Loki introduced “He Who Remains” in the first season finale, which fans have inferred is none other than Kang The Conqueror, among the greatest Avengers supervillains from Marvel Comics. Kang lacks superhuman abilities, but he possesses incredible powers in the comics that the MCU is sure to realize in live-action.
He achieves his ruthless aims with advanced technology from the far future and creates endless Kang variants by tampering with the timestream. Whether it’s Kang himself, Rama Tut, or Iron Lad from the Young Avengers, Kang utilizes a broad array of powers to use against his enemies and sometimes, himself.
15/15 Time Travel
Since he made his debut in Avengers #8 in 1963, numerous powerful Kang variants have menaced the Marvel Universe, some more powerful than others. Comic fans know that Kang The Conqueror rules over Marvel Universe’s biggest time travelers, an achievement that his alter ego Nathaniel Richards was able to realize in the 31st century.
Richards actually builds off Doctor Doom’s time travel technology, including ambitious inventions like the Time Platform in Marvel Comics’ present day. Richards then used that technology to travel forward and backward in time, developing even greater technologies as he went.
14/15 Longer Lifespan
Kang The Conqueror initially seems to be middle-aged in his first appearances, but he later reveals he’s actually over seventy years old. By the 31st century, medical advances stretched the human lifespan considerably, and he ages very slowly compared to modern people.
He used this to his advantage against his enemies in the present day, becoming a persistent threat across decades and even centuries. His elongated lifespan becomes even more menacing considering he has so many variants. These variants vary in age dramatically from the prime Kang.
13/15 Intellect
Kang The Conqueror’s greatest power lies in his advanced intellect. Nathaniel Richards harnessed the power of time travel and then continued to accumulate knowledge through time, including from the 40th century when he met Ravonna Renslayer, who became his love interest.
He demonstrates a vast knowledge of history and technology from numerous timelines and realities, giving him an almost cosmic awareness rivaling other powerful Marvel Comics cosmic beings.
12/15 Technological Prowess
Kang displays his technological prowess from his very first image in Marvel Comics. The cover for Avengers #8 shows him holding back the Avengers with a force field, an impressive feat for any villain. He invented antigravity floating chairs and other unique weapons, including the Damocles Base, his giant sword-shaped spaceship that he launches his conquests from.
Throughout the best Kang The Conqueror story arcs, he invents numerous technologies. These include his time ship, which one variant, Rama Tut, rendered as the ancient Egyptian Sphinx. He also created robotic foot soldiers like the Scarabs who populate his massive armies.
11/15 Enhanced Strength
Kang possesses no superpowers but effectively gains them through his Battle Armor. The armor gives him super strength, making him among the most powerful villains in Marvel Comics. Kang’s enhanced strength comes courtesy the 40th century when he adopted a highly advanced synthetic alloy to produce his suit.
With his armor, Kang gains the agility, speed, and fortitude to go toe to toe with the most powerful Avengers in battle, which, unlike some villains, he actually prefers to do.
10/15 Enhanced Endurance
Kang’s Battle Armor also gives him enormous endurance and stamina. The armor proves highly resistant to most physical attacks, though Captain America has been able to damage the armor with his shield. Kang’s armor can take a major beating, though, especially since he can project a force field from the armor.
This field can extend out to varying lengths depending on the Kang variant the Avengers are dealing with. The field repels most conventional attacks, and can even absorb a nuclear blast.
9/15 Willpower
Kang’s greatest comic book strength arguably lies in his willpower. While he commands armies and technologies far beyond his enemies, he frequently meets with failure. That never stops him, though, and his repeated attempts to rule time create infinite Kang The Conqueror variants that rival his own ambition.
Kang refuses to yield, seeking greater power and devising more elaborate schemes. His willpower often leads to chaos, as it did when he destroyed The Council of Kangs, a multiversal body embodying his countless variants.
8/15 Energy Blasts (Iron Lad)
Numerous Kang The Conqueror variants populate Marvel Comics. Iron Lad, the Young Avengers’ leader and founder, ranks with the most powerful. He wears a suit of armor as well, but an advanced one that can fire powerful energy blasts. These blasts appear far more destructive than the concussive blasts Kang’s Battle Armor produces.
Like Kang’s armor, Iron Lad also derives super-strength from the suit. Iron Lad will likely appear in the MCU at some point given that the Young Avengers are a team that the MCU seems to be building toward by introducing Kate Bishop, Cassie Lang, Kid Loki, and other characters.
7/15 Weapon Summoning
Kang’s ability to time travel not only gives him almost exclusive knowledge from across space and time but access to it. This allows him to summon weapons from any period in history that he has visited or obtained knowledge of. No defense exists for these highly advanced weapons in the present day.
Kang wields weapons like a neutrino-ray warhead missile launcher, a weapon of mass destruction that he miniaturized into a handgun. He also leverages the Growing Man, an android Kang acquired from a world he conquered in the future.
6/15 Flight (Iron Lad)
Iron Lad wields one power other Kang The Conqueror variants mostly don’t have. The armor’s neurokinetic nano-metal allows Iron Lad to fly at impressive speeds. Despite the fact he served on a team that included a powerful Loki variant, this made Iron Lad a powerful Young Avenger.
The armor also changes shape and function according to Iron Lad’s thoughts, and even operates independently from him, like some powerful Iron Man variants in Marvel Comics.
5/15 Ultra-Diode Gun (Rama Tut)
The first major Kang The Conqueror variant that comic fans met was Rama Tut. He possessed the Ultra-Diode gun, a highly advanced weapon that could drain superpowers from people. In some cases, it also drained a person’s free will, basically making them Rama Tut’s servants.
He used this weapon against the Fantastic Four in his first appearance in issue #19 in 1963. Ironically, the issue appeared in September 1963, the same month as Avengers #8, Kang’s debut. It would be many years before the two were connected in continuity.
4/15 Body Transference
Kang developed technology that took his long life even further. He created special tech within his advanced helmet to transfer his consciousness into another body before he could die. This took Kang The Conqueror variants to new levels and presents an interesting opportunity for the MCU to exploit.
Kang swaps bodies with as much ease as some notable telepathic entities in the comics, meaning even with all his variants extinguished, he potentially survives in another form.
3/15 Kang’s Light of the Centuries Sphere
Kang revealed a terrific power in Avengers #69. In this iconic issue, he transports several Avengers through time to the 40th century through his Light of the Centuries Sphere. This device travels in time at will, and through space at faster-than-light speeds. It also appears able to contain far more space within than it does without.
This sphere likely appears in some form in the MCU as it stands with the most powerful assets in his arsenal. The Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania trailer reveals Kang uses sphere and ring-like objects, suggesting the Sphere could be feature with them.
2/15 Cosmic Cube
In Guardians of the Galaxy #19, Kang showed he can manipulate the Cosmic Cube, a staggering feat given that the device is beyond most individuals’ understanding in the comics. The Cosmic Cube controls matter and energy on a universal scale, rendering it potentially the most powerful weapon in the Marvel Universe.
The Cube warps reality in whatever way the user sees fit, and in Kang’s hands, threatens to alter time on an unimaginable scale. Kang potentially uses this device in the MCU, as the object has variants in the multiverse.
1/15 The Forever Crystal
If Kang uses any weapon in the MCU, it could well be The Forever Crystal. This incredible object pancaked all the temporal power in Chronopolis, Kang’s kingdom, into a single weapon. It alters reality and time on cosmic scales, allowing the user to create new timelines, as Immortus did in Avengers Forever.
The Forever Crystal featured prominently in the 1998 miniseries, which could influence the MCU. It may also be the object Kang seeks in the Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania trailer.
