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History

Story is not written, scholar-- and neither is destiny! History is made! Made by the deeds of the strong! The brave! And destiny is forged! The historians, the students, the gray-beards-- they come in the wake of the strong and write down what the brave have done! But it is the conquerors who change the world! -- Kang the Conqueror src

Preface

Nathaniel Richards has had various incarnations over the years and each identity has its own, ever-expanding history. For the sake of clarity, this article will only cover, essentially, the history of Nathaniel Richards during his time as Kang. For more information on the other identities of Nathaniel Richards, please refer to the entries on Iron Lad, Kid Immortus, the Scarlet Centurion, Rama-Tut and Immortus

In addition, there are many alternate version of Kang in existence. For the sake of clarity, it is commonly accepted that each alternate Kang that has interacted with Earth-616 is a direct divergence from the "Prime" Kang of Earth-6311. While differentiating between each of these divergent Kangs is difficult, all those that are tied in with the Kang-Prime are listed here for reasons that will become evident to the reader.

Origins

Nathaniel Richards was born in the 30th century of Earth-6311, a reality where humanity never went into the dark ages. After centuries of advancement and warfare, peace was brought to the land by a time-traveller from Earth-616 named Nathaniel Richards. Because Richards brought peace to this war-torn future, he was known as the legendary benefactor.[10] The Nathaniel Richards born to this reality is said to be a descendant of the Benefactor through Reed Richards, although other records also indicate that he may also be a descendant of the Latverian monarch known as Dr. Doom.[11] At the age of 16, intervention from his future self, as Kang the Conqueror, resulted in young Nathaniel to try and prevent his eventual transformation in Kang, briefly becoming the young hero known as Iron Lad.[12] The youth also briefly had a stint as a super-villain known as Kid Immortus.[13] However Nathaniel Richards eventually returned to his native time to finally follow his proper destined path, possibly with his memories as Iron Lad erased, however at this time there is no conclusive explanation and the events leading to this are as yet unrecorded. As an adult, Nathaniel discovered a time machine and having grown bored of his peaceful time, traveled back in time to ancient Egypt on Earth-616. There he set himself up as a Pharaoh Rama-Tut until he was ousted from this position by the Fantastic Four.[3] Rama-Tut tried to flee back to his own era, but he was caught in a time storm and was forced to appear in the modern era of Earth-616. A chance encounter with his possible ancestor Dr. Doom,[14] inspired Nathaniel to abandon his Rama-Tut guise and assume one similar to Doom. In his first attempt, Nathaniel created the identity of the Scarlet Centurion, but abandoned this identity after being defeated by the Avengers[7][8][9]

Resuming his Rama-Tut guise, Richards attempted once again to return to his native 30th Century. The time-storm caused him to overshoot his own era and he ended up in the war torn 40th Century. There Rama-Tut found a war torn future where barbarians battled with technology from past eras of which they had no knowledge of how they worked. Seeing his own personal knowledge on how these weapons operated, Rama-Tut found it simple to reinvent himself and conquer this era. Creating the identity of Kang the Conqueror, Richards began to do just that. First Kang conquered the Earth,[5][15][9] then began conquering the galaxy, taking over entire empires, including that of the Badoon.[16] But even this was not enough and Nathaniel's mind continued to turn back to the modern age of heroes and sought to conquer it as well.[5][15][9][16] One of his earliest observations of the past was when Kang briefly appeared over Times Square in New York City, circa 1939. This caused brief hysteria and some media coverage, but otherwise his appearance was dismissed as a hoax by the authorities of that time.[17] It has been stated that part of Kang's motivations for wanting to conquer the modern age was due to incomplete historical records that spoke of a Celestial Madonna who would sire the most powerful man in history. Kang was determined to learn the identity of the Madonna and ensure that he was the father of that child.[18]

To Conquer the Modern Age

When Kang appeared for the first time in the modern age of Earth-616, his ship landed outside of Washington D.C. Blasting a landing strip with his ship, Kang held off the United States Army with his advanced weapons and ordered that he would only speak with the leaders of the world. In response the United States government contacted the Avengers to deal with this unique crisis.[5][15][9][16][19][20] When the Avengers arrived to face Kang, his first show of power showed him easily capable of fighting off Earth's Mightiest Heroes. After revealing his origins to them and another battle, Kang easily defeated his foes and took them prisoner.[5][15][9][16][19][20] However while in the process of trying to imprison Captain America, the Star-Spangled Avenger broke free and battle Kang. Detecting that Rogers was from the 1940s, Kang arbitrarily decided that he did not belong and sent Cap hurtling back in time to the year 1945.[21] The only members not captured we the Wasp and Captain America's sidekick Rick Jones. The two then began to plot how to free their comrades.[5] With the help of Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four, they managed to rescue Captain America from 1945[22] then rallied Rick's Teen Brigade. The group pretended to want to side with Kang, completely fooling the conqueror who allowed them aboard his ship.[5] Rick,[19] Teen Brigade[5] and Captain America[22] all worked together to free the captured Avengers.[5][19][22] The Avengers then confronted Kang and battled him anew, severely damaging his armor.[5][19][22] Kang then attempted to launch a Neutrino Missile, but this weapon was destroyed by Iron Man.[5][19] Kang then attempted to expose the Avengers to lethal rays of radiation, but this was focused back on him by Thor,[5][19] forcing Kang to flee back to his own era.[5][15][9][16][19][22] Kang has also stated that during this encounter he placed a time probe to monitor for the appearance of the Celestial Madonna.[18] Unforeseen by Kang at this time, each of his travels into the past created divergent versions of himself, all of which ruled their own divergent empires and continued their own schemes.[23] One particular Kang referred to himself as the "Prime" Kang, although he has admitted that he cannot be certain for sure.[16]

Following this humiliating defeat, a divergent version of Kang[16] decided to set up a beachhead in the 20th Century in which he could begin planning his conquest of the modern age. He traveled back in time to January 1, 1901 where he established the town of Timely, Wisconsin under the guise of Victor Timely and became the town's mayor. He also established factories and a business, Timely Industries. Teaching his staff the basic principles of robotics. Kang also established the realm of Chronopolis which originally started as a fortress out of synch with time in the exact are of Timely, but it eventually grew and branched off to become a massive cross-roads between Earth's past, present and future.[2] Kang used Chronopolis to monitor his conquests and when he was away from Timely, he had robotic stand-ins that would seemingly age and eventually "Victor Timely" died. He was replaced with "Victor Timely Jr."

In 1929, Kang while posing as Timely Jr, employed Phineas Horton, and through this employment Horton eventually developed the technology that brought the original Human Torch android to live in 1939. By the 1980s, and using the guise of Victor Timely III, Kang had made Timely Industries a successful technology manufacturer. Timely technology indirectly were responsible for much of the later advancements and some of this technology eventually went into the equipment used by Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four, the cybernetic arm of detective Misty Knight and the design for Roxxon Oil's Deathlok cyborg among others.[2]

During this time the "Prime" Kang continued to observe the Avengers, keeping track of their exploits and line-up changes.[16] He also focused on his further conquest of the 40th century, waging war against the Shi'ar and the Skrulls. Through his monitoring of the Avengers he also learned of another time-traveler calling himself Immortus, who unknown to Kang, was his future self.[24] When one divergent Kang returned his attentions to the Avengers again, he built an android based on the novice hero Spider-Man and used it to try and lure the Avengers into a trap. However this plot was foiled thanks to the intervention of the real Spider-Man who defeated his robotic doppelganger.[25][26]

Another divergent version of Kang[16] decided to try and conquer the modern age of heroes by taking over a past century in the hopes of erasing his foes from existence. He began monitoring the 6th century, and when the heroic Black Knight was away battling his foe Morgan le Fay he attacked the kingdom of Camelot.[26] He quickly incapacitated the wizard Merlin and bested King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. He then took over the kingdom of Camelot and began using his advanced intelligence to help the knights construct sophisticated weapons for that era in the hopes of conquering the Earth. However Kang's attempt to take over the 6th century was witnessed by the Watcher who brought the Fantastic Four's Human Torch and the Thing into the past to stop Kang. While the Thing battled Kang's forces, the Torch freed Merlin. When the wizard disabled Kang's power source, the two heroes easily defeated him, forcing Kang to flee back to his own time.[27] The true Kang still continued to monitor the Avengers, witnessing their first line-up change which included Captain America, Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.[28] He was later possibly the Kang that was manipulated by his possible ancestor, Dr. Doom, who used his emotion-changer device to gather an army of super-villains to attack the wedding of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl.[29] Kang was involved in a massive battle between the gathered super-villains and the heroes who were attending the wedding.[30] The battle came to an abrupt end when the Watcher provided Reed Richards with a time displacer which he used to send the villains back to where they came from, with all memory of their attack erased,[29][26][30] however through reviewing recordings of his exploits Kang eventually remembered this battle.[26]

Kang briefly returned to the 40th century to continue his conquests of worlds there.[16] He later discovered the dimension of Kosmos and its size-changing properties that are tied to Pym Particles. He conquered this dimension and enslaved its native Kosmosians forcing them to assist in the creation of his Growing Men constructs.[31][16] Once the Kosmosians completed their task, Kang hid the Growing Men in various eras to hide these potent weapons from his enemies.[32]

Princess Ravonna

In his native 40th Century, the true Kang had fallen in loved with Princess Ravonna Renslayer a princess of an Earthly kingdom. Due to his love for Ravonna, Kang allowed her father to remain in rule of his kingdom but pressured Ravonna to marry him in order for her father to continue to maintain his autonomy from Kang's empire. Ravonna refused his hand in marriage and Kang sought to prove his power to her by transporting the Avengers Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch to his era and defeating them in battle. Later when Captain America learned that his fellow Avengers were kidnapped, he issued a challenge to his foe and was brought to the future and defeated him as well. These defeats did nothing to impress Ravonna, and Kang ordered his forces to attack, just as the Avengers recovered to defend the kingdom.[33][26][16] Kang and his army easily overtook the small kingdom and the Avengers were once more defeated and taken prisoner. However, when Kang decided to spare Ravonna and her father, this earned the ire of his commanders who saw this mercy as weakness. Chief among these was his the commander known as Baltag who sought to usurp command of Kang's armies. With his forces turned against him, Kang realized that his love for Ravonna was greater than conquering this kingdom and he grudgingly realized that only the Avengers could help him fight off Baltag and his forces. The Avengers proved to be a great help defeated the army, it's commanders taken prisoner. Seeing Kang show compassion and caring, Ravonna decided to accept his romantic advances. Just as Kang was returning the Avengers to their own time, Baltag broke free and tried to shoot Kang in the back. Ravonna saw this and threw herself in the path of the weapon's beam and was struck down. Baltag was then executed. Ravonna seemingly died in Kang's arm, suggesting that perhaps their love was never meant to be.[34][26][16] However, Kang refused to let his love perish and used 40th century science to keep her in a state of suspended animation, not dead but not alive either.[35][26][16] Many of the alternate versions of Kang also experienced similar tragedies.[23]

The true Kang decided to put aside his pain and seek out even greater adventure, in his native time he clashed once again with the Shi'ar, forcing them to surrender. This did little to fill the void in his life and Kang soon desired to restore Ravonna to life.[16] However finding a means to do so did not occur directly as one of his Growing Men was unearthed in the modern age of Earth-616. Returning there to retrieve it, Kang engaged in another battle with Thor. Recovering his Growing Man, Kang then attempted to flee in his time machine, but Thor used his hammer Mjolnir to capture it in an infinity vortex, seemingly destroying Kang in the process.[32][26] In reality, another divergence was created with one Kang ending up in the timeless realm of Limbo[15][16] while another ended up back in his native 40th century of Earth-6311.[26] The Kang that ended up in Limbo found the citadel of Immortus. Unaware that was a future version of himself, Kang began using his equipment to study history. Coming across the moment when Ravonna was about to sacrifice her life for him, Kang activated a device that pluck Ravonna out of the time-stream, creating a divergent reality in which Kang was slain in her stead, an incident that horrified Kang.[36]

Game of the Galaxies

The divergent Kang who ended up back in the 41st century of Earth-6311 crushed a small rebellion[26] before he continued to find a means to revive Ravonna. After many fruitless attempts to restore her, the Elder of the Universe known as the Grandmaster appeared before him. The Grandmaster offered Kang a challenge: To pit champions of his choice against those of the Grandmaster's own making. If Kang's champions won, he would be given the power over life and death. If Kang lost, the Grandmaster would then obliterate the Earth. Kang agreed to the terms and was given a year to gather his chosen champions.[35][16] Kang chose his old foes the Avengers to represent him. After plucking the Black Panther from his homeland of Wakanda, Kang then sent one of his Growing Men to New York City. There his creation kidnapped Tony Stark from a hospital where he was recovering from a heart attack to lure the Avengers into a beam that brought them to the future. The Avengers agreed to battle for Kang on the condition that Stark was returned to the present to seek medical treatment. Captain America, Goliath and Thor were then transported to modern day Earth where they were to battle the Grandmaster's created minions the Squadron Sinister.[37][26] The trio were joined by Iron Man, and they went to four different locations to stop each Squadron member from stealing a national landmark, while Kang and the Grandmaster observed events from the future.

In New York City, Captain America prevented Nighthawk from stealing the Statue of Liberty. Iron Man stopped Dr. Spectrum from absconding with the Taj Mahal in India. In Egypt, Thor stopped Hyperion from taking the Sphinx. Goliath traveled to London where he attempted to stop the Whizzer from stealing Big Ben. However interference from the heroic Black Knight caused the Grandmaster to call the battle a forfeit and transported Goliath and Whizzer back to the future, inadvertently transporting the Knight's Ebony Blade as well.[38][26] With the first round in forfeit, Kang agreed to another match between the Grandmaster. This time they sent the Vision, Yellowjacket and the Black Panther to France circa 1941 to battle the original Invaders: Captain America, the Sub-Mariner and the original Human Torch. While this battle raged, the Black Knight used his mystical connection to the Ebony Blade to transport himself to the future and free the other Avengers who were being held in stasis. When the Avengers sent to 1941 succeeded in defeating their contemporaries they were brought back to the present just as their contained comrades confronted Kang. Although Kang was technically the victor, his 'draw' in the first round meant that the Grandmaster would only give him the power of life or death. Unwilling to let go of his hatred over the Avengers, Kang chose the power to kill the Avengers rather than the power to save Ravonna. However, he was felled by the Black Knight who at the time was not a member of the Avengers, and thus immune to his powers. With his defeat, Kang lost his powers over death and the Grandmaster sent the Avengers home before departing himself, leaving Kang along to regret the choice that he had made.[39][26]

Tomorrow War

Records of which Kang engaged in what activities are hard to determine beyond this point, however it has been confirmed that the Prime Kang was still monitoring events in Limbo.[16] One version of Kang found a means of prolonging his life by developing a device that would transfer his mind into a cloned body in his native timeline upon death.[40] Determined that the best way to conquer the modern age was to start by affecting history in the 19th Century during World War I. Through his observations he learned that the fighter ace known as the Phantom Eagle was destined to destroy a German mortar cannon that would have changed the face of the war. If prevented from doing so, a French ancestor of Bruce Banner -- the man destined to become the Hulk, and a founding member of the Avengers -- would be killed. This Kang theorized that with the death of this ancestor the Avengers would never come to be. However when Kang attempted to travel to the year 1917 he was prevented from breaching that time period thanks to a time storm. Instead Kang decided to trick the Hulk, believing his near limitless strength could breach the barrier. Appealing to the Hulk's hatred of his alter-ego, Kang successfully sent the Hulk into the past. However, the Hulk inadvertently destroyed the cannon while trying to stop the Phantom Eagle. The time storm then began a sling shot effect, which Kang fought against but ultimately lost. While the Hulk was hurtled to his proper time, Kang himself was thrown into time and was seemingly lost in the time stream.[41][42][16] This Kang cheated this fate by transferring his mind to a new body.[42]

One Kang went on to find another beachhead to launch his attacks on the modern age, deciding to set up operations in the 23rd century of Earth-6297, due to the fact that possible future abolished all weapons and was powerless to stop his invasion. This earned the ire of that of a rival time traveler and would be conqueror, Zarrko the Tomorrow Man. Kang then used this front to capture the Avengers and imprison them in this future. With a time storm stopping him from breaching Kang's citadel, Zarrko recruited the modern day heroes Iron Man and Spider-Man, bringing them to the 23rd century knowing their presence would weaken the time storm. When the two heroes confronted Kang, Zarrko betrayed them and got the drop on Kang.[43][42] Zarrko then decided to use Kang's own plan to conquer the modern age using Kang's "Time Bombs", devices that would revert the people and technology of the era back to a more primitive time. While Zarrko and Kang were busy in a stand-off, Spider-Man revived and escaped back to his own era in a time machine. There he recruited the help of the Fantastic Four's Human Torch to locate and deactivate the Time Bombs.[44] Learning from the Torch that the FF's allies the Inhumans could assist him in using the last functional Time Bomb to return to the future, arriving just moments before Spider-Man originally left, Spidey and the Inhumans managed to get the drop on Zarrko and Kang. While Black Bolt freed the Avengers, Spider-Man rounded up Zarrko, but Kang managed to escape in the chaos leaving behind an empty suit of armor.[45][42]

Celestial Madonna

Soon, one divergent Kang became aware that the Celestial Madonna was reaching her developmental protection as a new dawn star began shining in the sky of the modern age, suspended over Avengers Mansion. Kang traveled back to the modern era to collect the Celestial Madonna determining that it must be one of three women who were in residence at the mansion: the Scarlet Witch, the enigmatic Mantis or the elderly sorceress Agatha Harkness.[46] Kang unleashed his Macrobots upon the Avengers who were easily overpowered. Kang then took the three women as well as Thor, Iron Man, and the Vision prisoner. Kang then left the Swordsman behind, considering him the weakest of the Avengers and thus beneath his notice. Kang and his prisoner relocated to a secret lab hidden within an Egyptian pyramid built in Kang's honor during his days as Rama-Tut. There he plotted to begin World War III by encasing each of the male Avengers in one of his Macrobots and sending them to assassinate key political figures in the United States, China, and Russia in order to spark nuclear Armageddon. In breaching the pyramid, thanks to the mystical guidance of Agatha Harkness, the Swordsman awoke the ancient vampire Amenhotep as well as the slumbering form of Rama-Tut who had been in suspended animation for over 5000 years in an attempt to stop his past self -- as Kang -- from continuing on his current path.[47][42]

The future Rama-Tut prevented the Swordsman from slaying Kang[18] and brought him back to New York where they recruited Hawkeye, who at the time was no an active member of the Avengers.[48] The trio stopped the Macrobot using the Vision to slay the United States Secretary of State at the UN Building in New York. They then traveled to China where they stopped the Macrobot leeching Iron Man's powers to try and eliminate the Chinese government's ruling class. Furious at this inference, Kang scrapped his plan to assassinate a Russian politician and unleashed the Thor powered Macrobot on the heroes which was also defeated. During the conflict the Avengers freed all the comrades, including the three captive females. Also during the fight, Kang revealed the true identity of Rama-Tut and learned that he is his future self. With the same man from different eras face to face, time ruptured revealing to all gathered that Mantis was destined to be the Celestial Madonna. With his plans being thwarted at every step, Kang decided that if he could not have the Celestial Madonna nobody could and tried to shoot Mantis. Despite interference from Rama-Tut, the shot was true, but before it could strike Mantis the Swordsman stepped in its path sacrificing his life for hers. Meanwhile Kang and Rama-Tut's scuffle sent them crashing into the controls of Kang's time-sphere and both men were lost in the time stream.[49][42] Both men were plucked out of the time stream and transported to Limbo by Immortus, and Immortus pretended to ally himself with Kang by imprisoning Rama-Tut. Immortus then gave Kang access to his devices to get revenge against the Avengers. Kang used this to gather various super-humans just moments from their deaths to form his Legion of the Unliving. These minions included the Frankenstein's Monster, Wonder Man, the original Human Torch, Midnight, the Ghost, and Baron Zemo. He then transported the Avengers to Limbo to battle his minions.[50][42]

Kang led his Legion into the vast labyrinth of Limbo to slay the Avengers and reclaim Mantis. However his control over the Legion began to weaken the longer they were active in Limbo, the first to break free from his control being the Frankenstein's Monster. The Legion managed to slay Iron Man and seriously damage the Vision in their hunt for the heroes.[51] During the battle, Kang sent Baron Zemo back to make sure that Rama-Tut and Immortus did not escape. Meanwhile, his control on the Human Torch failed and with the help of the Frankenstein's Monster he managed to partially repair the Vision. Midnight on the other hand faced Mantis and was defeated. Wonder Man later fell battling Thor who then turned his vengeance on Kang for the death of Iron Man. Unable to withstand the blows of Thor's hammer, Kang once more fled into the time stream. Zemo was later defeated by Hawkeye who then freed Immortus and Rama-Tut. Immortus then brought Iron Man back to life, repair the Vision and sent the members of the Legion to face their destinies. Immortus then convinced Rama-Tut to return to his own destiny as well before revealing to the Avengers that he himself was a future version of Kang before sending the Avengers home.[52][42] It was later revealed to the Avengers that Mantis was to form a union with a member of the plantlike Cotati race who had taken on the form of her deceased lover the Swordsman and Immortus offered to officiate their wedding[53] When the wedding was being planned in Vietnam, Kang reappeared in the present to make one more attack on the Avengers to try and capture Mantis. To this end he appeared in that era at three different moments, making three Kangs present. After taking down the communist heroes known as the Titanic Three, the three Kangs distracted Thor, Iron Man and Hawkeye who managed to capture all the duplicates. However the "real" Kang then kidnapped who he thought was Mantis and escaped into space. However, Immortus already knew what Kang was planning, and had his minion the Space Phantom take the form of Mantis, storing the real Celestial Madonna safely in Limbo. By the time the Space Phantom revealed his true form, it was too late for Kang, as Immortus succeeded in marrying Mantis and the Cotati and they tranformed into pure energy and left to meet their destiny in the stars.[54]

The American Frontier

This Kang decided to once more attempt to alter the course of the modern age by conquering an earlier era, this time targeting the 19th century. However while travelling through the time stream, he was confronted by Hawkeye who was using Dr. Doom's time-platform to try and reach the 12th century. The two battled it out, but ended up throwing themselves into the same era, only some time apart.[55] Appearing in the year 1873, Kang built an inn and saloon in the town of Tombstone, Arizona, convincing the locals that his mask was to cover a wound sustained in the American Civil War. He then used a device to sap the will of the locals and used them as slaves to build a massive citadel within the inn. Unaffected by this was the western hero known as the Two-Gun Kid who found happenings suspicious. He called out on other heroes of the west to help him investigate. The first to answer his call were the Rawhide Kid and Kid Colt. When they went to confront Kang, he revealed his true nature to them, unleashing a dinosaur summoned from the prehistoric past to drive them away.[56] While this was occurring three more time travelling Avengers --- Yellowjacket, Hawkeye and Songbird --- arrived in that era mistaking the chronal anomalies occurring were part of their on going Destiny War. Kang detected their presence, and not knowing who they were or what their intentions were took away the time-sphere given to them by Kang's future self before trying to kill them in a cave in.[57] Back in town, Two-Gun Kid was joined by the Ringo Kid and the Night Rider and they attempted another attack on Kang. Kang took this moment to reveal his hidden citadel and then unleashed a biologically engineered lizard creature against the cowboys sending them fleeing. While Kang was distracted, the three time travelling Avengers managed to break into his citadel and escape in their recovered Time-Sphere.[58]

Eventually the version of Hawkeye who battled Kang in the timestream appeared in 1873 and quickly allied himself with the Two-Gun Kid and his friends to battle against Kang.[55] Learning that Hawkeye ran afoul of Kang in the timestream, his fellow Avengers Thor and Moondragon were led to him by Immortus. They were confronted by Kang in the timestream but managed to fight him back.[59] The duo were reunited with Hawkeye and they joined him and the cowboys in stopping outlaws hired by Kang from robbing a rail shipment of uranium.[55] With Thor taking on his mortal guise of Donald Blake, he, Hawkeye, Moondragon, and the Two-Gun Kid infiltrated Kang's fortress. There Kang unleashed a massive mutated coyote to battle the heroes. Since Thor was in his mortal form, Kang did not recognize him and Blake was able to slip away and break into Kang's control room. There he changed back into Thor and the two fought it out. Kang was no match for the Asgardian thunder god's limitless strength and increased his force field too high causing it to seemingly disintegrate him. With Kang's seeming demise his fortress vanished. With Kang's seeming demise, Immortus led the Avengers to believe that he was erased from history as well,[60] however this was revealed to be a ruse on Immortus' part.[15] This version of Kang survived as well, using his mind transmitter to swap to a newly cloned body in the 40th century.[42][2][61] This was witnessed by the "Prime" Kang who decided to develop a similar technology in order to cheat death himself.[61]

By this time the Prime Kang had formed a Council of Kangs in Limbo, consisting of himself, and two of his most cunning divergent selves. Seeing their alternates was insults to their legacy, they brought each alternate Kang to Limbo and executed them.[23] One of the first recorded Kangs to be eliminated by the council was a Kang who conquered the the 41st Century of Earth-8386 where he forced the people to slay each other for his own amusement. Following his death, a massive statue was placed to continue manipulating the people of this world to kill themselves until it was destroyed by the Hulk of Earth-616.[62]

Secret Wars

Sometime later the Earth-616 universe was visited by the Beyonder the powerful being sought to understand desire and summoned a group of heroes and villains. The heroes included the Avengers, three of the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Magneto, the Hulk, and Spider-Man. The villains gathered were Galactus, Dr. Doom, Ultron, the Wrecking Crew, the Enchantress, Dr. Octopus, the Lizard, the Molecule Man, the Absorbing Man and one of the many divergent Kangs. The Beyonder then created Battleworld, a patchwork world comprised of chunks of various planets. He then told both sides to slay their enemies and all they desired would become theirs. Teleported planet side, Kang and the other villains set up operations in a high-tech facility. When Dr. Doom suggested that they rescind their petty desires to try and make contact with a seemingly all-powerful god, the other villains balked at this prompting Doom to bury them in debris and try to seek out the heroes. Unscathed by this attack, Kang watched as Doom flew away in an alien craft and blew it out of the sky. When the gathered heroes tried to assist Doom, he realized that they were unworthy of his plans as well and attack. He was soon joined by his fellow villains who were led by Kang while Doom fled.[63][42] During the ensuing battle the heroes captured Kang, the Enchantress as well as Thunderball, Piledriver and Bulldozer of the Wrecking Crew and imprisoned them at their own headquarters. The other villains fled back to Dr. Doom who had reprogrammed Ultron to be his loyal bodyguard and executioner.[64]

Doom discovered that a suburb of Denver, Colorado was part of Battleworld[65] and empowered two of its natives into Volcana and Titania to bolster his ranks. He then launched an attack on the heroes headquarters, freeing Kang, and the Wrecking Crew. They were unable to rescue the Enchantress due to the fact that she was freed and ventured off with Thor earlier.[66][67] After successfully launching an attack wherein an entire mountain was dropped on the heroes, Thor and the Enchantress returned teleporting before the gathered villains. Kang and his comrades then piled onto the thunder god and seemingly slew him.[66][67] Seeking to avenge his previous betrayal and ensure loyalty, Dr. Doom later ordered Ultron to slay Kang, and the conqueror from the 40th century was atomized before his comrades.[68][42] Thor and the other heroes survived their apparent deaths and continued to clash with their foes until Dr. Doom managed to steal the power of the Beyonder.[69] With the power of the Beyonder, Doom sought to bring peace to the universe and to show his good faith to the heroes gathered he used his vast powers to resurrect Kang and return him to his proper place in time.[70] When recounting these events, Kang himself did not mention his resurrection, implying that he cheated death thanks to the device that transferred his mind to his new body.[42] There is no explanation for this omission. Ultimately, the heroes rebelled against Dr. Doom and with the help of the Beyonder defeated him. With the villains having escaped Battleworld, the Beyonder banished Dr. Doom and returned the heroes home.[71]

Soon the Beyonder arrived on Earth and assumed human form to learn about human desire.[72] During his time on Earth, his existence became viewed as a threat to the natural order of the universe.[73] This prompted the demon Mephisto to create the Beyondersbane a device that utilized energies stolen from the Beyonder as well as that of Eternity. With the Beyondersbane only having a limited time before reaching critical mass, Mephisto devised a delivery of this powerful energy: an army of super-villains called the Legion Accursed. He sent out his agents to make offer various villains their hearts desire in exchange for destroying the Beyonder. All these villains had to do was touch the Beyonder to unleash the power that would theoretically destroy him. Kang was one of the many villains who agreed to the deal joining Mephisto's Legion Accursed. They attacked the Beyonder while he was meditating on a secluded island. However they ultimately failed thanks to the Thing who came to the Beyonder's defense, holding the villains at bay long enough for the Beyondersbane to hit critical mass. When the device self-destructed the pact Kang and the others made with Mephisto became null and void and they were all teleported back to their points of origins.[74] Eventually, an army of heroes battled the Beyonder to the end, a battle that ended in the Beyonder's seeming demise and ending his threat for a time.[75]

By this time, the Prime Kang and his two counterparts succeeded in apparently eliminating every alternate version of Kang in existence, the last being their Earth-267 counterpart. By this time the "Prime" Kang had been constructing robot duplicates of the eliminated Kangs to run their empires from remote and began plotting to eliminate his final two counterparts. He allowed one of his two counterparts to infiltrate his secret sanctum where the Prime Kang then pretended to let him in on his secrets. Then after shocking the other Kang by revealing his still-living version of Ravonna, the Prime Kang shot him dead, as part of a plan to eliminate the Avengers and the third Kang. To this end he transported the Wasp, Hercules, and the Black Knight to Limbo. He then sent out a robot to confront the Avengers challenging them to find his citadel and fight for a means to return home.[23]

When the heroes attempted to get information from the Space Phantom, Kang seemingly slew him before their eyes before unleashing a horde of Dire Wraiths upon them. While the Avengers were occupied the Prime Kang set up the dead body of the second Kang at a control console and contacted his third counterpart to trick him into returning to Limbo as they were under "attack" by the Avengers. Joined by Captain America, Captain Marvel and the Sub-Mariner, the Avengers reached Kang's citadel where they found the dead Kang. This coincided with the arrival of the third Kang who blamed the Avengers for murdering his counterpart and a fight broke out. When the third Kang realized that they had all been lured into a plot, the Prime Kang incapacitated them and imprisoned them in stasis beams, when they revived the Prime Kang informed those gathered that he would eliminate them.[76]

The Prime Kang then revealed to his prisoners his own personal history and where he came to diverge from the other Kangs and his formation of the Council of Kangs (Multiverse) to eliminate his inferior duplicates. All the while he was talking Hercules struggled against the stasis beam with his prestigious strength causing it to overload. Noticing this Ravonna remained quit, not revealing this fact to Kang. Eventually the strain proved too much and the Avengers broke free. Ravonna revealed her betrayal and while she held the third Kang prisoner, the Avengers went after Kang-Prime. As the Prime Kang fled, the third Kang convinced Ravonna to let him go free to get revenge and she relented allowing him to leave. When the third Kang caught up with the Prime, he tried to shoot his counterpart with a concealed weapon unaware that Kang-Prime had booby-trapped it and it exploded in his face killing him instantly. The Prime Kang was the only one left he remained defiant in front of the Avengers until Immortus appeared with Ravonna by his side. Immortus revealed that through the career of each Kang, he was there manipulating things behind the scene to ensure that the path that leads Kang to becoming Immortus is the only path Kang would ever take. Immortus explained that he manipulated the Prime Kang directly, allowing him to enter Limbo, placing a fake body, and setting in motion the formation of the Council of Kangs. Immortus then showed off the fruits of his labor: the Psyche-Globe, which contained the memories of every slain counterpart of Kang. Seeking this knowledge for himself Kang struggled with Immortus and seized the Psyche-Globe from his hands. However when Kang tried to use the Psyche-Globe it bombarded his mind with all the memories all at once threatening to drive him mad, as Immortus had planned. Kang then fled into Limbo and when the Avengers tried to follow after him Immortus stopped them telling him that this was all ordained and sent the Avengers back to their proper place in time.[15][42][16] With his sanity quickly fleeting Kang triggered the time circuitry in his helmet creating two necessary divergent to divide the madness between. One returned to the 40th Century to recover.[16]

Council of Cross-Time Kangs

By this time a group calling themselves the Council of Cross-Time Kangs was organized. They consisted of various other beings and aliens that slew their own realities version of Kang and usurped his identity. There are conflicting explanations as to why they were formed. Kang-Prime has previously stated that he was responsible for their creation[2] while he has later considered them nothing more than pretenders and fools unworthy of his name.[16] By their own explanations they are apparently a higher order that sat above various alternate Councils of Kang, each member being the sole survivor of a culling of their alternate selves across the Multiverse.[77] Whatever the case, the other divergent Kang, dubbed Kang #123488.23497 materialized in the realm of the Council of Cross-Time Kangs. There he stopped one of the Cross-Time Kang's trying to assassinate him. He was then teleported to the council chambers by a female Kang calling herself Kang Nebula.[78] Kang soon found himself universally accepted into the Council of Cross-Time Kangs.[79] He met with Lord Kang ruler of the Cross-Time Kangs who was impressed by his performance. He was then shown to his new quarters by Kang Nebula who earned Kang's suspicions when she tried to seduce him.[77] Kang began monitoring Kang-Nebula learning that she was secretly sneaking off to Earth-616 to manipulate the Avengers through their leader Dr. Druid.[80]

Confronted by Lord Kang over what he might know about the disappearance of Kang Nebula, the true Kang revealed what he knew. After examining her room Kang and the others discovered that Nebula had managed to seduce and steal technology from each member of the Council for her own use.[81] After confirming this by questioning the rest of the Council, Lord Kang suspected that Nebula might be going after the Avengers as they were destined to breach the so-called Time-Bubble that exists in a fifteen year span of time in the reality of Earth-8810. It was believed that a powerful Celestial weapon. This was later confirmed when they reviewed events on Earth-616 and learned that Nebula has successfully enthralled Dr. Druid, Thor, Black Knight and She-Hulk. Lord Kang decided to stop Nebula from breaching the Time Bubble and took the true Kang and Kang-Mesozoic24 with him to Earth-616. They managed to stow themselves on the side of the Avengers Quinjet from its launch site at Hydrobase and hitched a ride to the Time Bubble.[82] Although they lost Kang-Mesozoic24, Lord Kang and the true Kang prevented the death of the Black Knight and freed She-Hulk from Nebula's control. She-Hulk then freed Thor and the Knight from Nebula's control. In the ensuing struggle, both Nebula and Dr. Druid were lost in the Time Bubble. Both Kangs were lost in the probability field of the Time Bubble.[83][2]

Inferno

When N'astirh, a demon from the realm of Limbo (not to be confused by the temporal one) attempted to spread his realm onto Earth,[84] it had an impact on the time-stream and threatened to erase this Kang (the one lost in the Time Bubble) from existence. Only able to enter the modern age as a temporal specter, Kang attempted to find the Avengers in the demonically possessed version of New York City that was being called the Inferno. Unable to find them he instead found the Captain, Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, and the Eternal known as Gilgamesh battling Nanny and the Orphan-Maker who were attempting to kidnap Reed and Sue's son Franklin Richards. Although the heroes defeated Nanny and Orphan-Maker, Franklin was kidnapped by N'Astirth to used in the magical sacrifice needed to permanently open the portal between Earth and Limbo. Seeing that they had no means of tracking N'astirh, Kang used the last of his power to revive one of his Growing Man constructs hidden in the city. Under his orders it disguised itself as a demon and lured the ad-hoc group of Avengers, later joined by Thor, to the Empire State Building, headquarters of N'astirh and his demonic legions. The Avengers rescued Franklin and foiled N'astirh's plans for the time being, they also destroyed the "demon" that led them there as well.[85][2]

Meanwhile, the Prime Kang attempted to heal his apparent loss of Ravonna by bringing numerous alternate reality Ravonna's to slave over him, but soon he grew not to care about her any longer. He then decided to turn his energies against the first woman who betrayed him: Mantis.[2] Confident that the Inferno would cover his reappearance in the time stream from the Council of Cross-Time Kangs, attacked Mantis in New York City just as she was being rescued by the Fantastic Four. Immobilizing the Fantastic Four he kidnapped Mantis hoping to use her power as the Celestial Madonna to unleash the power of the Dreaming Celestial slumbering in Mount Diablo, California. Not only did the Fantastic Four follow after him, but as did the sorcerer known as Necrodamus. When Kang arrived in California, he was shocked to find that Mantis was stripped of her powers gained from the Cotati and began pondering how to breach the barrier when the Fantastic Four arrived. Kang managed to escape the Fantastic Four but upon doing so he realized that someone had kidnapped Mantis.[86] Kang managed to track Mantis back to New York City where he found her a prisoner of Necrodamus who was preparing to sacrifice her to the demons of Limbo once the planets became aligned. Forced to team-up with the Fantastic Four to suit his own ends for Mantis, he accepted an idea provided to him by Ms. Marvel. With the Human Torch's flame powers being mystically enhanced, Kang transported the Torch outside of the orbit of planet Mercury. The Torch then buried a device deem into the planet, allowing Kang to pull the planet slightly out of alignment preventing Necrodamus from slaying Mantis. The dark gods then punished Necrodamus. With their mission over, Kang teleported away leaving the Torch stranded in space.[87] While Kang was gone the heroic X-Men and X-Factor ended the demonic infestation of New York.[88]

Cotati

Knowing that Mantis sought the Fantastic Four's aid to recover her son from the Cotati, Kang went to warn them. They agreed with him that the only means to prevent her from taking their savior was to kill her. Kang brought the elders of the Cotati to New York and summoned the Priests of Pama to help. However when they arrived, the Fantastic Four were reunited with the Torch thanks to the Silver Surfer and they defended Mantis, defeating the Cotati and their priests. When Mantis forced the Cotati to flee with her superior mental powers, Kang fled back into the timestream once more. Following this, Mantis left her physical body to try and convince the Cotati to release her son in on the mental plane.[89][2]

The Fall of the Council of Cross-Time Kangs

Meanwhile, Kang-123488.23497 and Lord Kang of the Council of Cross-Time Kangs were still trapped in the Time-Bubble on Earth-8810 along with Nebula and Dr. Druid. Sometime after the Inferno incident, Nebula began using her influence to convince the Fantastic Four, Iron Man and Thor of Earth-616 to travel to that reality and attempt to breach the Time Bubble.[90] Another entity to pierce the Time Bubble was the transdimensional bounty hunter known as Death's Head who had been assigned by the Time Variance Authority to stop the Time Bubble. Their arrival also freed Lord Kang, Kang-Mesozoic24 and Kang-123488.23497 who immediately attacked the gathered heroes. Mesozoic24 was slain by Death's Head, while 123488.23497 was slain by the Human Torch who was under the influence of Nebula. Lord Kang fell into a massive device that was pulling the universe into it powered by Galactus.[91][2] Eventually the Fantastic Four and their allies dispelled the Time-Bubble, defeating it's creator the so-called Black Celestial.[92] For a time it seemed that there was only the one Kang in all existence in the Omniverse.

Infinity War

Some years later the Magus, the evil persona of Adam Warlock, was orchestrating a complex conspiracy to obtain he Infinity Gauntlet and rule the universe collected a number of Cosmic Cubes and constructed a massive fortress in another dimension. On Earth, Dr. Doom detected the massive energy source and the power it was drawing from Earth. Unaware of its source and seeking to obtain this power for himself but needing an ally, Doom contacted Kang in the future. Both men agreed to work with each other while secretly plotting to betrayal when they reached their prize.[93] Tracing it to its receiving source on Earth, the two prepared a ship and headed off to find it.[94][95] They found the location of the energy source moments before the arrival of Galactus, his herald Nova, the Silver Surfer, and the Sorcerer Supreme Dr. Strange who were also seeking to locate the source of the energy as Galactus tied it to the sudden incapacitation of Eternity. Seeing their arrival, Doom and Kang cloaked themselves from the view of the new arrivals.[93] When Galactus and his allies opened a portal to travel to the dimension the energy source was coming from, the two villains followed, cloaked from view.[94][95]

Detecting the approach of Galactus, the Magus attacked from afar destroying the world devourer's ship. Doom and Kang were able to slip past the wreckage and continue on the trail. Appearing in another dimension they found another trail to follow and they continued on their path. Detecting that Warlock and his Infinity Watch and the mad Titan Thanos was following after them they were more than pleased when a group of heroes -- also trying to track the source of the energy -- appeared and began battling with the Watch.[96] The two eventually made it through to the other side of the dimensional gate and materialized in front of the Magus' citadel. Sneaking inside, the pair found the power source and rigged explosives on the Cubes in the event they might lose their battle with its owner to ensure that nobody could claim it if they failed.[97] By the time they secretly reached the control room they found that the Magus had captured Adam Warlock and the Infinity Gauntlet. At that very moment Galactus was petitioning the Living Tribunal to restore the power to the Infinity Gauntlet as the Magus had planned all along. The pair then suddenly attack the Magus, but he was too strong for Kang who was easily incapacitated. The Magus fled, and before Doom pursued after him, he killed Kang with a gauntlet blast.[98][16] While Doom failed to obtain the Infinity Gauntlet, Adam Warlock and his allies eventually stopped the Magus.[99] As with previous instances, Kang's apparent demise did not prove to be permanent here as his mind was transferred to a new body in his own era.[16]

Citizen Kang

By this time Kang's empire spanned some six centuries with his domain of Chronopolis touching various points in time. He also formed his Anachronauts warriors gathered from various eras to be his elite warriors.[42] However further expansion into the multiverse was deadlocked between other opposing time controllers including the ancient creature Alioth, the Time Variants Authority, the Congress of Realities, Revelation a future version of Ravonna,[100] and the Delubric Consortium.[16] When the Vision discovered that parts of his body were created by Timely Industries in the year 1939, he went to Timely, Wisconsin to investigate and was subsequently captured by Kang. Weeks later when Captain America went to look for him, Kang had him banished to the year 2700 BC. Meanwhile, long since having escaped the Time Bubble, Kang-Nebula - revealing herself to be Kang's long lost love Ravonna - attempted to obtain the help of Dr. Druid to assist her in stopping Kang.[9] Meanwhile, Kang traveled back in time to seek out an alliance with Prester John in the realm of Avalon sometime in the 10th century. When John refused to join Kang, the time traveler banished Prester John to the year 911 AD hoping that John would change history by preventing an alliance between King John the Simple and the Viking leader Rollo Hrolfson. Kang also banished Thor to this era and he made time continue on its intended path.[26]

Eventually Ravonna - now dubbed the Temptress - convinced Dr. Druid and the Fantastic Four to assist her in stopping Kang. Using the Fantastic Four's time machine they traveled to Chronopolis. There they also ran into the Avengers who were searching for their missing teammates. This led to a battle between the two groups when the Avengers presumed that Ravonna was once more manipulating people. As the two hero teams clashed, Ravonna managed to slip away and Kang unleashed his Anachronauts upon the heroes.[42] The FF and the Avengers were easily overpowered and imprisoned in Kang's citadel. Kang then revealed his current plans for invading the modern era: Revealing that he was behind Timely Industries he had components in almost every technological device made over the last 100 years and would use this to pave the way to his victory. Ravonna made her presence known and seemingly slew Kang, but this turned out to be yet another divergent version of Kang. The real Kang soon appeared, and impressed on this new vengeful incarnation of Ravonna, Kang challenged her to a battle. If Kang won Ravonna would stay in Chronopolis and become one of his Anachronauts. If she won, she would win the right to kill him. During the course of the battle, the heroes broke free from their prison and began battling the Anachronauts. During the course of the battle, Thor attempted to toss his hammer through the barrier that protected the two combatants. However the hammer was too strong and pierced the field. Seeing that it was about to strike Ravonna, Kang pushed her out of the way and took the blunt of the blow, severely crippling him and leaving Kang on the brink of death. Realizing the irony of the situation, Ravonna vowed to restore Kang to full health, if for nothing more than to finally get her revenge and kill him. Carrying Kang away, Ravonna allowed the heroes to leave.[2][16]

Terminatrix Objective

Now calling herself the Terminatrix, Ravonna put Kang in stasis and in order to keep his empire in order and safe from the Council of Cross-Time Kangs, she began posing as Kang the only beings aware of her deception being the Anachronauts. She also began investigating eras earlier in time and discovered the temporal creature known as Alioth who ruled those eras and threatened to consume Kang's empire as well. Later, Ravonnas future self Revelation summoned three Avengers: Thunderstrike, War Machine and US Agent to stop the Terminatrix from reviving Kang. In retaliation, the Terminatrix summoned Avengers of her own: Captain America, Iron Man and Thor.[101] While the two teams of Avengers were manipulated into fighting each other, the Terminatrix was lured to the year 9999 AD by Revelation.[102] While Kang remained in stasis his body was visited by some of the Time-Keepers, who feared that without the revival of Kang, the multiverse would suffer a Chrono-Synclastic Entropy event when Alioth finally invaded Chronopolis. Relatively, in the year 9999 Revelation convinced Terminatrix that she actually sought to assist her in defeating Alioth and provided her with advanced medicine from her point in time to cure Kang of his injuries. However before the Terminatrix could return to Chronopolis, Alioth attacked.[100]

As the Avengers battled Alioth, the Terminatrix returned and used the device given to her by Revelation and it successfully restored Kang to full health. Kang, Terminatrix and Revelation then recovered the Avengers as Alioth absorbed the Council of Cross-Time Kangs, killing them all. Equipping the Avengers with devices to protect them from the chronal-beast, Kang also gave them a weapon to destroy it: the Chrono-Key. When They attacked Alioth in the council chambers, the Chrono-Key transformed into Tempus a chronal being that absorbed the latent chronal energy with the dead bodies of the Cross-Time Kangs and Tempus was able to pull Alioth creating a time barrier preventing Alioth from becoming a threat to Chronopolis. Angry at the loss of lives the Avengers tried to confront Kang but he quickly banished them from his realm. Then when it appeared that he and Ravonna would finally reconcile their differences, she stabbed him in the back intending to revive him so that they would be considered equals in an attempt to deviate herself from the possible future where she would become Revelation.[103] Kang has later stated that he intentionally orchestrated the release of Alioth in order to eliminate the Council of Cross-Time Kangs and rule over his empire alone without their interference.[16]

Eventually Ravonna did restore Kang, and their old animosities came to an end. They returned to the 41st century to rule together however Kang soon quickly grew bored with his position which was becoming more and more bureaucratic. By the time he reached age 60, Kang had grown tired of this life and sought a more simpler time. Kang then decided to leave his entire empire under the command of Ravonna and resumed his guise of Rama-Tut and returned to Ancient Egypt for a time.[16]

For more on the time Kang spent in his second reign in Egypt see the entry on Rama-Tut

During his time as Rama-Tut, the former Kang assisted the Avengers and Immortus stop his past self from taking the Celestial Madonna. After which he returned to the time stream to find a new direction in life. Thanks to events occurring at the end of time,[104] Rama-Tut diverged into two distinct individuals. One saw his mortality and decided to travel to Limbo, where he eventually became Immortus.[105] The other looked into the time stream and saw how Immortus was basically a slave to the Time-Keepers and became angry. Finding a new fire inside him, Rama-Tut denounced his future self and his indentured life to the Time-Keepers. Tut returned to the 41st Century and resumed his guise of Kang the Conqueror with new zeal.

For more on the divergent paths of Kang see the entry on Immortus

His first order of duty was to eliminate all rival time travelers from the playing field. He unlesahed Alioth upon the TVA, and the Delubric Consortium upon Revelation. Deciding that the only way to truly relish his conquests he decided to no longer rely on an easy way out and destroyed the device that would transmit his mind into a new body upon physical death. Kang then began studying Immortus and his masters the Time-Keepers in order to learn how to avoid this eventual fate. He learned that the Time-Keepers were created at the so-called "End of Time" on Earth-794282 by the final TVA agent known as He Who Remains. Through these observations he learned that the Time-Keepers had attempted to ensure that the universe ended with them and considered the Earth its gravest threat. During his investigations he made allies with the Kree Supreme Intelligence and the modern era reformed criminal Libra. Together they learned that the Time-Keepers and Immortus were attempting to alter the course of human destiny by killing long time Avengers associate Rick Jones, as he contained the power of the Destiny Force.[16]

At this point in the modern era, Rick Jones was seemingly dying as a result of the energies of the Destiny Force.[106] Knowing that the Supreme Intelligence had previously controlled the Destiny Force in Rick[107] and brought him to the Blue Area of Earth's Moon where the Intelligence was being held prisoner by agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.[108] After Rick was left with the Supreme Intelligence for observation, Immortus sent his agent Tempus to eliminate the young man. However Kang arrived just in time and began holding off armies of soldiers plucked from various periods in history by his future self. During the fight, Rick awoke and with help from the Supreme Intelligence was able to channel the Destiny Force and summon a group of Avengers from different points in history which included Captain America, Yellowjacket, the Wasp, Goliath, Hawkeye, from Earth-616 as well as Captain Marvel and Songbird from one possible future to help Kang.[109] With the help of the Avengers and Rick's Destiny Force, Kang was able to fight off the troops summoned by Immortus. With the immediate trouble gone, Kang sent the Avengers off with Libra to seek safety while he returned to Chronopolis to prepare to wage war against his future self. However when Kang returned to his domain Immortus immediately launched an attack against him.[110]

Chronopolis was being decimated, with the majority of the Anachronauts, including the Terminatrix, being slain by time-twisting explosion. It soon became apparent that Immortus was seeking the Heart of Forever a powerful energy source that made it possible to change history without creating divergent realities. The Avengers soon arrived to lend a hand, but Kang ushered them off in his time machine ordering them to remain out of the time stream so that Immortus could not follow them. As this was happening Immortus gained access to the Heart and used it to collapse Chronopolis, its entire population and all its chronal energies into the powerful Forever Crystal.[111] Immortus then went about pruning various realities to ensure that humanity does not follow the destiny that put them at the risk of being destroyed by the Time-Keepers, while the Avengers tried their best to oppose him.[112] Meanwhile Kang had survived the destruction of Chronopolis, escaping to a hideout hidden in the realm known as Purgatory. There he reflected on his past life up to that point before he was contacted by Rick Jones and the Supreme Intelligence and informed that the Avengers were captured and that the Time-Keepers were preparing to make their final gambit.[16] They found the Avengers being placed on a mock trail by the Time-Keepers in the 26nd Century of Earth-9812 where the Avengers have become an intergalactic empire, the future which the Time-Keepers were seeking to avoid.[113] With the help of Rick's Destiny Force, Kang and the Avengers were able to break through the Time-Keepers force fields, but they and Immortus fled to the end of time on Earth-794282 to use the Forever Crystal in a Chrono-Cannon to wipe out all timelines that would create a future like Earth-9812. There Immortus refused to hand over the Crystal and was seemingly slain. Kang and the Avengers attacked again. They then unleashed an army of evil Avengers from alternate realities. When Kang fought back against the Time-Keepers who then attempted to speed up Kang's destiny and force him into transform into Immortus. The Avengers joined by the Rick Jones of Earth-98120 who was bonded to his era's Captain Marvel, who summoned heroic Avengers from other eras to help fight the bad.[104]

Through sheer sense of will, Kang managed to fight off the Time-Keepers attempts to force his transformation into Immortus. In the end the Avengers triumphed, destroying the Chrono-Cannon and Kang executed the Time-Keepers in retaliation. However before he could get a hold of the Forever Crystal, Captain America smashed it. Kang was also in for another shock when he found Immortus, now a separate entity from him alive and well. When it was deduced that Kang's destiny was no longer tied to that of Immortus, the conqueror realized that he had achieved the greatest victory of all and teleported away. The Avengers were also returned to their respective eras.[114]

Kang Dynasty

Now with a free destiny, Kang began focusing again on his desire to conquer the modern era. To this end, he manipulated the hero Captain Britain into accepting the role of king of Otherworld, removing him from the playing field when it came time for a potential invasion.[115]

Returning to his empire, Kang then spent the next few decades in that era preparing his armies and ensuring only the most perfect specimens were selected. Additionally he organized a harem of genetically ideal women and began copulating with them.[116] Each child from these unions he named Marcus and began training them to be the ideal warrior. With each failure, he killed his offspring and sealed them in a private chamber aboard his massive space station the Domocles.[117] His last attempt elided Marcus XXIII. Marcus Kang proved to be a success, and was trained in the art of combat, war, and strategy from his father. When Marcus reached adulthood Kang gifted him with his old identity of the Scarlet Centurion.[118] They then began monitoring the Avengers in the modern age so that Marcus could learn his foes, Kang told him to pay particular attention to Captain America. At this time the Avengers were at their highest ebb and a completely global force that was trying to strike at their various foes first before they could terrorize the free world. Kang the Centurion then began observing the Avengers battle with the Presence in Russia,[119] and their battle with Hulk-like creatures created by Jonathan Tremont of the Triune Understanding[120] before deciding it was time to launch their attack.[121] Arriving in the modern era, Kang coached his son on how to battle his campaign before sending him to sent a declaration of war to the United Nations in New York City. When Marcus arrived, he clashed with the Avengers and found himself instantly smitten by their member Warbird. When the Avengers refused to stand down, Kang appeared and decided to give them a show of power. He had his Domacles base fire a powerful blast and destroy the United Nations Building, but used force fields to save those inside. Kang then issued an ultimatum to the Avengers and gathered government officials: surrender or face invasion.[122]

Kang then warned those gathered that there were many dangers ahead in the future, showing them glimpses of of the possible futures on Earths 691, 1745, 2042, 6311, 8394, 8410, 9014, 9930, 10742, 115000, 17342, 45017, 70395, and 107342 warning that if they did not side with him humanity would die in any one of these possible futures. Kang also outlined his destiny for mankind in this era, turning them into a massive army to conquer the entire universe. Unknown to those gathered, Kang also broadcast his speech to every television, computer and radio in the world in order to cause panic and chaos across the globe and also bring out would be allies in the conflict ahead. His speech prompted the Atlantean barbarians under the rule of Attuma to attack Rollo Bay, Prince Edward Island, and renegade Deviants to attack Wuwei, China. Despite all this, a representative from the United Nations denied the chance to surrender telling Kang that the people of Earth would fight. Kang advised them that he would be attacking soon, targeting France first before departing, warning them that if they attacked his base directly instead of fighting off the invasion he would react harshly.[123] Kang and Marcus then returned to the Domacles to prepare for war observing the Avengers battles with the Presence, Attuma and his hordes, the rogue Deviants, the terrorist organization known as AIM, the Wizard and other threats.[124] Meanwhile Kang sent his son to gather those who pledged loyalty to his cause. Among the first crop was the villain known as Whirlwind whose demands for star treatment only angered Kang prompting him to teleport the super-villain back to Earth to warn others to not make such bold demands in the future. While on Earth, the Avengers began liquidating their threats, but the United States government was pressuring them to deal with Kang.[125] Kang also spent this time observing the reformation of the Thunderbolts and their battle with Graviton and considered them no threat to his plans.[126]

Getting ready to strike, Kang then ordered his son Marcus to begin mobilizing his ground troops for an assault. Meanwhile on Earth, the Avengers were dedicating themselves to defending France. However the United States government was only giving them 96 hours before they launched a fleet of Sentinel robots to deal with Kang, a decision that Captain America thought was a bad one, but he accepted. Things became more complicated when the so-called Master of the World made his own bid to take over Earth, erecting massive defense perimeters around every major city in the world.[116] Kang eventually launched his ground attack on France, and began preparing for the next salvo. Meanwhile the Avengers broke into three teams: One to defend France, another to deal with the Master, and a third group led by Captain America to try and take down the Domacles base.[127] Marcus later went to Earth and assisted Warbird in taking down the Master despite her reservations with him, leading to the first in a series of small betrayals against his father.[128] When the Avengers later attacked the Domacles base, Marcus intentionally allowed them to break through the force field that protected it unaware that his father was standing over him. Kang chose to hide his knowledge from his son and instead focused on battling the Avengers. At that moment the United States government then launched their Sentinels at Kang's orbital base. Kang appeared in a massive holographic image, and took control of the Sentinels since they were comprised of parts built by Timely Industries. Kang then destroyed the Avenger's ship and left them floating in space and turned his holographic image and army of Sentinels on Earth.[129]

Kang's retaliation was swift. He launched a massive attack on Washington D.C., decimating the entire capital despite the Mighty Thor's attempts to try and stop him, leaving the city destroyed and millions of people dead and reduced to bones. Soon the United States officially surrendered and Kang insisted that the Avengers defacto leader, the Wasp, be the first to sign the declaration of surrender.[130] Meanwhile the Avengers trapped in space were rescued by Quasar and the Living Lightning. Before returning to Earth, they had to stop Jonathan Tremont from taking control of a massive ship alien prayer ship with the help of their teammate Triatholon. After their victory they soon learned that Kang had taken the Earth.[131] Kang soon had nearly the entire world in his hands, but there were still pockets of resistance and he had them captured and placed in camps. In one such camp, the Scarlet Witch helped Wonder Man escape so that he could join the other Avengers still free and fighting Kang, using her Hex Powers to make it appear that Wonder Man died when Kang ordered him executed for a failed escape attempt.[132] Kang then focused his efforts on the last of the resistance but they began defending themselves with the Master's defenses, and their ranks were increased with the help of Namorita and the Atlanteans, as well as Warlord Kro and his Deviants, and the Presence and his mate Starlight, forcing Kang and his forces to retreat back to the Domacles. That base was suddenly approached by the Triune Ship. When Kang used his holographic projection to attack the ship he was shocked to see that the Triune craft was able to replicate the technology and do the same with Captain America.[133]

However Captain America proved the superior fighter and Kang was forced to retreat back into his ship. The Avengers, with the unlikely aid of Jonathan Tremont managed to piece the force field around the Domacles and Warbird then compromised the energy core. With the ship starting to explode, Kang ordered a full retreat and forced Marcus into an escape pod, sending him back to the 40th Century, telling his son to let him die in battle and begin his own destiny before the Domacles fell to Earth.[134] The remains of the Domacles crash landed in the town of Gaithersberg, Maryland and miraculously Kang survived the crash but his armor was severely damaged. The Avengers arrived soon and Kang challenged Captain America to a one on one battle. This was a battle that Kang ultimately lost and he was finally taken prisoner. Soon Kang's empire was dismantled and the Earth began to repair the damage. Kang meanwhile found himself locked in a secluded prison in Montana. There he was rescued by his son Marcus, despite his protests to be left. Kang eventually relented and returned to his ship. There Kang revealed that he knew of his son's betrayals and revealed the truth of his birth. Kang then expressed his disappointment that his son would not only betray him, but deny his wish to die in combat -- or at least by execution from his enemies and become a legend. Deeming his son as much a failure as all the versions before him, Kang fatally stabbed his son. When his computer asked if Kang wished to awaken the next Marcus, he delayed the order, allowing himself a moment of grief now having lost everything.[117]

The End & JLA/Avengers

Following this, Kang was briefly imprisoned along with other time traveler by Akhenaten of Earth-4321 until he was defeated by Thanos and his prisoners freed.[135] Later, Earth-616 was being merged with a distant cosmic by the being known as Krona which altered history where the two vastly different universes coexisted together. According to this new reality, Kang battled with the so-called Lord of Time over a Chronal Egg. Both manipulated the Avengers and the Justice League of America into clashing with each other. The heroes won the battle, but these events were erased from history when Krona's merging of the two universes was halted by those self-same heroes.[136]

Iron Lad

Kang later traveled into his own past, saving his teenaged self from bullies in the hopes of helping the young Nathaniel Richards achieve his destiny as Kang the Conqueror sooner. Showing the boy his destiny, Kang also equipped him with Neuro-Kenetic, which proved to be a mistake. Unwilling to become a villain, the young Nathaniel Richards fought back against Kang and then escaped into the time stream and ended up in the modern era. Learning that the Avengers had disbanded, he uncovered a secret protocol within the remains of the Vision and used it to form a group of young heroes who eventually came to be called the Young Avengers, and calling himself Iron Lad.[137] With the formation of the group, former Avengers Iron Man and Captain America attempted to convince the youths to disband. During their discussions at the ruins of Avengers Mansion, they were attacked by one of Kang's Growing Men. Upon the constructs defeat, it signaled Iron Lad's location to Kang.[138]

Kang clashed with Iron Man, Captain America, and former private eye Jessica Jones, and the Young Avengers. He warned them that if Iron Lad did not return to his own time and follow his destiny to become Kang history would be irreparably changed in catastrophic ways. Kang's appearance in the modern age alongside his younger self caused this change in history to accelerate. While the Young Avengers geared to fight Iron Lad's future self, the Avengers saw firsthand the changes that were being made and resolved to try and help Kang restore the natural order. When the Young Avegers fought back, they were easily trounced by Kang who turned Iron Lad's own armor against his teammates.[139] Kang then opened a time portal to bring Iron Lad back to his own era, but was knocked in by Iron Lad's teammate Stature, sealing it. Kang returned momentarily and threatened to kill Captain America, but the Young Avengers fought back even harder than before. Their ranks increased when Iron Lad converted his armor into a new incarnation of the Vision. While Kang was distracted, Nathaniel managed to sneak up behind him and fatally stab his future self through the chest with a sword, killing him.[140] With the future rapidly changing and members of the Young Avengers being wiped from existence, Iron Lad realized the futility in his staying in the present and willingly returned to the future to follow his destiny and become Kang the Conqueror. This caused reality to return to the status quo.[141] Kang was apparently restored to life as a result.

Heroic Age

When Adam Warlock became the Magus once again in order to stop the Fault, a hole in time in space caused by a T-Bomb, it ensured that the future of Earth-7528 where the Magus and his Universal Church of Truth ruled the universe was the dominant future. This caused the destruction of many possible timelines, the lone survivors being each realities' version of Starhawk. Kang was warned of this impending doom from a surviving Time-Keeper before being frozen in Limbo ice. Kang sought refuge in Limbo and gathered the army of Starhawks. Witnessing members of the Guardians of the Galaxy trapped in the year 3009 of Earth-7528, Kang and the Starhawks rescued them. Having had their ages changed due to the Fault Kang restored them to their proper ages and informed the group of the danger to history. He offered them only one solution: kill Warlock. He then gave the Guardians' leader Star-Lord a Cosmic Cube to help do the job. Despite the team's reservations, Kang transported them back in time to moments before Adam Warlock turned into the Magus to do the job. Star-Lord eventually succeeded in slaying the Magus, but not before many of his teammates and allies were slain. However with the Magus now dead, reality resumed its proper course.[142]

Kang soon became aware of the possible future of Earth-10071 where the robot Ultron slew that reality's Avengers paving the way for domination of Kang's own era. To stop this, Kang gathered an army of heroes to destroy Ultron, but failed. In retaliation, Kang went back and gathered more and more super-humans and failed over 20 times.[143] His constant time travels caused too much of a strain on time and broke it causing chaos across the time stream, causing different eras to bleed into each other while causing the battle between Ultron on Earth-10071 to continue in a perpetual loop. This prompted his future self, Immortus, to pose as Kang once more and convince the Next Avengers to allow himself to travel back in time to recruit the Avengers of the modern era to fix the fracture in time.[144] The Avengers eventually traveled to Earth-10071 and learned of the situation and agreed to deal with Ultron.[143] They went back in time prior to the battle with Ultron and convinced the robot to lose the battle, pointing out that in fighting Kang would lead to the damage done to the time stream and that Ultron would no be destroyed as well. Ultron agreed, and when the time for the battle came, Kang and his forces easily destroyed him. With such a quick victory, Kang returned his warriors to their proper points in history. Disappointed with the lack of a challenge, Kang returned to his own time to continue searching for a suitable conquest. With the defeat of Ultron, reality diverged to a new future of Earth-10943, and the damage to the time stream was repaired.[145]

Apocalypse Twins

With the birth of the Apocalypse Twins, Kang began to see them as a threat to his future time and began orchestrating a means to not only eliminate the threat of mutants to his future time, but also to gain mastery of all time and ensure that his rule reigned unopposed. To this end, Kang kidnapped the twins, Uriel and Eimin just moments after their birth, taking them into the future to raise them.[146] He then traveled back in time to the year 1013 AD and took on his Rama-Tut guise and began manipulating once sought after heir, Apocalypse, convincing him that he was destined to rule the world by feeding him half truths about the coming future. Through his gained trust, he tricked Apocalypse into fighting a young Thor in Scandinavia, knowing that the armor given to Apocalypse by the Celestials would be immune to Thor's ax Jarnbjorn. Seeing that he was losing the fight, Thor fled back to Asgard to petition his father Odin to give him the power to defeat Apocalypse. As expected, Odin turned down this request due to the oath Earth's pantheon gods made to not interfere in the work of the Celestials. Posing as Thor's brother Loki, Kang used Thor's anger to trick him into working together to find a solution to stop Apocalypse. Kang then uncovered a spell hidden in Odin's library that could give Jarnbjorn the power to destroy Celestial armor. Kang then resumed his Rama-Tut guise and tricked Apocalypse into going after Folkbern Logan a soldier in England who was an ancestor of the modern day hero Wolverine. When Apocalypse and his Horsemen attacked England to slay Logan, Thor arrived and battled him, slaying these Horsemen and gravely wounding Apocalypse, although Apocalypse teleported away and lived on for centuries thereafter. When Thor returned to Asgard to celebrate, he was berated by Odin who warned that his actions that day would one day have grave repercussions on the world. With the first part of his scheme complete, Kang returned to the modern era where he recovered Jarnbjorn from Brazil where it was embedded in the body of the deceased sorcerer Baron Mordo in a Brazilian tomb.[147]

Kang then began raising the Apocalypse Twins in the year 4145, teaching them that mutants and humans could never live in harmony together and that the twins would grow up to oppose Kang himself and they would meet defeat. To show them how the fight for supremacy was a lost cause for the twins, Kang forced them to live out years of their lives in mutant concentration camps run by the Red Skull on Earth-13044. There they were forced to live in a camp run by the cyborg known as Ahab. When Uriel and Eimin attempted to escape Kang watched over them gloating, and allowed them to be captured by Ahab and his Hounds. When Ahab caught them, Kang stood back and watched as Uriel was forced to blind his sister by cutting her eyes out with his wings.[148] Convinced that they had learned enough about human cruelty, Kang took the now teenaged Apocalypse Twins back to his future of 4145 to continue their training. He sent them on a mission to Earth-26111 to slay Colonel America. This instead led to a battle with the Morlocks and Uriel and Eimin were forced to slay their leaders Havok and Rogue. After their failure, he brought them back to his own time and showed them his trophy room, including Jarnbjorn.[149]

Avenge the Earth

However before Kang could continue his conditioning of the Apocalypse Twins, they stole Jarnbjorn and returned to the modern era of Earth-616. Using the weapon they slew the Celestial known as Arishem the Judge, just as it was summoned by the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse. They then started a campaign to create a mutant rapture, to move the mutant population to a new world before the Celestials sought retribution. This plot was opposed by the Avengers Unity Division in vein. Ultimately, the Apocalypse Twins succeeded in manipulating the Scarlet Witch into succeeding in their plan, and the Earth was destroyed by Exitar the Executioner. In order to prevent Kang, or any other time travelers from going back in time and stopping them, the twins also constructed a tachyon dam that protected the entire timeline[150] It was by this point that Kang's latest incarnation of Marcus realized that the Apocalypse Twins escaped and attempted to warn his father. However Kang was already being told what the Apocalypse Twins were up to thanks to holographic recordings that were rigged to go off just as Kang's timeline was beginning to be erased.[148]

Kang began gathering other beings from futures that were being wiped out thanks to the work of the Apocalypse Twins. Forming the Chronos Corps which consisted of Stryfe of Earth-4935, Venom of Earth-9997, Dr. Doom of Earth-6375, Iron Man of Earth-8410, Magistrate Braddock of Earth-12928, Ahab of Earth-13044 and the Abomination Deathlok of Earth-11045.[151] However he and his forces were unable to affect changes in the present day thanks to the tachyon dam. About a decade later, the mutants had established themselves on a new world called Planet X. By this time both Havok and the Wasp had gotten married and had a human child named Katie. In order to create a safer world for their daughter, Alex and Janet managed to destroy the tachyon dam that existed in their era, allowing Kang and his Chronos Corps to breach that point in history, which allowed them to also recruit Thor to their cause.[152] Kang came up with a plan to restore the Earth, but with the tachyon dam in the past preventing them from going further, Kang came up with a plan to send the minds of the surviving members of the Avengers Unity team into their past bodies and preventing the destruction of Earth. When Havok protested due to concerns he had over the fate of his daughter, who could be erased from history by such a move, Kang teleported her away into the timestream in order to force his and the Wasp's support. In attempting to free the captured Wolverine and Sunfire Kang and his minions clashed with the X-Council and X-Force as well as the Apocalypse Twin's minions Banshee and Daken.[153] Succeeding in their task, with the help of Magistrate Elizabeth, Kang managed to send the minds of Thor, Wolverine, Havok, the Wasp, and Sunfire back in time to the moments leading up to the destruction of Earth.[154]

The heroes travel into the past and with the help of Rogue and the Sentry managed to keep Exitar at bay while they recovered Jarnbjorn from the Apocalypse Twins. As Thor wounded Exitar, the other members of the Unity Team destroyed the tachyon dam, allowing Kang and his forces to arrive in that era. This was the final culmination of Kang's schemes and he had his Abomination Deathlok push Thor into the cosmic energy spewing from the wounded Celestial. Kang then began attempting to absorb the cosmic energy, hoping to attain godhood and conquer all time.[6] The Avengers clashed with Kang's Chronos Corps and were assisted by the arrival of Immortus and his Infinity Watch while Havok and Sunfire attempted to prevent Kang from absorbing more energy from the Celestial. While Sunfire defeated the Apocalypse Twins, Havok overpowered Kang and severed him from the Celestial energies. Defeated, Kang fled into the timestream taking his Chronos Corps with him. However he left Ahab behind to find the Red Skull and ensure that the future of Earth-13044 came to pass.[155] Because Exitar was prevented from destroying the Earth and the Apocalypse Twins were defeated before they could complete their rapture, reality continued on its natural course, although the Planet X reality endured in a divergent reality designated Earth-13133.

Original Sin

Kang eventually ended up working with two of his alternate selves, Immortus and Iron Lad, at a point in time and space called the "end of the road" to await the arrival of the "last Avenger".[156] This came in the form of Captain America who was being hurtled forward through time thanks to the damaged Time Infinity Gem. He was rescued from the fractured timestream by Iron Lad after surviving an experience some 51,028 years in the future.[157] Iron Lad then brought Cap before Kang and Immortus. When the Time Gem reappeared the three time travelers trapped it in a bottle of "No-Time" to prevent it from functioning and sending Cap through time yet again. They explained to Cap that the current crisis threatening to destroy the multiverse was destined to fail if they allowed Cap to continue going forward, Iron Lad's future selves having already lived this moment. However Cap refused to stand back and do nothing when lives were in danger and broke the Time Gem free, and was transported back to his own era before the three incarnations of Kang could stop him.[156]

Inhumanity

After Attilan, the city of the Inhumans, was destroyed by Black Bolt during his fight with Thanos,[158] the Inhumans that were scattered were found except for Black Bolt's son Ahura. Kang had teleported him to his fortress and took him under his wing. When Black Bolt eventually found Ahura, he submitted him to the Terrigenesis process and made a deal with Kang: Kang would take Ahura to safety into the time stream in order to save him from the death of the universe brought about by the Incursions. Kang accepted but with the condition that even if the Multiverse was restored, Ahura would be his forever.[159]

When the universe was restored, Black Bolt reneged on his deal with Kang and decided to get his son Ahura back. With the help of Reader, Black Bolt traveled back 13,000 years into the past, where Kang would leave Ahura in the care of Randac in Attilan to accommodate him to Terrigenesis and then retrieve him some time later. However, Kang caught onto Black Bolt's betrayal and forced him to retreat.[160]

To get revenge on Black Bolt for his betrayal, Kang proceded to train Ahura over the next few decades, taking him to ancient cities across humanity's history and having Ahura conquer them. In doing so, Kang made sure that Ahura would kill the ancestors of the Inhuman Royal Family in order to erase them from history. After doing Kang's work for a lifetime, Ahura eventually became an old man and realized what Kang had made him do. So, he retaliated by killing Kang and took up his mantle.[161] The elderly Ahura would travel back in time to the origins of inhumanity and waited for his parents to arrive to kill them for allowing this to happen to him, but would die in battle against Black Bolt.[162]

Kang's death would be reversed, though, when the Inhumans decide to rescue the untainted Ahura from his fate by travelling back in time 13,000 years ago to the moment Kang delivered Ahura to Randac. After Kang left, the Inhumans arrived to Attilan to retrieve him. Ahura didn't believe that what his fellow Inhumans said and remained loyal to Kang until he was shown with the Historikon what he would have been manipulated to do, and how that future would have played out. Kang subsequently returned to the scene with an army consisting of soldiers from different periods of time in order to retrieve Ahura. After being captured, Ahura manifested his Inhuman ability to create psychic projections of himself to possess Kang and force him to leave, fix the damage he had done to the Inhuman's history and never attempt to harm his people again.[163]

Split

Due to a glitch in the timestream, Kang found himself being split up into various versions of himself. One of those versions, Mr. Gryphon, found himself stuck in modern day Earth-616.[164]

Infinity Conflict

When Kang travelled to the year 4657 where he saw an omnipotent Thanos battling a horde of dark creatures which ended in his defeat leaving reality to be consumed by the stygian darkness. After observing how this darkness consumed the worlds, Kang sought to find the source of the problem. His search lead him to the planet of Zelchia, where a mutant native developed the power to teleport. Kang tried to end the threat by killing the native, but other teleporting mutant natives emerged. With this task failed Kang sought to study the darkness, but his ship was damaged and was left stranded in the year 4012 where he encounterd Starfox. After some negotiating Kang send Starfox back to the point where the Titan send his past self in exile. After Starfox's plan to avoid the threat succeded, Kang returned to Zelchia in the year 2127 where Thanos, controled by his omnipotent future self, awaited him and after Thanos assured that the plan was a success Kang left.[165]

The omnipotent future Thanos then trapped Kang in stasis, since he was potential threat to his plans. After Thanos absorbed the Living Tribunal and the One-Above-All, Adam Warlock freed Kang and told him his plan to stop Thanos from destroying the entire Multiverse. As the omnipotent Thanos was about to end it all, Kang prevented Starfox and Pip the Troll from travelling through time, causing Thanos to get distracted and allowing present Thanos to take hold of his powers and reset everything to prior the machinations of future Thanos. After preventing Eros from stealing his technology, he rescued Adam and agreed to travel through time once again to fetch the green Soul Gem.[166]



Powers and Abilities

Power Grid [170] Intelligence 4 Strength* 4 3 Speed* 7 2 Durability* 5 3 Energy Projection* 6 1 Fighting Skills 4 * Teleporter; Other stats' enhanced ratings due to armor

Powers

Increased Lifespan: Kang is over 70 years old chronologically, but the people of his era have improved biology to the point that they seem to age much slower than 21st century man. Thus he appears to be a man in his mid-40s.[16]

Abilities

Superior-level Intellect: Though it is hard to gauge Kang's intellect given his futuristic origins, his genius is nothing short of super-human by modern standards. He commands technology beyond the most sophisticated designs of Stark Industries and Doctor Doom, and has made breakthroughs in time travel and in robotics. Kang is the only known time traveler (other than his counterpart Immortus) who possess the ability to travel through time without creating divergences. In fact Kang has the combined knowledge and experience of his counterparts from across the Multiverse.[16] Furthermore, while employing the vast resources of his empire, and when using his time-ship to penetrate the trans-dimensional realm of Limbo, from which all future eras are accessible, Kang theoretically has access to technology from any century, and presumably from alien worlds as well. Hence, in combination with the multiple resources available to him, Kang showed to have in his possession rare artifacts such as the last Cosmic Cube, demonstrating expertise to effortlessly manipulate it.[142] It may also include artifacts such as the Forever Crystal, which is capable to erase whole realities from existence.[167]

Political Savvy: Kang is a brilliant military tactician and a peerless general. Using his considerable charisma, Kang was able to raise an army and conquer his first world within mere weeks of building his armor. Kang has conquered everything within 100 light years from Other Earth, totaling "a thousand thousand" worlds,[16] which include the counterpart Badoon and Shi'ar empires of his reality, extending to several other dimensions. Though he considers it a chore, Kang is also a capable statesman. Kang is portrayed as commonly underestimating the amazing power provided by a Cosmic Cube, suggesting that he prefers to conquer worlds via more conventional and less exceptional means.[16]

Skilled Combatant: Kang is a master of both armed and unarmed combat. He has managed to go toe-to-toe with Captain America, and single-handedly held back Immortus' time-tossed army for several minutes during the Destiny War.

Indomitable Will: Through sheer force of will, Kang managed to separate himself from his future counterpart Immortus to make himself a distinct entity.[114] Kang is absolutely fearless, and will stop at nothing to accomplish his own goals.





Paraphernalia

Equipment

Battle Armor: Kang's battle armor is produced from a rare synthetic alloy from the 40th century. It is neuro-kinetic, meaning it responds to his subconscious thoughts. Though Kang has no powers, his armor endows him with rough equivalents of super-human abilities. Enhanced Strength: Gives Kang the ability to lift 5 tons. Durability: The armor has a built in force-field that extends from 2 feet away from his body, outward to 20 feet in all directions. It can withstand even a nuclear strike at point blank range. Anti-Gravity Device: Kang has a device in the gauntlets of his armor that allows him to render objects weighing up to 2.2 tons weightless. Video Communicator: Built into the right wrist is a video communicator, which he can use to stay in contact with his bases from any point in the time-stream. Time Travel: Kang's armor can create temporal divergences, giving him the ability to travel through and manipulate time. Concussive Bolts: Kang can fire concussive blasts from the finger tips of his gauntlets; these blasts have the force of several tons of dynamite. Weaponry: By cracking his fingers, Kang can summon any number of weapons which are transported to him through time-stream instantly. Electric Shock: By flexing his muscles, Kang can activate a powerful electric shock. Hover Pad: Kang has often made use of a hover-pad in his battles. Survival Kit: Kang's armor has a self-contained atmosphere, 30 day supply of food, and waste disposal system. Body Transference: Until recently, Kang employed nano-technology in his helmet's circuitry that enabled him to transfer his mind into a new body at the moment of death.

Kang's battle armor is produced from a rare synthetic alloy from the 40th century. It is neuro-kinetic, meaning it responds to his subconscious thoughts. Though Kang has no powers, his armor endows him with rough equivalents of super-human abilities. Kang's Light of the Centuries Sphere: A sphere that can transport people trough space and time. It can also hold people captured in itself.[35] It travels at faster than light speeds,[41] probably fueled by a virtually inexhaustible energy source, or alternatively by accessing hyperspace.

Transportation

Possesses a large space ship, capable of travel through both time and space.

Weapons

He typically carries various weapons, such as an anti-matter defense screen generator, a "vibration-ray" projector, an electromagnetic field amplifier, neutrino-ray warheaded missile launcher (hand-gun size), electrical paralysis generator, nerve gas sprayer and a molecular expander. He commands a vast array of warriors from across all periods of time, including his own future era, armed with advanced weaponry. He used numerous robots, most notably his Growing Man stimuloids, packed with the "Growth Pollen" of the world Kosmos, which causes them to grow in size and strength by absorbing kinetic energy; this Growth Pollen uses the same energy accessed via the size-changing "Pym Particles" discovered by Dr Hank Pym.



Notes

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