The situation with the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s current saga-wide foe is precarious, to say the least. On-screen, the supposedly menacing Kang the Conqueror failed to make an impression during his first major outing in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, with audiences finding his ant-induced demise to be so pathetic not even actor Jonathan Majors’ chilling performance could offset it. Off-screen, the scenario is even bleaker, because, while Majors’ talent could have been a saving grace for a franchise most people claim to be fatigued by, the 34-year-old has been wrapped up in a domestic violence case since March. Not ideal.
The second season of Loki (the only one in Marvel/Disney Plus TV history to not need reshoots, by the way) had finished filming long before any of this happened. Quantumania hadn’t turned fans off of Kang as a villain yet, and Majors hadn’t possibly thrown his whole future away. The show had a fantastic actor, for all its worth, and a potentially formidable villain to work with, as well as a reputation as one of the better MCU shows to come out of the current Disney Plus era. Whether they optimized all this potential remains to be seen, but the first episode of Loki‘s season 2 has us feeling optimistic.
The show has started off on the right foot, giving He Who Remains a chilling introduction and successfully setting up his looming and threatening return in the form of countless new, more dangerous variants. Still, we’ve been led on by the start of a Disney Plus series in the past, only for the train to completely derail by the end, leaving us feeling cheated and so. Damned. Confused. We’re crossing our everything hoping Loki doesn’t go down the path of the likes of Secret Invasion and actually uses Kang and his many variants smartly.
There’s one thing Kang needs to do in Loki season 2 in order to salvage what’s left of Marvel’s Phase Five
What is the one thing that would have turned Quantumania from a disgrace to a truly important chapter in the MCU lore? Kang should have killed Scott. Their punch-heavy confrontation actually had us sweating for a while there, terrified this new enemy could murder one of the Avengers in cold blood just like that. The conclusion turned out to be to be completely anti-climatic, though, with Scott and Hope stopping Kang and trapping him in some multiverse quantum gadget. Snooze fest.
Alright, We’ll cut Marvel some slack. Ending Ant-Man’s trilogy with his death would have been a first in the MCU and would have contributed to the argument that all movies in the franchise nowadays serve only to drive the overarching plot of the Multiverse Saga forward instead of being full, complete, stand-alone movies. The good news is that they can now undo the damage done by making up for the lack of Kang kills in Loki. If Kang the Conqueror, the most genius, violent, powerful man in the multiverse, who’s conquered and destroyed entire timelines without mercy or remorse (or so we keep being told) doesn’t put his money where his mouth is soon, what’s the point?
If Secret Invasion did one thing right was actually giving us a villain whom we could genuinely fear in Gravik. Who killed fan favorites like Maria Hill and Talos in just a few episodes, and caused thousands of victims with his several terrorist attacks. Alas, reshoots and behind-the-scenes production shenanigans gave Gravik a final battle that lasted mere minutes, basically undoing everything that had been built throughout the season.
In Kang’s case, though, we know for a fact he’s staying around, and haunting the MCU at least until the two Avengers movies that are dropping in 2026 and 2027. There’s no point in following the traditional superhero formula and finishing each of his outings with the hero defeating him, whether that be a dagger to the heart like Sylvie or abduction by quantum gizmo like Scott and Hope.
If we are to start taking Kang seriously before it’s too little too late, he needs to start kicking ass and taking names soon, and he better not be easily defeated after doing it either. Our money is on Sylvie and maybe even Loki himself meeting their end at the hands of the ominous Time Lord, effectively (and finally!!) setting the tone for the remainder of what has been an otherwise lackluster and unimpressive Multiverse Saga. And then, heartbroken and mourning yet another addition to the long list of Loki deaths, we would be well on our way to a destructive and worthy final confrontation in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
Published: Oct 12, 2023 06:34 am