Hostile alien Kang Johnson, an original villain from The Simpsons, is a fan-favorite character who shares quite a few underlying parallels with Marvel's premier time-traveling despot Kang the Conqueror. Kang and Kang are two of the greatest threats within their own respective universes, with world domination at the forefront of their grand schemes. The Simpsons is prominent for containing a host of Marvel Comics characters and references throughout its 33-season run, but this Avengers connection has been hiding from fans right in plain sight.
Introduced within the first of the annual Simpsons Treehouse of Horror specials, Kang Jonhson was initially an ally of the Simpson family before an unfortunate misunderstanding turned his attention on harming the yellow Earthlings and the unknowing residents of Springfield. Now, Kang and his sister Kodos are set for conquest and power whenever they come to town. Kang's own unquenched desire for domination finally came to a satisfying finish in the "Citizen Kang" segment of 1996's Treehouse of Horror VII. The episode saw the alien and his familial companion eliminate presidential candidates Bill Clinton and Bob Dole, before deceiving the world as their new human counterparts. Though Kang and Kodos' plot was eventually brought to the surface by Homer Simpson, this setback did not bring an end to their ultimate plans for domination, which brought the segment to quite a dreadful conclusion.
The Marvel Kang's conquest of the planet Earth would come to unfold five years later in writer Kurt Busiek's Avengers crossover "The Kang Dynasty." Culminating with 2002's Avengers #54, "The Kang Dynasty" was a multi-issue story arc focused on Kang the Conqueror waging a full-scale war on humanity and ultimately succeeding in his efforts. It proved to be the combined might of the Avengers and Kang's son Marcus Kang XXIII a.k.a. the Scarlet Centurion that brings the conqueror's rule to an end. Marvel's Kang isn't the only Kang distant from his own children, as Kang similarly shares a strained relationship with biological daughter Kamala. Another Treehouse of Horror segment entitled "Starship Poopers" even revealed that Maggie Simpsons is an unsuspecting offspring of Kang, though this is not canon to the main Simpsons show itself.
Not only are Kang and Kodos war-hungry tyrants from but they are both members of the Rigiellian species, hailing from Rigel-7. Dedicated comic book fans will instantly recognize the title Rigellians, who are a classic race of aliens within Marvel famous for colonizing other planets. The Rigellians remain a stable fixture of current comics, running into Thor, Iron Man, Hercules, and several other Marvel cosmic characters. Though the Rigellians are not quite on the level of interplanetary rivals the Kree or Skrull Empire, the aliens can still prove to be a formidable threat to other specimens such as Kang the Conqueror. The Rigiellians were even as bold as to retrieve Kang's infamous android soldier known as the Growing Man.
As a result of Disney's 2017 acquisition of 21st Century Fox, the Disney + short The Good, The Bart, and The Loki gave fans a first glimpse of a potential crossover between The Simpsons and Kang's arch-rivals the Avengers. Now that Kang Johnson and Kang the Conqueror are living under the same corporate roof, there is always a chance they could convene and exchange notes on how to best their greatest foes the Avengers and The Simpsons.