phase 6 would be more compelling is because of the setup of his character since Avengers: Endgame. Kang’s presence has been sprinkled throughout the MCU’s Phase 4, with Phase 5 promising to have Kang in much more prominent positions beginning with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The first hints of Kang’s importance to the Multiverse Saga came in Loki through He Who Remains, a variant of the multiversal conqueror. He Who Remains revealed that the TVA was created to keep Kang’s multiversal variants from attempting to conquer the multiverse, with his death setting up this new reality.

It now looks as though Kang’s first steps to conquering the multiverse, outside of the ending tease of Loki season 1, will be showcased in Ant-Man 3 in 2023. How Kang will be included in other projects of Phases 5 and 6 remains to be seen, but it will likely happen given his setup as the next big villain going into Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. All of this setup would fall flat if Kang was defeated in one movie, meaning his transition into the villain of Avengers: Secret Wars also makes a lot of sense for the character’s journey and how compelling that will be.

Doctor Doom Doesn’t Need To Piggyback On Kang’s Arc

On top of all of this, making Doom the villain of Secret Wars after Kang’s prominence in the rest of the Multiverse Saga would simply detract from both of their characters. Kang and Doom are two of Marvel Comics’ most prominent villains, often being considered among the best of Marvel’s huge villainous roster. This means that like Thanos before them, both Kang and Doom should receive their equal share of the spotlight. In making Doom the central villain of Avengers: Secret Wars at the expense of Kang, both villains would be negatively impacted as a result.

The reason that Thanos’ inclusion in the Infinity Saga worked so well was that he was arguably the central focus of Avengers 3 & 4, especially the former. Besides this, Thanos had been sprinkled throughout Phases 1, 2, and 3, as the architect of Loki’s attack on New York, alongside his ties to the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. If Avengers: Infinity War had killed off Thanos and introduced another villain for Endgame, there is no doubt it would prove disappointing. The same would happen should Doom be introduced as Secret Wars’ villain with no prior setup. Doom is a character with more than enough story to be fleshed out himself over time, rather than simply piggybacking off Kang’s MCU introduction.

Marvel Can Connect Doom To Secret Wars (In Phase 7)

While again, Doom’s connection to Secret Wars would follow the comic storyline well, there is a way Marvel could connect the character to the film retroactively, while still giving Kang his due. Akin to the story of Vecna in Stranger Things, in which it was revealed that he was the architect of the show despite his character not being created, Marvel Studios could make Doom integral to Secret Wars after the fact. Not only would this allow Kang to be the focus of the Multiverse Saga, as has been continuously set up, but it would also make Doom more integral going forward and give him much more time in the MCU’s Phase 7 and beyond to be a fully realized character.

Also, this would please comic fans who are looking for Doom’s involvement in Avengers: Secret Wars while setting up for the next saga’s main villain, or one of them at least, in Doom himself. Given how the Fantastic Four are likely going to be integral parts of the MCU post-Phase 6, Doom’s bigger role after Secret Wars would make more sense given his connection to that specific Marvel group. All of this only goes to show why Kang should be the main villain of Avengers: Secret Wars as it would not only benefit his character but would allow for Victor Von Doom to have the spotlight he deserves in the future.