Loki's Villain Compared To The Comics - How Kang's Story Changed

Warning: SPOILERS for Loki episode 6

The season finale of Loki revealed who was the mind behind the TVA, the Time Keepers, and more, proving fan theories to be correct as this was the debut of Kang in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – however, his story was changed to fit the narrative of the show and the MCU in general, and here’s how it compares to the one in the comic books. The MCU is now on its highly-anticipated Phase 4 after Spider-Man: Far From Home brought the Infinity Saga to an end following the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Phase 4 covers both TV shows and movies, further expanding this connected universe and giving extra attention to well-established characters who still have a lot to tell.

Kicking off this new wave were WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and fans recently reunited with the God of Mischief himself in Loki. As his 2012 version escaped during the time heist in Avengers: Endgame, Loki saw the title character being brought to the Time Variance Authority (TVA), an organization that oversees the timeline and makes sure everything happens as planned and which tried to seize Loki’s skills to catch another Loki variant. However, the TVA wasn’t what it seemed, and Loki joined forces with his variant, Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), to uncover the truth. After a rough journey through apocalypses and a visit to the Void, Loki and Sylvie finally found the one responsible for everything they had gone through: Kang (Jonathan Majors).

However, this isn’t the Kang everyone was expecting, as he was referred to by a completely different name and his story is a lot different from the one in the comics, though it makes for a much simpler explanation of his famously complicated comic book backstory. Loki ended with a major twist thanks to the reveal of Kang’s plan and his death at the hands of Sylvie, and before the multiverse madness truly begins and Kang returns as the villain in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, here’s how his story in the MCU compares to the one in the comics.

Click here to watch Loki: Kang The Conqueror's Origins Explained on YouTube.

Kang’s Comics Backstory

Kang has a complicated comic book history all due to his many travels across time and space, through which he has created different identities. Kang began as Nathaniel Richards, ancestor of Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards, and a 31st-century scholar who discovers the time-travel technology created by Victor von Doom. This, along with his fascination with history, led him to travel through time seeking power. Due to his time-travel abilities, Nathaniel created a lot of chaos across different timelines and encountered different versions of various Marvel Comics teams, such as the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. When he tried to return to the 31st century, he missed it by thousands of years and landed on a war-torn but advanced Earth which he conquered, expanding his dominion throughout the galaxy – and with this, he reinvented himself as Kang the Conqueror.

However, and as mentioned above, this isn’t his only identity, and he has been both villain and hero, and he doesn’t care much about the laws of time as he has interacted with his own history on multiple occasions. One of those made way for Iron Lad and the creation of the Young Avengers, as Kang’s adolescent version learned of what his future self had done and in an attempt to escape that destiny, he stole Kang’s armor and traveled to the past, forming the Young Avengers to stop his villainous future self. Another notable alter-ego of Kang is Immortus, who came to be once Kang became tired of battle due to frustration and the loss of those he loved. He was then approached by the Time Keepers, who invited him to become their agent so he would preserve timelines instead of conquering them, in exchange for immortality. Kang accepted and reinvented himself as Immortus, becoming the lord of the realm of Limbo.

How The MCU Changed He Who Remains

Loki, Kang, and Sylvie in episode 6 of Loki

Loki revealed Kang was the one behind the TVA and the preservation of the Sacred Timeline, but he wasn’t referred to as Kang nor any other of his known identities and was actually called He Who Remains, who is another character from Marvel Comics. In the source material, He Who Remains is the final director of the TVA at the Citadel at the End of Time and the creator of the Time-Twisters, who were intended to travel into the next universal cycle with knowledge of the past to improve the future. Instead of introducing him as an entity on his own, the MCU made He Who Remains a variant of Kang the Conqueror and the one who triumphed above the rest as he discovered Alioth and established the TVA to maintain some peace and avoid another multiversal war, which was originally caused by Kang’s variants.

How The MCU Has Already Changed Kang

Loki episode 6 explained the truth behind the TVA, its creation, the Time Keepers, and the multiverse, and Miss Minutes’ educational video from episode 1 wasn’t that far from the truth. Kang/He Who Remains explained to Loki and Sylvie that his variants are the ones who discovered the existence of the Multiverse, and while they initially traded knowledge peacefully, not all variants had peace as their priority. The variants battled to defend their timelines, making way for the multiversal war Miss Minutes mentioned in the video, but He Who Remains came out on top as he discovered Alioth and used it to his advantage, creating the TVA to keep the Sacred Timeline intact and avoid another multiversal war. The final scene in Loki season 1 revealed that Kang the Conqueror (now the character everyone expected to see) is now in charge of the TVA as his statue now replaces that of the Time-Keepers at the TVA headquarters, which in turn hints at his villainous and tyrannical ways as he’s not hiding like He Who Remains did. All these changes mean that Kang’s other identities won’t be the result of his travels and interactions with his past and future selves and instead are variants, each coming from a different timeline.

This already sets up Kang as the main villain in the MCU’s Phase 4 and possibly beyond, as he’s now in control of the TVA and therefore the Sacred Timeline, and his ways will surely be different from those of He Who Remains. After over 10 years of movies and TV shows, it’s somewhat expected that the MCU changes the backstories of its characters to fit the narrative it has been building over the years, so all these changes to Kang’s story aren’t that surprising, but they surely make the future of the MCU a lot more exciting, as his arrival also sets up other characters and storylines.

Next: Every MCU Supervillain (& Superhero) The TVA Has Defeated

Loki will return in Season 2.