Kang the Conqueror is now officially a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The recently released trailer of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania showed that the stakes are drastic for Scott Lang. Everything was fine until his daughter, Cassie, accidentally sent a signal down to the Quantum Realm. Scott, along with the rest of his family, gets sucked into the realm and enters a secret universe beneath Earth-616’s surface. The trailer offered plenty of Easter Eggs. But there was one character who stole the limelight. Yup, it was Kang the Conqueror!
Kang offers his help to Scott and promises to provide a safe passage for his family. However, he wants Ant-Man’s help in return. And he gets his name right! Not like that old guy who called him Spider-Man!
Kang the Conqueror is undoubtedly one of the baddest villains in Marvel’s history. Multiverse in Madness writer, Michael Waldron, hailed him as the “next big cross-movie villain”. Also, he will appear in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
Who is Kang the Conqueror?
Kang’s real name is Nathaniel Richards. He is a 31st-century scholar and a descendant of Reed Richards’ time-travelling father, Nathaniel Richards. In the comics, he also believed that Victor Von Doom (Doctor Doom) is another possible ancestor of his. With a dream of conquering the universe, he recreates Doom’s time-travelling machine and travels to ancient Egypt. There, he takes the identity of Pharaoh Rama-Tut. He wanted En Sabah Nur (Apocalypse) as his heir. However, the time-displaced Fantastic Four defeated him and forced him to leave that timeline.
Then, Nathaniel Richards enters the 20th century where he meets Doctor Doom. Inspired by Doom’s armour, he creates a new suit and calls himself the Scarlet Centurion. Soon, he puts the Avengers against their alternate-reality counterparts for eliminating them for good. However, all the Avengers defeat him and throw him out of that timeline.
Richards accidentally lands on a futuristic war-torn Earth, nearly a thousand years after the 31st century, after escaping from the Avengers. He discovers that the savage residents of this planet possess technology that is beyond their understanding. This scenario prompts him to take control of the entire planet and establish himself as Kang the Conqueror.
Is there any connection between ‘Quantumania’ and MCU’s Fantastic Four?
Kang is one of the most prominent adversaries of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. So, he will encounter Reed Richards and the rest of his team at some point in the MCU. According to some fan theories, Doctor Doom may play a crucial role in MCU’s Fantastic Four film and Avengers: Secret Wars. It’s all connected, folks!
Quantumania certainly looks darker and more serious than previous Ant-Man instalments. Also, the inclusion of Kang solves one of the biggest dilemmas of the Ant-Man franchise, weak villains! The first film (2015) had Yellowjacket and its follow-up (2018) gave us Ghost. Let’s be honest here. Both of these baddies looked lame and their characterisations were just terrible. This film series needed a badass adversary. And it got one in the form of Kang the Conqueror!
Did Quantumania Trailer Answer A Big Shang-Chi Mystery?
Simu Liu starrer Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was nothing short of a surprise package for Marvel fans when it came out last year. Almost everything looked perfect in the Destin Daniel Cretton directional. Although, the film’s mid-credits scene shows the rings acting like a beacon to something. The trio of Wong, Bruce Banner, and Captain Marvel was clueless about those mysterious signals. Although, they did reveal that the rings were not made of vibranium. It seems like the solution to this mystery lies in Ant-Man 3’s trailer.
Many fans have pointed out that the designs and relics appearing on the gigantic rings in Kang’s world are identical to the Ten Rings. So, the big question is this: Was Kang receiving those signals from the Ten Rings?
Kang has hundreds of variants of himself. And one of his variants might have created those rings. If it’s true, then Shang-Chi will indeed play a big role in both of the upcoming Avengers films.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will arrive in theatres on February 17, 2023. Stay tuned for more updates.