The Problem with Kang

One of the biggest issues that I have with the MCU character of Kang, the Conqueror, is that the brush that they are painting him with is way too broad. In the comics, the character is a time traveler who attempts to manipulate his own present by changing past events. No time variants, no multiverse chicanery, or no dimensional shenanigans. There are no stakes when it comes to a multiverse. Nothing is on the line. Unless you have something like a DC Crisis on Infinite Earths, where characters all end up being mashed together and some are eliminated entirely.

Imagine, if you will, a Kang that travels through time to gently adjust events to his own favor. He comes back and helps Steve Roger’s mother. He extends her life but keeps her in a frail condition. No Steve wants to serve, but he cannot leave his mother’s side. No more Steve Rogers’ Captain America. Somehow there are those in the future who remember Steve, and they have to travel back through time to course correct the timeline by convincing him that he is needed. There is an emotional tale there. Something that we can all empathize with, leave the only one we love to become something that saves so many others.

The lack of a story that we can relate to is at the heart of the issue that I am having with the current “Big-Bad”. In fact, I am still unsure of Kang’s MCU motivations. It’s not that the character’s motivations are too complex, it’s more like an issue of lack of focus. Give me a story where Kang has something more than a desire to rule everything, everywhere, all at once.