Marvel Cinematic Universe after Thanos: Who should be the next big bad?
By Jon Hawley
4. Kang the Conqueror
Kang is a classic Avengers villain who dates back to 1964. He’s a time-traveler from the 30th century of an alternate universe, and has access to technology from across time and space, including advanced battle armor. His technological resources and genius could put even Wakandans to shame.
He’s also incredibly cunning and patient. He will assault his enemies whenever and wherever they’re most vulnerable, and will wait decades for plans to come to fruition.
Kang comes with pros and cons. The pros? With his knowledge of the future and willingness to play the long game, he’s born to be a shadowy manipulator who’s hundreds of steps ahead of our heroes. He’s also got the tech to put up quite a fight when directly confronted.
Additionally, his time-traveling shenanigans would offer an opportunity to retcon or undo any mistakes Marvel makes in future movies.
The cons? Kang and his stories are convoluted as hell. It’s also challenging to write good time travel stories, because time travel is simultaneously very powerful and very cliché. Kang will probably be most effective if scriptwriters leave him trapped in the recent past. That will force him to rely on his knowledge of future events rather than just eliminating enemies’ grandparents or helping the Nazis win World War II or other stories we’ve seen a million times.
Kang’s other problem is that, for all his brilliance, he’s kind of a one-note villain. He’s driven by pure ambition and just isn’t as personally interesting as other villains. Scriptwriters would need to work hard to make him a dynamic character who audiences can empathize with. My suggestion: Make him obsessed with the horrors and barbarism of the past, and twist that into a desire to rule and “perfect” all of spacetime.
For offering possibilities as well as challenges, I rank Kang fourth. One caveat: If David Tennant plays him, he’s number one. He is, after all, the undisputed expert on wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff.