It should’ve never been Kang to begin with
Kang is a classic Marvel supervillain, but Kang is confusing. Even diehard Marvel Comics fans struggle to explain him. Beyond everything with Jonathan Majors and Marvel’s decision not to recast, it says a lot that the character didn’t resonate. Who or what is Kang? How do you explain Nathaniel Richards and his ties to Reed Richards and Doctor Doom without using either character—or even acknowledging they exist? And then you have him lose to Ant-Man. ANT-MAN!
Compare that to how Thanos was built up: introduced as Loki’s superior, intimidating enough to boss around Ronan the Accuser, and then finally unleashed in Infinity War. It worked.
I’ve read tons of comics but never ran into Kang until Avengers: Forever, where Avengers from different eras united to stop him and other Kangs. It was good, but I had to research just to fully understand it. The more you deal with Kang, the more research you need. Time travel villains don’t have to be confusing, but Kang often is. He’s mostly an Avengers foe, and not a Marvel-wide threat like Thanos. There were other cosmic-level villains to choose from, yet Marvel picked one of the hardest to adapt.
Maybe they planned to hint at his connections—like being Rama-Tut in ancient Egypt or using Doom’s time platform to link him to Fantastic Four. But instead, we got a post-credit scene of the Council of Kangs—just multiple Jonathan Majors in bad makeup. His MCU debut was shaky too: He Who Remains beating other Kangs to control the timeline isn’t a strong hook. Try explaining Loki season one and how it ties into Quantumania without sounding unhinged. Thanos just needed magic rocks. Simple.
Maybe Kang should’ve been a one-off like Red Skull. Instead, they introduced him in two quirky projects and had him fight Scott Lang and his ants. Then he loses, shows up in Loki with a goofy haircut, and gets evaporated. He had a strong first appearance, but Marvel didn’t know what to do with him. Turning him into the core of the Multiverse Saga was likely the big mistake.
Secret Wars has always been about Doom—not Kang.
