Alright so the Kang Gang is in full force in Quantumania and the MCU right now,
but Kang’s origins just got a bit more sticky, let's say,
in the latest run of the character Kang The Conqueror: Only Myself Left To Conquer. So in
this video I want to talk about his newer origin story, how things differ a bit,
and how this could influence the upcoming Phase 6 movie, Avengers: Kang Dynasty.
Obviously there are going to be heavy spoilers for the Kang comic run,
so this is your warning up front. Now that I’ve given you some… time to get out of here,
get ready for the gang bang. But yeah I’m your host Jared,
the He Who Remains of Heavy Spoilers, now let’s get into Only Myself Left To Conquer.
So jumping into things, Kang’s origins have been somewhat established in the halls of time,
because uhh he is the Master of Time... Born on Earth-6311 in the 30th century,
Nathaniel Richards studied robotics and cross-dimensional recordings of Earth-616.
After discovering part of a time machine left by his namesake and ancestor from Earth-616,
he would eventually become Kang the Conqueror, who sought to become an
overlord of the time-space continuum, with his various super powered variants.
Now here in Kang The Conqueror: Only Myself Left To Conquer, Kang or rather Nathaniel Richards’s
origins are a bit different, cherry picking here or there from the origins that were established
earlier. It starts with Nathaniel Richards at 18 years old in the futuristic utopia of the 31st
century. The perfect world, no famine, war, just watching adults do tiktok dances all day long,
but Richards dreams of something bigger. He wants to actually do something with his life.
As he sees the future doesn’t have anything interesting in store, he believes the past
is where excitement awaits. Basically nostalgia, as he wants to feel something.
Searching for answers in Victor Von Doom’s old library, he is attacked by a Doombot,
only to be swiftly saved by a mysterious figure. This international man of mystery
tells young Richards that he’ll only learn of one side of history from the dusty old books,
revealing himself as The Conqueror, the eternal, The god pharaoh Rama-Tut, the bad tipper,
the time keeper Immortus. I was once you, but I am now Kang. Offering him unlimited power,
worlds, and knowledge to explore, as young Richards joins him into the time stream.
Kang takes the two to 65 million BC, telling Richards he has but 1 year to master his abilities
and become who Kang is. Further elaborating he has seen and done almost everything. Became an
ancient ruler, facing off with the Fantastic Four, the Avengers in Manhattan, Doctor Doom trickery,
and much much more. But one moment stuck out to young Richards. As Kang drank,
he cried in the shadows once the name “Ravonna” was muttered. Kang told Richards their only
weakness was love. Never love. Don’t do it. Maybe some self lover whenever you need a release,
BUT never love another. Kang is a prisoner of himself, his defeats and failures,
so he needs to make Richards perfect… but is there really any living in that sense?
Richards meets a mysterious woman while out training, rescuing her life, and experiences the
joys of life from her village, as they feast, eat, drink, dance, and bond with one another. “This is
where they will live, in the space between the stars”. Richards rushes back to tell Kang about
everything, only with him repeating the quote “The space between the stars.” Kang berates and abuses
Richards for saying he finally found something he loves in this world. Going against the
one and only thing Kang said NOT to do, Kang wipes out the village, as Richards watches in horror.
Richards realizes he had left his cage of a mundane future,
but landed in a completely different cage. He devises a plan to steal Kang’s suit on
the final night before the final day that the great asteroid would smash into earth. Jumping
into the timestream, escaping the cage he was in, exploring the limitless bounds of
time and space. But what he didn’t know, was Rama-Tut’s cage was waiting for him.
The young Nathaniel Richards finds himself at the beginning of what is later called the
Kang Dynasty. Obviously this movie is on the MCU docket for Phase 6,
and I’ll talk about it later in the video, but Only Myself Left To Conquer would make for a
rad story for Kang. Anyway back to it, Richards is saved by Moon Knight, crazy I know, as the
pair go to meet with Khonshu. Though a twist of fate it would be, that Khonsue’s current vessel,
and the Moon Knight mantle belongs to Ravonna. The name the older Kang would mention in passing,
and having a very similar physique to the woman Richards had met back in 65 million BC.
Believing this is a second chance, Richards wants to become the hero that the other Ravonna from
65 Million BC saw him as, allowing Kang’s neurokinetic armor to morph into something
more hero-like, Iron Lad. He and Ravonna fought off legions of Rama-Tut’s forces, developing an
affection for one another. Again, Richards not listening to the “Do not love” advice of Kang,
and kisses Ravonna. But as they get to pecking, Rama-Tut gets to… wrecking… their good time.
Enslaving Ravonna using his “Ultra diode ray”, Richards is ordered to be executed,
but advises Rama-Tut this may not be the best idea. Because if he is him,
and him is he, what would happen if he killed thee? And what would happen if you hit that
like and subscribe button? Probably great things for the both of us. Smart thinking
on both parts, as Rama-Tut enslaves Richards, transforming him into the leader of his army,
the Scarlet Centurion. However things go awry, as Rama’s forces attempt to go toe
to toe with another mutant force of ancient Egypt, En Sabah Nur, or rather Apocalypse.
Richards, now Scarlet Centurion, first learned of war during this time. The rage of battle
coursed through his veins, but soon realized his body was a prison and armor a cage. In order to
escape Kang’s power, he needed both to be broken, and revenge was sworn. So after Rama-Tut cowardly
escaped back into the timestream to avoid the Fantastic Four, Richards pledged allegiance to
Apocalypse now residing in Khonsue’s old temple, so the two could destroy Kang.
Their plan was to essentially send Richards into the future, with Apocalypse locking him
in a sarcophagus until it was time. Time to destroy kang, and end his forever curse. This
brought him into modern times, as the Avengers were gearing up to fight Kang,
arriving in his giant time ship. As Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Wasp, and Giant-Man were
distracting Kang, Richards snuck his way on to Kang’s ship, ready to end it all.
Attempting to escape back into the timestream, away from the Avengers, Richards pulls a blaster
on Kang, telling him his entire plane. Ending his life there, taking the ship back to Egypt,
and living his days out with Ravonna. But all of a sudden Doctor Doom pops out of the timestream,
wanting to end Kang then and there. Unfortunately Richards has to team up with his enemy, Kang,
to send Doctor Doom soaring into the nexus. Which kind of looks
like the castle that He Who Remains is partying in from the Loki season finale.
Richards sticks to it, shooting Kang, and following through with the rest of
his plan. However, returning back to Egypt to impersonate Rama-Tut has its drawbacks,
as Ravonna wants nothing of him, even though he allows her to be free.
Every plan has its cons, because just like the Rama-Tut before had fled the Fantastic Four,
the same happens for Richards. Unable to defeat them, he retreats into the time-stream,
far into a war torn future, a thousand years after the Terminators took over and his own 31st
century origins. Just as time is a tricky bitch, it shows her ugly face once again,
as Richards sees Ravonna leading a resistance against the machines and other evil forces in
this otherwise dystopian world he found himself. Even though this is a comic,
you know Johnny Lee’s Lookin' For Love started to play when he saw Ravonna’s face.
Richards now finds himself in 4086 CE with Ravonna and begins to have a Ramona Flowers and Matthew
Patel-esque relationship, as the two scrap, destroy, and kill the opposing forces. War and
violence is their love in this world. However, as Richards thinks he’s starting to crack Ravonna’s
hardened exterior, and show real feelings, he shoots her down. Saying his knowledge of history
and time, may have worked on the lesser woman than she, but this Ravonna belongs to herself.
The one and only rule of Kang rang in his mind once more, “Do not love”. Richards finally took
this to heart, and his love would be conquest. He conquered and defeated many of the factions
in this dystopian, becoming intoxicated with the feeling of victory. It clicked for him,
he finally felt like he was in control of his own destiny. No other time in his life
did he feel this, this was something different, and he was never going to
let it go. Richards finds some old tech, he had only heard about in the tales of Kang,
and crafts himself the neurokentic armor Kang wore all of those years ago, Richards was now Kang.
With his new armor, and fixed up time ship, Richards now Kang, set out to conquer all of
time and space. From King Arthur, to skrulls, to even other variants of himself. His conquest
led him to the final kingdom of earth, and to his surprise Princess Ravonna was its ruler.
The same he had met long before his years of tyranny and conquest. Love once again
flashed in his mind, as he calls off his attack, and basically Great Gatsby’s it,
by longing staring at her kingdom from afar, watching, waiting, commiserating
He sees the only way to win her love is to let her kingdom be free. He calls off his attack,
and instead once again becomes a hero. However Baltag and Kang’s
previous generals storm Ravonna’s kingdom, killing her, and soon Kang realizes he can
never escape it. Kang was his prison all of this time, and he had literally
constructed the bars around himself. But Kang sees something his mentor didn’t,
constructing an omni-viewer to view all of time, as he promises Ravonna to be his final conquest.
Now thinking about it, this all feels very Cloud Atlas like, with different incarnations
of the same characters popping up in the past, present, and future. Kang now creates Chronopolis,
and in doing so has Ravonna reborn throughout space and time 1000 times,
thinking at least one of them will love Kang back. Desperate if you ask me, like ehhhhhh.
This all feels like Guy Pierce’s The Time Machine, with him going back and forth in time,
only to realize he can never be with his lover because of countless reasons. And we
see that here with Ravonna’s rejecting him, dieing before he arrives, defeating him, and
hundreds of other reasons. Like the TVA one just whooping his ass. Kang finds one more Ravonna,
in a distant future that survives, but because of the machines that built her,
she knows all of time and what Kang was doing from the beginning. In doing so she saves all
of her other selves, destroying Chronopolis, sending Kang floating aimlessly through time.
Kang ends up where all of this started, 10 minutes before the young Richards, himself,
is asked to join him on the cosmic timestream. Richards was responsible for his own fate all
of those thousands of years ago. I absolutely love this “all of destruction was his own fault
from the beginning” angle they spun on this. The events of the young Richards play out the
same we had seen prior leading up to the asteroid strike 65 millions years ago. However, elder Kang
knew of young Richard's plan, because well he was him, and instead had a spare suit at the ready.
Moments before the asteroid hits, Kang boards his time vessel, and instead just exists in
space and time. A man who had everything he ever wanted, but with a broken heart. A love that he
could never have. A love he experienced at a young age, but then was lost to time. And it’s,
pun intended, heartbreaking to see that the elder Kang was the young Richards all along,
and that he knew how everything would play out. The pain that love would bring them,
but couldn’t stop his younger self from enjoying the thrill of love, but there is the downfail
that comes after. Ravonna was his true one love, honestly the person who created and shaped him,
but this looping story just goes on and on, much like the prison he mentions throughout, and he’s
never really in control, while also being in control. That's why the final words are
“Never ever love.” It’s such a bitter sweet and brutal ending to his story. A hero. A
villain. A Kang that just wanted to hang with Ravonna, but instead ended up in a love coma…
Now I could potentially see Quantumania laying the groundwork for this Kang origin story,
and how it could play into the larger MCU with Avengers: Kang Dynasty. The quantum
realm’s Chronopolis is just a variation on the Chronopolis that is featured here,
and essentially the Kang Prime finally arrived here after his whole time story adventure. I
wouldn’t be surprised if Ravonna is brought in in some capacity, being implanted at the TVA by Kang
himself, and also would be a cheeky wink wink nod to the TVA outfitted Ravonna in this comic run. An
affection of sorts, but maybe not the whole love or death approach to the two’s relationship. Also
the idea of three time keepers, being Immortus, Rama-Tut, and Scarlet Centurion, I mean come on.
This story would also allow for a whole bevy of MCU heroes from different generations,
timelines, multiverses to pop up and have a swing at the big guy,
which is the big rumor for Secret Wars. And the whole idea of his creation was his destruction,
and he is solely responsible would be a hell of a story, a cool M. Night Shyamalan holy shit reveal
at the end of things. It’s a badass origin, so expect at least some influences from this.
But obviously I’d love to hear what you think about the different Kang origins here,
and would this make for a great driver for Avengers Kang Dynasty? And I’ll let you know
We’re currently running a competition giving away 3 Rocky 4k box sets on the 15th of March. And all
you have to do, to be in for a chance of winning, is like the video, make sure you subscribe with
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If you want something else to watch, be sure to check out some of our other Kang content,
with our Quantumania breakdown and post credits scenes.
But with that out of the way, thanks for the constant support,
I’ve been Jared, I’ll see you in the next one, take care, and peace.