Warning: This article contains mild spoilers for Ant-Man and Wasp: Quantumania and disturbing plot points for The Kang Dynasty comic book arc.
The Kang Dynasty we expect to meet in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is a collective of Kangs. That’s the thing with multiversal varieties of a Nexus supervillain. There aren’t generations so much as a sideways sprawl of beings, any of whom might ask a favor at the end of time or try to smash you to bits in the Quantum Realm. In the mid-credit scene of Ant-Man and Wasp: Quantumania, the Council of Kangs is present and correct, lifting classic scenes directly from the comics for total Kangdemonium.
But the story of Kang is always complex. Clearly, the time-traversing tyrant is one of the most self-obsessed villains in the multiverse, but could the Kang Dynasty refer to more than infinite iterations of the Conqueror?
Marvel Comics has given Kang a son, who confusingly has the name of a persona the villain assumed on one of his runs through the timeline, and who appears briefly in Quantumania. Interestingly, the critical storyline involving the younger Scarlet Centurion gives its name to the grand finale of the MCU’s Multiverse Saga, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
Kang, the Scarlet Centurion
Kang is Nathaniel Richards, a human from the 31st century, gifted the intellect and ability to travel through time by his ancestors, who likely include his namesake, Reed Richards’ father, and Victor von Doom. In Kang’s chronology, he first encountered the Fantastic Four while posing as Pharaoh Rama Tut in Ancient Egypt. Displaced from his first spot of conquering, the tyrant traveled to the 20th century, where he met his forebear Doctor Doom. Inspired by the Latverian ruler’s armor, Kang assumed the persona of the Scarlet Centurion. It was a gateway persona before the Kang we’re more familiar with appeared.
In Quatumania, one of the three Kangs conspiring before the Council of Kangs Assembles appears to be the Scarlet Centurion form of the villain, despite a distinct lack of red tones.
Markus Kang, the Scarlet Centurion
Kang has been shown to have few limits on his unquenchable quest for power. As effectively immortal as the tyrant is, he once considered heirs to his multiversal empires with a typically unorthodox approach.
The Kang Dynasty arc reveals Kang fathered multiple sons with women chosen explicitly for their genetic potential. To keep things simple, the control freak named each Marcus, and had each sent to different worlds to train as warriors and leaders. Naturally, he sent them back in time so they could age to adulthood in a month of their father’s life (although he checked in every couple of weeks to test their progress). Even a Conqueror who exists beyond time has to keep an eye on their diary. In all, 23 Marcus Kangs disappointed their father and were put to death before Marcus XXIII surpassed expectations and earned the tyrant’s respect.
The reward for proving his fighting prowess, surviving a grueling selection process, and showing undying loyalty to his father was inheriting Kang’s Scarlet Centurion mantle.
The gift boosted Marcus’s skills in battle and tactical prowess. His armor increased his strength while his halberd — an updated medieval ax on a spike — could fire powerful energy blasts. As a loyal heir to Kang, Marcus naturally had access to advanced machinery, weaponry, space stations, and time-manipulating technology. He controlled vast enemies by example and by lineage.
But fittingly, considering the manipulation and distortion of his birth, he was defeated by love.
Kang versus the Avengers
Marcus first appeared in Avengers Volume 3 #38, kick-starting a limited arc that saw him and his father take their Damocles Base space station back through time to confront the Avengers in the 21st Century. Warring his way to the mantle of Master of Earth, Kang obliterated New York’s UN Building and Washington D.C. as he threatened the world through an impressively long 16-part arc.
Leading his father’s forces on Earth, Marcus fell for the Avenger Carol Danvers, more usually known as Captain Marvel, although at that time, she went by the superhero moniker Warbird.
Unfortunately for Marcus Kang, the legacy of his father’s time-tampering worked against him. Danvers had previous experience with the Kang Dynasty, having suffered horrifically at the hands of the son of Kang variant Immortus in one of Marvel’s most controversial storylines. As you might expect, Immortus’ son was called Marcus, and the manipulative villain mind-controlled and horrifically abused Danvers in the pages of Avengers #200. It wasn’t much of a celebratory issue for Captain Marvel when Marcus Immortus chose her as a vessel to be reborn from limbo and escape the paradox left by the erasure of his father. Understandably, an issue where Captain Marvel gives birth to a villain who almost immediately assaults her went down badly with fans. However, Marvel still felt confident to reference it years later.
It was Marcus Kang who suffered as Warbird understandably rejected his advances. While Kang held the leaders of Earth hostage, blackmailing them with the dark alternative futures of the Earth they would endure if they didn’t follow him, Marcus undermined his father’s work to protect his favorite Avenger.
Towards the end of the arc, Kang sent his son forward into time to protect him. When Marcus returned to rescue his father, he found the Conqueror took a dim view of his disloyalty and savagely killed him. It wasn’t a red-letter day for the Scarlet Centurion or his father. As far as we know, Kang abandoned his “Marcus” experiment after that.
Will The Kang Dynasty feature Scarlet Centurion Junior?
As we understand it, at least the first part of the epic Avengers resolution of the Multiverse Saga will be called The Kang Dynasty. As the mystery of Kang has unraveled, attention has fallen to the various incarnations of the Conqueror. In his first two MCU appearances, Kang, in the form of He Who Remains and the Exile, was intent on stopping the bulk of his other variants. Both were defeated not by their other selves but by other human and Asgardian forces.
Based on the history of the MCU (eyes on you, Infinity War), The Kang Dynasty is unlikely to follow much of the story arc that provided its name. It’s easier to imagine the New York stand-offs and the gigantic sword-shaped Damocles Base traversing time to seize control of Earth than to picture Kang junior popping up. Given the controversial nature of Captain Marvel’s history with the Kang family, it may well be something Marvel wants to avoid.
However, an undeniable sense of family is creeping into Kang’s live-action story. In Quantumania, Kang realized the power of children to manipulate parents Janet van Dyne and Scott Lang. Both their daughters, Hope Van Dyne and Cassie Lang, were instrumental in defeating the Exile, so maybe word could spread to the other Kangs.
Time Travel means Jonathan Major’s Kang can easily have heirs as old or older than him, and there are undoubtedly twisted versions that the MCU will want to nod towards to keep the threat level high.
We’re sure to see more of the Kang version of the Scarlet Centurion working with his other variants over the next two phases of the MCU, but as Kangs fall, perhaps a female heir could inherit the vivid title. Ravonna, who we met in the first season of Loki, has comic book history as a female successor to Kang, but the MCU may be warming us up for a gender-switched direct heir taking the colorful mantle too.
