Warning: this article has spoilers for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
During the final fight scene in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Scott Lang faced Kang the Conqueror in a physical brawl as he tries to prevent him from leaving the Quantum Realm, whilst also attempting to sacrifice himself so his family would return home safely. Lang was beaten up badly, and this version of Kang couldn’t use his powers since his suit was destroyed once again.
It wasn’t until Wasp (aka Hope Van Dyne) returned to the Quantum Realm that both of them were able to defeat a weakened Kang, and Cassie was able to open another portal to bring Hope and Scott back home.
I bring this scene up because we got to see what Kang is like without his powers. It was a battle between brute strength, and Lang gets easily beaten up by his timeline-jumping foe. This battle reminded me of an old Simu Liu tweet back in August 2022, where the Marvel star commented on Jonathan Majors‘ body during shooting on Creed III.
So was Liu right about what’s going to happen to the Avengers? Will the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes be no match for Kang?
Not all of the Avengers are ordinary humans
The one thing we need to remember during that mano-a-mano fight between Kang and Lang is that Ant-Man is just an ordinary human with a suit that can alter his body mass. The same can be said for Wasp. And if you think about it, not all of the Avengers’ powers are just brute force and manipulation of physical strength.
There are a few superheroes who appeared in the Infinity Saga that have more than just human abilities like Thor, Captain Marvel, Hulk, Loki, and Doctor Strange. These heroes have superhuman abilities which could be an advantage against this multiversal threat. Not to mention the new heroes that were introduced in Phase Four like Shang-Chi, Monica Rambeau, and Ms. Marvel. So perhaps these heroes may have the manpower and the abilities to stop this guy.
However, we also need to remember that there is more than one Kang in this saga. There are hundreds of them. Thousands even. During the mid and end-credits scenes of Ant-Man 3, the council of Kangs gathered after three variants worried that the Avengers are “getting close to touching the multiverse.”
This meant that our heroes might not be facing one Kang, but different variants of them, as warned in the season finale of Loki.
So is Simu Liu right?
Liu might be right and wrong about Kang’s capabilities. After all, he did say in the film that he’s killed multiple Avengers in the past, and it’s currently unknown if any of the other Kang variants faced these heroes at all. At the same time, though, the film might have shown that he may have a weak spot. Remember, despite how powerful this guy is, he is still flesh and blood in the end. He just so happens to have the ability to travel across time and the multiverse. Heck, Sylvie was able to easily stab him in the season one finale of Loki.
But we also need to be reminded that this isn’t the same Kang from the Disney Plus show and Marvel Studios did try to make it clear that He Who Remains is different from all the future variants we will see in the Multiverse saga. The Avengers will need to do a lot more in order to wear this guy down.
As cheesy as it sounds, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hints that only the power of teamwork can stop this conquering overlord from his tyranny. So it makes sense why the squad will be reassembled by the end of Phase six. It takes a team to stop someone like Ksng from causing harm to the timelines.
It’s currently unknown what Kang is capable of, especially since we’ve only seen him in two Marvel titles so far. Also, it was confirmed that he will be returning in Loki season 2 as another Kang variant named Victor Timely. Perhaps we’ll know more once Avengers: The Kang Dynasty comes out in theaters in May 2025. Until then, maybe Liu might be on to something, and we just don’t know it.
Published: Feb 20, 2023 01:31 am