The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) saw the end of a decade-long saga with Avengers: Endgame when the titular group of superheroes were finally able to defeat the dreaded villain Thanos. With the death of Thanos came the burning question, who will be the new Big Bad of the MCU for the next major story arc of the franchise?
The answer so far appears to be Kang, a character from Marvel Comics who has been introduced in bits and pieces across Phase 4 of the MCU. Kang presents a very different kind of challenge to the Avengers than Thanos did. In fact, based on what we know about the character from the comics, he is going to be less like Thanos and more like Rick Sanchez, the cynical anti-hero lead of the popular animated series Rick and Morty.
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The Origins of Kang
Marvel Studios
In the comics, Kang is revealed to be Nathaniel, a descendant of Mr. Fantastic aka Reed Richards from the 31st century. Like his ancestors, Nathaniel has a brilliant mind, but also a deeply conflicted morality. Nathaniel started out as a good person. But his frequent travels into the distant past and futures wrought a change in his mindset.
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After conquering a future, lifeless version of Earth, Nathaniel renamed himself Kang and decided to take over an earlier version of the planet. This brings Kang into direct conflict with the present-day Fantastic Four and Avengers. Although Kang does not have any superpowers, his genius intellect coupled with his futuristic tech and ability to alter the flow of time make him more than a match for any Marvel hero or villain.
Rick Sanchez Followed in Kang’s Footsteps
Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Kang had already been active in Marvel Comics decades prior to the creation of Rick and Morty. The immensely popular cartoon show follows the exploits of Rick Sanchez, the smartest man in the world who goes on whirlwind adventures with his grandson Morty Smith thanks to a powerful portal gun which Rick invented that allows them to travel between different dimensions in the multiverse.
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Quite early on, Rick and Morty introduced the concept of the Citadel of Ricks, a place in space where Ricks from all over the multiverse came together to live and plot together as a group. Many comic fans assumed the idea for the Citadel was based on the ‘Council of Reeds,’ from the Fantastic Four comics. But the Citadel of Ricks more closely resembles Kang’s Citadel from Marvel Comics, which similarly harbors many versions of Kang all working together.
Another way Rick has borrowed ideas from Kang is with their death insurance policies. In various episodes we have seen that Rick has not one but a huge army of clones ready at hand. If Rick dies, his consciousness is immediately uploaded to one of the other clones, essentially making him immortal as long as he does not run out of clones. Again, this is a trick that Kang has already employed in the comics to cheat his own demise.
Similar View of the World
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It is not just their reality-hopping technology and scientific ideas where Kang and Rick seem to have a lot of similarities. The duo also have very similar temperaments. Despite being the smartest man in the universe, Rick lives a miserable life filled with loneliness and regrets. Rick is also too arrogant to admit his vulnerabilities to anyone, and frequently tries to justify his cynical worldview as the only logical way to see the world.
Similarly, Kang’s greatest weakness has always been his supreme arrogance and belief in his own brain power and abilities. His need to prove himself right and set him will above others is what pushes Kang to fight against his own ancestors and everyone else in the world. Despite having incalculable power, Kang exists in a constant state of unfulfilled desire that keeps pushing him towards self-destructive ends.
What Can Rick Tell Us About Kang?
Of course, it’s possible that the version of Kang who shows up in the MCU will be a very different version of the character from the comics. But his base powers and origin story that has been revealed so far do hew closely to the source material. This means the MCU version of Kang we end up with could be very similar to Rick Sanchez, and that is a scary proposition for the Avengers.
As has been shown many times across Rick and Morty, the technology and brains at Rick Sanchez’s disposal basically grant him god-level abilities. There is even an episode where Rick reluctantly joins a group of Avengers-lite heroes called Vindicators, and ends up solving all their problems in a single afternoon in a drunken haze before trapping them in an inescapable prison just for kicks.
If Kang displays the same kind of abilities as Rick, there’s really no person in the MCU who can stand in his way. The Avengers would have to fight not one but infinite versions of Kang, each equipped with galaxy-destroying technology, the ability to pop in and out of reality at will, and a nihilistic worldview that can lay waste to entire universes without blinking. All of that is a far bigger threat to the Marvel multiverse than Thanos could have ever been.
