Much to the delight of Marvel Comics fans, Kang the Conqueror made his MCU debut in the season finale of Loki, "For All Time. Always." However, rather than the classic version of the villain, we spent a little time with his Variant: He Who Remains.
A cross between that character and Immortus, this Kang had spent a million lifetimes ruling over the TVA in an effort to stop his Variants from reemerging and embarking on another Multiversal War. The killing blow Sylvie dealt led to their rebirth, though, and those alternate versions of Kang are now on their way to the MCU.
Loki ended with the God of Mischief being stranded in a timeline where Kang rules the TVA, while Jonathan Majors has already been confirmed for Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.
Now, we're looking at six more Variants we're excited to meet...even if they spell doom for Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Some are more heroic than others, but they all look set to change the MCU forever and we even have some ideas about where they can appear first!
6. Scarlet Centurion
What many people may not know is that Kang has quite a bit of admiration for Doctor Doom, and after meeting Victor, the villain donned a new set of armour and dubbed himself the Scarlet Centurion.
This was a short-lived persona for the villain, but one he'd later give to one of his "sons" (basically another Variant of himself). They worked together for a time, and it would be fun to watch Majors essentially team up with himself in the MCU given the unique, often abusive dynamic these two have.
We'd like to see Scarlet Centurion portrayed as a heroic Kang, possibly in the second season of Loki, only for it to soon be revealed that he's just as evil as his dear old "dad."
This is too noteworthy a persona for Kang to not factor into the MCU somehow.
5. Rama Tut
Rama Tut is an ancient Egyptian ruler who first appeared in the pages of Fantastic Four #19.
With advanced technology and genius intellect, this Kang made the best of a bad situation when he found himself stranded thousands of years in the past and lived quite the high life as Pharaoh (many fans have wondered whether the Sphinx we saw in The Void was a nod to Rama Tut's existence in a pruned timeline).
In the MCU, Rama Tut could be tied into Moon Knight's origin given that character's ties to Egypt, though we'd actually like to see Majors make a cameo appearance in Eternals as this Variant.
There's not really a huge amount that can be done with Rama Tut on a long-term basis, but revealing that he once defeated those heroes - or vice versa - would be a fun way to tease fans with just how much of an impact this Kang has had on the MCU's history.
4. Iron Lad
All the signs appear to be pointing to the Young Avengers making their way to the MCU, and Iron Lad is undeniably one of the most interesting Kang Variants.
Donning an extremely powerful suit of armour, this Kang hoped to escape his villainous future, so travelled back in time to become a superhero. Founding the Young Avengers, he succeeded in that...for a little while. Kang would eventually force him to return to his rightful place in the timeline, forcing him into a destiny where he would one day become the Conqueror.
There are lots of ways Marvel Studios can play around with that, though, and Iron Lad might just make his debut in upcoming Disney+ shows like Armor Wars or Ironheart.
Needless to say, as he's a teenager, we'd probably need a different actor to play this Kang Variant, but it's feasible Majors could somehow be de-aged as well.
3. Nathaniel Richards
In the Loki finale, He Who Remains mentioned that he was once a scientist who discovered the existence of the Multiverse in the 31st Century. From there, he'd meet his Variants, some of whom we now know to be a little more villainous in nature!
There is a Nathaniel Richards who happens to be the father of Reed Richards, but the original Kang is actually a descendant of the Fantastic Four leader. Like most things time-travel related, it's complicated. However, you have to believe Marvel Studios could find a way to effectively tie Kang to Mister Fantastic and possibly even the creation of his team.
Many fans have questioned how the team Ant-Man and The Wasp can possibly hope to content with Kang the Conqueror in Quantumania; well, we don't believe they will.
Instead, we're pretty sure we're going to meet that scientist from the 31st Century who either gets trapped in the Quantum Realm and clashes with the original Wasp before returning to his own time or one who comes back seeking Hank Pym's help. Either way, expect an origin story for He Who Remains!
2. Doom The Annihilating Conqueror
Look, we all know that Kang the Conqueror is coming to the MCU, and that's why he's not featured here. The villain is bound to become this world's big bad at some point in the next few years, but if and when a Secret Wars movie rolls around, we have an even greater threat in mind.
Perhaps the most powerful Kang Variant of them all, this one was created when Iron Lad was forced to return to his own timeline, went mad, fell to his villainous tendencies, and proceeded to fuse himself with Doctor Doom (remember what we saw about Kang admiring him?) and Annihilus.
With that, Doom The Annihilating Conqueror was born!
With all these abilities at his disposal, he was only narrowly defeated by the Fantastic Four, and this could be a cool way to make use of multiple villains in one in order to create one of the biggest, craziest threats the MCU has ever seen. However, we'd probably swap Annihilus for Galactus!
1. Kamala Kang
The fun part about the Multiverse is that the Variants of Kang we meet don't necessarily have to be just the well-known versions listed throughout this feature.
One recent addition to the Marvel Universe was Kamala Kang. Created in the Infinity Warps storyline where two different characters found themselves fused into one, this version had all of Ms. Marvel's superpowers combined with Kang's intellect and mastery over time-travel.
She wasn't around for long, but with no Inhumans in the MCU, Marvel Studios could get creative and have Kamala gain her powers through some sort of technological means tied either to Kang or even the "magic" once used by Rama Tut in Ancient Egypt (which would obviously also be advanced technology).
Then, in a future story, perhaps Kang will come calling, looking for the powers Ms. Marvel holds?