Kang's Powers Explained: Source, All Abilities & Comics Differences

This article is part of a directory: Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania Breakdown

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Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania!

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania fully introduces the Marvel Cinematic Universe's next big bad and establishes Kang the Conqueror's MCU powers. Jonathan Majors has been tapped to be the face of the next Marvel Saga in a sense, as Kang and his many variants will play a key role in the Multiverse Saga. Audiences first met a version of Kang in Loki season 1 when He Who Remains appeared in the finale. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania brings a new variant into the picture with Kang the Conqueror, who spent years trapped in the Quantum Realm after being exiled.

Since Kang has already been promoted as the MCU's next Thanos-level villain, there is a certain expectation for his power levels that comes along with such a claim. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania does an excellent job of showcasing the wide variety of abilities that Kang the Conqueror has at his disposal. This includes teasing audiences with the top-end of his power level with mentions that he's killed several Avengers - including Thor - throughout his multiverse travels. With the villain slated to play pivotal roles in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars, audiences have now been introduced to Kang's MCU powers.

What Quantumania Reveals About Kang's Powers

Antman and the wasp quantumania kang post credits

The source of Kang the Conqueror's powers in the MCU is not explicitly detailed during Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. However, the backstory provided for Jonathan Majors' villain and various context clues provides a better understanding of what his powers are and where they come from. Like all other Kang variants, this version of the character originates from the 31st century when he had access to advanced technology that is far greater than anything in modern times. The advanced technology is the source of Kang's powers in the MCU, as his abilities are not born from his DNA, a mutation, super serum, or any other such explanation.

Kang's powers are the benefit of his access to advanced technology and his brilliant intellect. Just like in the comics, he is one of the smartest and most determined men to ever exist in the multiverse. The MCU shows that Kang's genius-level smarts are what allowed him to take the futuristic technology and turn himself into a multiverse conqueror. It puts Kang in a class similar to Tony Stark or Shuri in terms of geniuses who used their brains to build suits and other technology that can be used to make them superheroes. Only in this case, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's Kang variant used them for evil.

The key to Kang's powers in the MCU is his body armor. The suit is an incredibly advanced form of technology by all accounts as Phase 5 begins. The comics have explained that Kang's armor is created from a rare synthetic alloy that is connected to his subconscious. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania proves that the suit is the baseline for Kang's MCU powers repeatedly. When he originally gets trapped in the Quantum Realm, he is without his powers because he does not have his suit at the time. Similarly, he loses some of his abilities in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's ending after the ants damage his armor.

All Of Kang's MCU Powers Explained

Jonathan Majors as Kang levitating on a floating disc in Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania shows the full gambit of Kang's MCU powers throughout its runtime. The body armor gives Kang several standard superhuman abilities, such as increased strength and protection. The super strength helps make Kang a deadly opponent in combat, as he is a skilled hand-to-hand fighter. The MCU represents this as he makes easy work of fighting Scott Lang, to the point where Kang probably could have killed Ant-Man if their fight was not cut short.

There is another aspect of Kang's powers that goes beyond his physical skills or mental prowess. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania gives Jonathan Majors villain a form of telekinesis, as he repeatedly is able to manipulate objects without touching them. This ranges from the ability to make things explode to being able to stop weapons hurled in his direction to lifting Scott Lang and Cassie Lang into the air. Again, Kang's powers are directly the result of his advanced suit.

Kang's MCU powers also include a wide variety of energy-based abilities. This includes being able to create the blue energy platforms he occasionally uses to walk on or fly around on. Kang's powers also include shooting energy blasts from his hands, which can be done in short bursts or as longer streams of energy, like Iron Man's suits. These energy blasts are so powerful that they were able to disintegrate people in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. On top of these offensive maneuvers, Kang also can create force fields around him, much like Sue Storm.

The last piece of Kang's powers in the MCU is his ability to travel time and space. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania reveals that this includes being powerful enough to open portals, at least within the Quantum Realm, so he can easily travel from one place to another. However, the MCU also introduced a version of Kang's Time Chair, which gives him the ability to visit any point in time in any universe he wants. This is the device that helps make Kang an even bigger villain in the MCU than Thanos, as he and his variants have access to the entire multiverse.

How Kang's MCU Powers Differ From The Comics

Blended image of Jonathan Majors' Jang as he looks at Ant-Man and an angry Kang from Marvel comics

Kang's MCU powers are both quite accurate to the comics and different from the source material. Bringing the ultra-powerful villain to the big screen included adding some abilities that Kang has never had in the comics. The biggest example of this is the telekinetic-like abilities he showcases in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. This is a new addition to the villain's powers made solely for the MCU. It is a smart addition to his power set to help make him an even more formidable opponent.

The other major difference in Kang's powers in the MCU compared to the comics is the paraphernalia and weapons that he lacks. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania focuses primarily on what Kang's suit gives him the ability to do, but he frequently uses a variety of other technologies to help him during his quests. Some of the other weapons he's had access to in the comics include a vibration-ray projector, electromagnetic field amplifier, neutrino-ray warhead missile launcher, electrical paralysis generator, and a molecular expander. There have even been times when he had the ability to transfer his consciousness through his helmet to another body before he died.

Do All Kang Variants Have The Same Powers?

Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) and the Council of Kangs (comics)

The intriguing part of Kang the Conqueror joining the MCU is bringing his many variants with him and seeing how their powers are similar or different to his. The MCU has already teased that not all Kang variants will have the exact same power sets. Loki's He Who Remains did not appear to have many of the abilities that Kang has in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Similarly, the multiple Kang variants introduced in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's post-credits scenes should all have powers that are on par with one another but also hold some wiggle room for differences to emerge.

The endless possibilities of the multiverse born from branched timelines have already proven that the MCU can have an unlimited number of Kangs. That freedom brings a high variance in terms of what they look like and sound like, as indicated with the Immortus, Rama-Tut, and other variants featured in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's end credits. Since not all these versions of the character have the same history, Marvel has the ability to give some of the Kang variants new powers based on their unique backstories and multiverse adventures. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania could only be the beginning of Kang's MCU powers then.

More: 12 MCU Movies Releasing After Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania