Kang the Conqueror was poised to be the greatest threat yet seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I’m shocked to discover these several details concerning his first movie in the franchise. While many of the strongest MCU villains have caused great trouble for Marvel’s heroes, Kang’s entrance felt more stunted. The franchise has since moved on without the actor for several reasons. However, looking at the statistics of Kang’s first movie, it seems that the reason why his story was abandoned may be simpler than it seems.
The greatest hero is only as strong as his best villain, and the MCU has seen several excellent ones. Figures like Loki have risen to heroic status in the franchise, while others, including Thanos and Ultron, have been terrific and terrifying threats to the heroes and the world they inhabit. Kang’s MCU debut failed for a number of reasons, but one of these is certainly that the quality of MCU villains has set an incredibly high bar. Unfortunately, the movie that brought Kang in failed to live up to the best of Marvel.
Kang Is One Of Marvel’s Biggest & Most Powerful Comic Villains
Kang The Conqueror Is A Terrifying Multiversal Threat In Marvel Comics
The MCU’s Kang did not live up to the potential that the character had in the comics. Debuting in 1963 as a Fantastic Four villain, Kang’s story in Marvel Comics became large and complex. Born in the distant future as Nathaniel Richards, a descendant of Sue and Reed, Kang became a time traveler in an attempt to bring peace and balance to the multiverse. As an oppressive leader with believable motivations, he became a compelling recurring villain in the comic stories, with countless interesting variants.
Aligning along different timelines, and building allies by placing his own variants throughout the multiverse, Kang is conniving and clever.
Brilliant, and in peak condition, Kang is enhanced with all kinds of weapons and armor from the future. Aligning along different timelines, and building allies by placing his own variants throughout the multiverse, Kang is conniving and clever. His goals are noble, in their own way, and come from a wish for peace that only he feels capable of establishing. Controlling and powerful, Kang had the potential to be one of the most interesting villains that the MCU had yet seen, but his debut movie failed to keep interest in the character.
Kang’s MCU Movie Debut Was One Of The Franchise’s Lowest Grossing & Lowest-Reviewed Film Releases
Audiences Did Not Show Much Interest In Ant-Man 3
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania served as Kang’s big-screen debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, following his appearance at the end of Loki season 1. The film failed to connect with critics, scoring only 46% on Rotten Tomatoes. While this rating does not reflect absolute disdain for the film, it is actually the lowest that any MCU movie has scored on the review aggregator. With such low reviews, the film clearly went in a direction most did not want, and served as a poor setup for future MCU projects.
In addition, the box office performance of the film was disappointing. While the film opened to a respectable domestic gross of $120 million over its four-day opening weekend, Ant-Man 3 quickly fell off after poor word of mouth. In the end, Quantumania only grossed a total of $212 million domestically and $476 million worldwide. This puts it among the ten lowest-grossing MCU movies, which was a significant disappointment considering how important the film was supposed to be to the franchise’s future.
Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania’s Results Show Kang’s Story May Have Been Unsuccessful Even If It Had Continued
Kang Was Eventually Replaced For Other Reasons, But Perhaps He Should Have Been Anyway
Following charges against Jonathan Majors, the bulk of which were eventually dismissed, the actor was removed from the role by Disney. The franchise instead decided to move forward with Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom as their next major villain. However, I can’t help but wonder if this pivot to another villain might have occurred even if Majors hadn’t experienced legal troubles. Kang’s story had already seen him being killed by various Marvel heroes, making him seem a much less frightening villain than the MCU had hoped for.
If the franchise had moved forward as originally planned, making Avengers: The Kang Dynasty instead of Avengers: Doomsday, I believe it would have been a mistake. The film could still have been strong, but Kang had already proven himself to not be an Avengers-level threat. Many have noted how, since he was beaten by Ant-Man, he would not be sufficient to stand against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes as a unified team. The failure of Quantumania unfortunately necessitated a larger shift in the franchise.
Jonathan Majors is a strong performer, and it’s too bad that his time as Kang was not more successful. Unfortunately, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania simply failed to set him up for greater success in the larger franchise. The film failed to connect with critics and disappointed at the box office, showing that audiences were clearly not too interested in this version of the villain. Kang had to be done away with, and hopefully, Doctor Doom works better when he is brought in during the next Avengers film.
Upcoming MCU Movies
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Thunderbolts*
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May 2, 2025
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The Fantastic Four: First Steps
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July 25, 2025
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Avengers: Doomsday
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May 1, 2026
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Spider-Man: Brand New Day
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July 31, 2026
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Avengers: Secret Wars
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May 7, 2027
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