Kang the Conqueror (Earth-6311)

From Marvel Database

Kang the Conqueror

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Real Name

Nathaniel Richards

Current Alias

Kang the Conqueror

Aliases

Lord Immortus, Iron Lad, Scarlet Centurion, Whisperer, Victor Timely, Immortus, Pharaoh Rama-Tut, Blue Man, Blue Totem, King of Kings, Master of Men, Lord of the Seven Suns, Victor Timely Jr, Victor Timely III

Identity

Secret

Affiliation

Employer of the Anachronauts, Space Phantom, Council of Kangs, Cross-Time Kangs

Relatives

Nathaniel Richards & Cassandra Richards, their unnamed son & the Matriarch of the Eyriennes (ancestors), Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic) & Sue Storm (Invisible Woman), Franklin & Valeria Richards, Tara (Huntara), Victor von Doom (Doctor Doom) (alleged ancestor), Ramades (son), Marcus Kang (I-XXIII)(sons), Ravonna (consort), Marcus (son, deceased)

Universe

Earth-6311

Base Of Operations

His primary base in 40th century Other Earth is the Center, but he also maintains a secret dwelling in the realm known only as Purgatory. He has established strongholds in a number of alternate realities; he also formerly had a base in Chronopolis. Powered by the Heart of Forever, the city of Chronopolis served as a crossroads into virtually every era in human history, lying just out of phase with the timestream and therefore undetectable. Its palace and inhabitants were unaffected by temporal divergence or the passage of time. Kang formerly employed a 20-foot-long spaceworthy vehicle housing a time machine, which utilized an undetermined energy to generate a chronal-displacement inertial field that could reach all eras of all timelines by accessing the transtemporal realm of Limbo. He has used a number of other vessels, such as his Sphinx ship and Damocles Base, an immense sword-shaped orbiting headquarters which allowed him to temporarily conquer all of Earth.

Characteristics

Gender

Male

Height

6' 3"

Weight

230 lbs (105 kg)

Eyes

Green

Hair

Grey

Status

Citizenship

Citizen, Other Earth, 31st & 40th Centuries (Earth-6311), citizen of Limbo

Marital Status

Single

Occupation

Ruler of Limbo

Origin

Origin

Time traveler out to control all of history.

Place of Birth

Other Earth, 31st Century (Earth-6311)

Creators

Stan Lee, Jack Kirby

First appearance

Fantastic Four #19 (1963)(as Rama-Tut), Avengers #8 (1964)(as Kang), Avengers #10 (as Immortus)

History

Kang as Rama-Tut

Origins and Early Exploits

Kang was born in one of Earth's possible futures of the 31st Century (a different one from that which was conquered by the alien Badoon.) Being a man of adventure in a time of world peace and prosperity, he was discontent. Discovering the parts of a time machine and the plans for its assembly in the ruins of one of his ancestors' property, the man who would become Kang embarked upon a life of conquest and adventure, exploring and ransacking time era after time era, under such guises as Pharaoh Rama-Tut, Kang the Conqueror, and others. He established strongholds and kingdoms across time. As Rama-Tut, he meant to claim the mutant destined to become Apocalypse, En Sabah Nur, as his heir. He was thwarted in this scheme after encountering two of his ancestors in the Fantastic Four, as well as the West Coast Avengers. By his constant time travel, he diverged countless temporal counterparts to himself, each capable of independent existence and further travel. In his various guises, Kang often came into conflict with the heroes of Earth-616, especially The Avengers.

After meeting his ancestor Doctor Doom on Earth-689, Kang was inspired to design a suit of armor, crafting an identity for himself as the Scarlet Centurion. Thinking to use this version of Earth as his base, he manipulates the Avengers of that world - the original team - into capturing every other superpowered being, whether hero or villain, on the planet. Once this is accomplished, he transports the Earth-616 (mainstream) Avengers to fight their -689 counterparts. Once one team is defeated, the Centurion planned to defeat the other himself and then rule the world unopposed. The -616 Avengers won the day and furthermore succeeded in driving Kang out of the timestream ^[1].

Following this defeat, he reinvented himself as Kang the Conqueror, and carves out a star-flung empire in his home universe, Earth-6311. Among his conquests are the entirety of the Badoon and Shi'ar empires. Kang then travels to the 20th Century of Earth-616, seeking revenge upon the Avengers. Facing them directly in combat, Kang loses in the face of their power. He strikes again shortly thereafter, while Iron Man is away, with a robot duplicate of Spider-Man designed to lower their guard. The real Spider-Man arrives after all the Avengers have been defeated, destroying the robot and saving the team. Foiled, Kang returned to campaigning in his home century.

Immortus and Further Exploits

Due to unrestricted travels of time, Kang had created numerous temporal divergences of himself in various timelines. Shaped by differing sets of experiences, the legions of Kangs encompassed the gamut of human diversity, from petty tyrants to selfless martyrs. One of these counterparts, whose life had at times embraced the basest of motives and actions, decided in his seventh decade of his chronological life to give up his worldly conquests and meditate till the end of his days upon the nature of time. This Immortus-to-be, who had been assuming the guise of Rama-Tut, journeyed to Limbo, the transtemporal realm that exists outside the timestream itself (and through which all time travelers must pass in order to get from one era to another.) There he employed automatons to build him a castle, and upon its completion (which was instantly since time has no meaning in Limbo), he began to meditate.

Kang as Immortus

This Kang was then visited by the Time-Keepers, a trinity of beings who had been born at the very end of the timestream, in the final days before the collapse of the universe. The Time-Keepers helped him unlock new secrets of time and appointed him to oversee the period from 3,000 BC to 4,000 AD, a minor task when compared to the whole of Time itself. Creating a giant guardian for his castle, Kang embarked upon a number of campaigns to untangle the skein of timelines that he and his counterparts had created by their indiscriminate use of time travel. In his first encounter with the Avengers as Immortus, which takes place between Kang's first two battles with them, he sent each Avenger into a different era to to battle with various mythological figures. Believing that most of the beings he encountered in his forays could not begin to understand the mysteries of time that motivated him, he frequently gave them facile or even misleading information to quell their curiosities or ease their anxieties. The beliefs of other beings were not important to him as long as they did not interfere with his duties as custodian of this segment of the timestream.

As his future-self Immortus went his own way, Kang's campaigning in his home century paid off, and soon enough he took another realm. As his armies surround the capital city, he realizes that he is in love with one of their royalty, Princess Ravonna. To display his power and win her hand, he decides to defeat the Avengers in front of Ravonna and her father. Tricking the Avengers to his time, The Conqueror takes on the Avengers by himself, but still Ravonna refuses marriage. Incensed, Kang orders his troops to take the city. The Avengers help valiantly in the defense, but are overwhelmed. After taking the city, Kang's generals, led by Baltag, attempt to assassinate him. He is forced to team with the Avengers against his own men. Victorious, Kang prepares to send the Avengers back to their time - but Baltag appears, firing a shot at Kang. Captain America tries to warn him, but Ravonna takes the shot meant for Kang. As Kang's guards kill Baltag, the Avengers are teleported away, and The Conqueror is left with the woman he loves dying in his stead.

Kang returns to his ways soon thereafter, sending his Growing Man android to do battle with Thor. While Thor traps Kang and his minion in a dimensional warp using his enchanted hammer, they manage to escape. Kang was then approached by the cosmic entity called The Grandmaster, who offered to restore Ravonna to life if Kang's designated champions won a battle against his own. Kang chose The Avengers as his champions, pitted against The Grandmaster's Squadron Sinister. He lured them into battle by having the Growing Man kidnap Tony Stark (Iron Man) from a hospital after he'd suffered a heart attack. To Kang's dismay, this battle ended in stalemate and Ravonna Renslayer remained dead.

Immortus affected the Avengers by creating a temporal copy of the android Human Torch, which would be used by Ultron to create The Vision.

The Conqueror continued to be thwarted in his schemes involving 20th Century Earth; his plot to conquer Earth during World War One using The Hulk failed, and a plan to capture The Avengers was foiled by Spider-Man, the Human Torch and The Inhumans.

Kang vs Immortus

The conflict between Kang and his Immortus alter ego, as well as their own conflicts with the Avengers, took various turns over the years. For a time the two allied, but Kang betrayed Immortus, imprisoning him and using his technology to create the first Legion of the Unliving. Kang next reappeared in the Earth-616 universe, seeking the Celestial Madonna as his new mate. He discovered this was the Avenger Mantis, leading to yet another conflict with the team. Immortus, appearing to be a futuristic Rama-Tut at the time, was later freed by the Avengers, at which time they finally learned he was the future-self of both Rama-Tut and Kang. Seeking to counsel his younger, conquering self, Immortus offered to aid the team against him, and furthermore to help The Vision learn his past. Immortus even went so far as to officiate at the double-wedding of Vision and Scarlet Witch and Mantis and Swordsman.

The Conqueror was defeated, but the Swordsman paid for the victory with his life. As Kang escaped, Hawkeye pursued him using Doctor Doom's time machine, and the two dueled in the Old West. Aided by Immortus once more, Hawkeye was joined by his teammates Thor and Moondragon. While summoning enough power to defeat Thor, Kang drew upon an excessive amount of energy, destroying himself.

Resurrection

For the would-be Master of Time, death is not a surety. The Hulk had an encounter in the future with Kang's still-devoted minions. When the Beyonder summoned a host of heroes and villains to fight in the "Secret Wars", Kang was among the latter group - a living Kang having been taken from the timeline which The Hulk had visited. This Kang, too, was killed; this time by Ultron on Doctor Doom's orders as a potential security risk, but was restored by the Beyonder at the end of the conflict.

It then became apparent that a number of flawed "Kangs" had been created in various universes as a result of the original's propensity for time travel. The few stable versions of Kang banded together, seeking to destroy the lesser versions of the villain. The Avengers were drawn into the conflict, and with the aid of Immortus defeated the Kangs. Only one "Prime" Kang remained at the end of the fighting, and he fell into nothingness in Limbo.

In the meantime, Immortus had gone back to fighting Earth's Mightiest Heroes when, some time after the original Kang's death, he allied with Space Phantom and Tempus to battle Thor. During this conflict he was able to trick Thor into draining the time-travel capabilities of the Thunder God's uru-hammer.

It was later revealed that another Prime Kang survived, and was invited to join the Council of Cross-Time Kangs, a group of aliens each posing as Kang whose main goal was to obtain a Celestial "Ultimate Weapon." This version of Kang refers to himself as "Fred" (after Fred Flintstone) and encounters the Avengers while trying to stop the space pirate Nebula from interfering with a timeline. The Prime Kang then appears, trying to manipulate the Avengers from a time vortex and encountering the Fantastic Four while attempting to capture Mantis. "Fred" is incinerated by a Nebula-controlled Human Torch. Prime Kang later reappeared as an ally of Doctor Doom when the latter tried to steal the Infinity Gems.

Prime Kang appeared again, capturing The Vision, and battling both the Avengers and a new foe - Termanatrix. She is revealed to be The Conqueror's old would-be lover, Ravonna Renslayer. Switching roles with the princess from their last encounter, Kang took a blow from Thor's hammer meant for her. Distraught and touched, Ravonna teleported away with Kang. Termanatrix placed Kang in stasis to heal, and acted as regent of his empire in the meantime. She found, however, that his empire was under attack by a a chronal entity called Alioth, and was forced to call on the Avengers for aid. She also revived Kang, who helped the Avengers destroy Alioth, albeit not before allowing it to wipe out the Council of Cross-Time Kangs.

Immortus later revealed that he had long-term plans for the manipulation of the Avengers. One facet of this plan involved driving Iron Man insane, turning him against his fellow Avengers - an event which resulted in the Armored Avenger's death until his later resurrection by Franklin Richards. The primary aspect of his plan involved the Scarlet Witch. By seeing that she married an android, Immortus ensured that she would have no children. As a "nexus being", or key figure in her reality, Wanda's children would be of immense power. Also, Immortus could use Wanda for his own designs, realizing his goal of controlling all time. When the Avengers realized his plan, he sent the third Legion of the Unliving to fight them. He realized some success in his plan, erasing several alternate time-lines. Ultimately, in response to this attempt to overthrow their rule, the Time-Keepers decided to use Immortus as a nexus to repair the damage caused by his interference, rendering him catatonic in the process.

Two Great Wars

Kang and Immortus's quarrel came to a head during the "Destiny War", with Kang believing himself free of his obligations to become Immortus.

After faking his death several times, Immortus eventually turned on the Time-Keepers once more to aid the Avengers; he was finally and truly killed as a result. Shortly thereafter, however, when the Time-Keepers tried to instantly turn Kang into Immortus, their attempt backlashed and Immortus reappeared as a truly separate being. This freed The Conqueror from what he saw as a destiny as a "doddering old scholar" - and being thus freed, Kang slew the Time-Keepers.

Marcus Kang XXIII as Scarlet Centurion

The Conqueror and his son Marcus Kang XXIII, the new Scarlet Centurion, decided to embark together on a new and ambitious new campaign - what would be called the Kang War. They successfully took over Earth until remaining contingents of Avengers and the Triune Understanding were able to destroy Damocles Base, his orbital stronghold. Kang went down with the base, surviving only thanks to his suit's forcefield, though the damage done to it made it inoperable. He then fought Captain America, stating that it was an honor to be defeated by such a foe. Beaten, Kang was arrested. Whilst knowing he would be executed for his crimes against the Earth and its people, he awaited his trial with glee - happy that Marcus had been returned to their home time and would forge his own legacy. He was angered when Marcus carved through the mountain to his cell, wanting to return his father home. During the war, Marcus had aided Warbird, and Kang was willing to overlook the lies surrounding this - as long as he was to die on Earth with his legacy intact. But as he was rescued, he told his son that he could not tolerate traitors in his camp and stabbed him through the chest.

Most recently Kang ensured that Iron Lad would become a version of himself. Although believed to have been seriously wounded by a sword battling the Young Avengers, he has continued to observe their activity.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Aging: Kang is over 70 years old chronologically, but has managed to stop his aging completely using his far-flung futuristic technology. Thus he appears to be a man in his mid-40s.

Abilities

Superior-level Intellect: Though it is hard to gauge Kang's intellect given his futuristic origins, his genius is nothing short of super-human by modern standards. He commands technology beyond the most sophisticated designs of Stark Industries and Doctor Doom, and has made breakthroughs in time travel and robotics. Kang is the only known time traveler (other than his counterpart Immortus) who has the ability to travel through time without creating divergences.

Political Savvy Kang is a brilliant military tactician and a peerless general. Using his considerable charisma, Kang was able to raise an army and conqueror his first world within weeks of building his armor. He has conquered everything within 100 light years from Other Earth, including the counterpart Badoon and Shi'ar empires of his reality. Though he considers it a chore, Kang is also a capable statesman.

Kang conquers.

Skilled Combatant: Kang is a master of both armed and unarmed combat. He has managed to go toe-to-toe with Captain America, and single handedly held back Immortus's time-tossed army for several minutes during the Destiny War.

Indomitable Will: Through sheer force of will, Kang managed to separate himself from his future counterpart Immortus. Kang is absolutely fearless, and will stop at nothing to accomplish his own goals.

Strength level

Kang posesses the strength of a normal man of his physical age, and build, who engages in moderate exercise. While wearing his armor, Kang can lift (press) approximately 5 tons.

Weaknesses

Kang's armor contains one defensive flaw; the mask leaves his eyes vulnerable to attack. Kang is also susceptable to overestimating his admittedly impressive abilities.

Paraphernalia

Kang using one of his armor's many abilities.

Battle Armor: Kang's battle armor is produced from a rare synthetic alloy from the 40th century. It is neuro-kinetic, meaning it responds to his subconscious thoughts. Though Kang has no powers, his armor endows him with rough equivalents of super-human abilities.

• Enhanced Strength: Gives Kang the ability to lift 5 tons.
• Durability: The armor has a built in forcefield that extends from 2 feet away from his body, outward to 20 feet in all directions. It can withstand even a nuclear strike at point blank range.
• Anti-Gravity Device: Kang has a device in the gauntlets of his armor that allows him to render objects weighing upto 2.2 tons weightless.
• Video Communicator: Built into the right wrist is a video communicator, which he can use to stay in contact with his bases from any point in the timestream.
• Time Travel: Kang's armor can create temporal divergences, giving him the ability to travel through and manipulate time.
• Concussive Bolts: Kang can fire concussive blasts from the finger tips of his gauntlets; these blasts have the force of several tons of dynamite.
• Weaponry: By cracking his fingers, Kang can summon any number of weapons which are transported to him through timestream instantly.
• Electric Shock: By flexing his muscles, Kang can activate a powerful electric shock.
• Hover Pad: Kang has often made use of a hover-pad in his battles.
• Survival Kit: Kang's armor has a self-contained atmosphere, 30 day supply of food, and waste disposal system.
• Body Transference: Until recently, Kang employed nano-technology in his helmet's circuitry that enabled him to transfer his mind into a new at the moment of death.
  

Transportation: Possesses a large space ship, capable of travel through both time and space.
Weapons: He typically carries various weapons, such as an anti-matter defense screen generator, a "vibration-ray" projector, an electromagnectic field amplifier, neutrino-ray warheaded missile launcher (hand-gun size), electrical paralysis generator, nerve gas sprayer and a molecular expander. He commands a vast array of warriors from across all periods of time, including his own future era, armed with advanced weaponry. He used numerous robots, most notably his Growing Man stimuloids, packed with the "Growth Pollen" of the world Kosmos, which causes them to grow in size and strength by absorbing kinetic energy; this Growth Pollen uses the same energy accessed via the size-changing "Pym Particles" discovered by Dr Hank Pym.

Notes

• No special notes.
  

Trivia

• No trivia.

See Also

• Appearances of Kang the Conqueror (Earth-6311) (Chronological)
• Appearances of Kang the Conqueror (Earth-6311) (Unordered)
• Character Gallery: Kang the Conqueror (Earth-6311)
• Fan-Art Gallery: Kang the Conqueror (Earth-6311)
• Quotations by Kang the Conqueror (Earth-6311)

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Links and References

• Marvel Directory
• A Brief History of Kang (Does not cover Avengers Forever or later)