How Loki Can Begin Kang's Evil Transformation Ahead Of Ant-Man 3

A character in Loki points toward Marvel possibly setting up Kang’s evil transformation ahead of Ant-Man 3. Marvel has revealed that Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s character in the upcoming Disney+ series is Time Variance Authority agent Judge Renslayer. Her name connects her to Princess Ravonna Renslayer, a love interest to Kang the Conqueror in Marvel Comics.

Kang, who has a reputation as one of the Avengers’ biggest villains, is confirmed to be on his way to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Lovecraft Country Jonathan Majors will bring the character to life on the big screen in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Given that Kang is a key adversary to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in the comic books, many are assuming that the time-traveling Avengers villain will have a role in the MCU that goes beyond a fight with Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly). Being someone who has pushed the Avengers to their limit on multiple occasions dating all the way back to the 1960s, the character is perhaps the strongest candidate for the main villain of Avengers 5 right now.

Kang’s importance in Marvel Comics gives credence to the idea that he’ll be integral to the MCU’s future. If that’s the case, Marvel could start laying the groundwork for him prior to his grand entrance in Ant-Man 3. It would seem reasonable for that to happen in a show like Loki, since it too is a time travel story. How he’ll travel in time or Kang himself could be discussed in the series, but there are other ways of building up to his Ant-Man 3 arc. An event or character in Loki could be linked to the reason that Kang turns evil and begins his mission of conquest.

Ravonna’s Role In Kang’s Marvel Comics Story Explained

Ravonna Renslayer from Marvel Comics Kang

Introduced in the 1965 comic Avengers #23, Princess Ravonna lived in a kingdom that existed centuries into the future. Kang, who had already battled the heroes prior to her debut, expressed love for Ravonna and a desire to win her affection. The princess, on the other hand, held no feelings for Kang, who ended up launching an invasion into her father’s lands. With the help of the Avengers, Ravonna’s kingdom was able to drive away the villain. Later on, a rebellion forced a team-up between the Avengers, Ravonna’s people, and Kang. Though he considered himself an enemy of the team, he believed that protecting Ravonna was more important. His efforts to save her allowed her to see his redeemable qualities, and helped her come to the realization that she actually did love him. Immediately after making this discovery, she nearly died protecting him from harm.

For a while, the Avengers thought Ravonna was dead, but they found out that Kang was struggling to keep her alive. He arranged another alliance with the heroes and engaged the Grandmaster in a game, with the plan being that if he were to win, he would be given the means to save Ravonna’s life. Relying on the Avengers to win the contest and being repeatedly frustrated with their actions caused Kang to be reminded by how much he hated them. When Kang finally had what he wanted within reach, he began to rethink his current course. After concluding that killing the Avengers was what mattered most, he passed up an opportunity to save Ravonna. Instead, he tried (and failed) to kill the Avengers. As a result, the princess died. Marvel eventually used a retcon to bring her back, and also created other variations of the character through alternate timelines.

Though Marvel did find ways to keep using Ravonna, her original death marked a major turning point in Kang’s story. Kang choosing to kill the Avengers over saving the person he supposedly loved served as a point-of-no-return for the character that put him firmly on the path of evil.

Why Ravonna May Be Crucial To Kang’s MCU Origin Story

Kang The Conqueror attacks the Avengers in Marvel Comics.

As noted above, Kang was a villain even without Ravonna in the early Avengers comics, but she factored heavily into the story that transformed him into one of the most evil characters the Avengers have ever encountered. Kang is a character who has always been defined by his hatred, and letting Ravonna die just so that he could get his revenge really spoke to the depth of his hate. While Kang is often guided by his thirst of power, his animosity for the Avengers is a major motivating factor behind many of his battles with him. As much as he wants to conquer the Earth, he equally wants the Avengers to die by his hand. This is such an important element of his characterization, and it's one that needs to be carried over to the MCU adaptation of Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

Marvel doesn’t need to do an exact recreation of the Princess Ravonna story from the pages of The Avengers to properly explain how Kang becomes evil in the MCU. At the crux of it is this idea that Kang’s hatred proved stronger than his love, and that’s ultimately the point that Marvel needs to get across with his character.

How Loki’s Judge Renslayer Can Set Up Kang’s Evil Transformation

How Marvel builds toward Kang making such a fateful decision in Ant-Man 3 could be determined by what it’s doing with Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s Judge Renslayer, which is currently a mystery. Many are assuming that she is Ravonna. If that’s true, Loki could reveal that before becoming an agent of the TVA, she was a member of royalty from the distant future. It could be that she has some sort of history with Kang that can be elaborated on at a later date. Another possibility is that Judge Renslayer is a relative of the princess. That could actually make more sense, as the plan for Ant-Man 3 may be to save such a vital part of Kang’s origin for the movie itself.

That being said, Loki can still incorporate or at least reference the event that triggers his villainous turn. When Judge Renslayer lays out her backstory, it could be revealed that her kingdom was wiped out, and that Princess Ravonna was killed. It’s possible that this happened because Kang, like his comic counterpart, lost what was left of his humanity by letting her die in order to pursue his own hateful crusade. Once this history for Ravonna and her kingdom is established, Ant-Man 3 can explore it in greater detail when it visits the future and officially introduces the classic Avengers villain.

More: Who Are The MCU Timekeepers? Loki's Time Variance Authority Explained