Who is Kang? Loki character and differences explained in Marvel Comics

Kang the Conqueror will be a central point of the upcoming Loki Season 2, but the character’s comic book origins aren’t likely to come into play yet. 

Ant-Man & The Wasp in Quantumania didn’t wow fans, but it introduced the next potential Thanos-level threat to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kang the Conqueror is presented as a scheming, terrifying threat that manipulates everything for his own gain. 

Though Kang seemingly dies at the end of Quantumania, it could potentially be far from the end for the character. Kang is a time-traveling menace, and his variants exist throughout the timestream. 

We know at least one Kang variant will appear in Loki Season 2, but others could be lined up for an appearance. The comic iteration of Kang has a long history and has worn many faces, all in the name of taking over the universe. 

Marvel’s Kang is a conqueror from the future of another world

Kang is one of the Avengers’ earliest foes, debuting in 1964’s Avengers #8. Of course, that’s if you’re going off the timeline of just Kang. 

Thanks to retcons, Kang could arguably be said to have debuted a year earlier in the pages of Fantastic Four. The pharaoh Ramah-Tut was a new character at the time, but would later be retconned as an incarnation of Kang. 

Kang has since been revealed to have multiple variants and incarnations, each of whom exists in their own unique timeline. The most fearsome remains Kang, who seeks out new worlds and timelines to conquer, often coming to blows with the Avengers and the Fantastic Four in the process. 

Marvel’s Kang is not all that different from Jonathan Majors’s Loki character

Kang in the comics and Marvel Cinematic Universe are actually pretty similar so far, but we’ve not seen much of him yet. After all, we’ve only seen a glimpse of Kang in Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania. 

The Kang we see in the MCU is similarly scheming and plotting. He also carries over his comic book counterparts’ vast array of futuristic weaponry, an edge that makes him so fearsome as a conqueror. 

What we don’t know much about is the true history of Kang. While Victor Timely appears in both Ant-Man & the Wasp in Quantumania and the Loki Season 2 trailer, he appears different from the comic version of Timely, an incarnation of Kang who was hiding in the 1900s. We also don’t know for sure how Kang – who is actually a descendant of Mr. Fantastic from the far-off future – is related to the Fantastic Four. 

Still, there are not many differences. In reality, Kang is one of the most comics’ faithful comic characters we’ve seen adapted to date, but the outcome of Loki Season 2 and potential appearances in future MCU projects could change that. 

Loki Season 2 releases on Disney+ on October 6. For our continuing Loki and Marvel Comics news, be sure to follow our coverage.