The plotline of a scrapped MCU movie is getting a second chance in one of Marvel Studios' upcoming Disney+ shows. Marvel recently released the trailer for X-Men '97 Season 2, which debuts on Disney+ on July 1, and one element from the upcoming episodes somewhat resembles the plot of the now-dead Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
Marvel Studios reworked Avengers: Kang The Kang Dynasty to become Avengers: Doomsday when it parted ways with Kang the Conqueror star Jonathan Majors, but some elements of that plot are now seeing the light of day in X-Men '97 Season 2. As many Marvel fans are aware, Majors' Kang was once set to be the big villain of the Multiverse Saga, with his appearance in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania setting up the arrival of the Council of Kangs that would go on to cause trouble for the Avengers in The Kang Dynasty.
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty had a scriptwriter and a director attached, but it never went anywhere, with Marvel Studios opting to switch to Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom as the main antagonist instead and renaming it Avengers: Doomsday. However, in the years since this shift, plot details about what Avengers: The Kang Dynasty would have looked like have emerged.
The main tidbit confirms that the superheroes would have faced three key Kang variants, as seen at the end of Ant-Man 3: Immortus, Centurion, and Rama-Tut. Often in Marvel lore, Rama-Tut, Centurion, and Immortus are different variants of the same character, existing across various timelines.
While this exact storyline will never be seen in The Kang Dynasty due to its cancellation, Marvel Studios is employing a similar strategy in X-Men '97's second season by introducing different variants of Apocalypse. Season 2 of X-Men '97 finds the mutant team spread out across time, and in each period, they encounter a different version of Apocalypse, as Bishop explains in the trailer:
"The X-Men are scattered through time. In the past from the start of Apocalypse's reign, to the future at the height of his rule."
The trailer hints at three distinct periods, with the earliest set in 3000 B.C. in Ancient Egypt, featuring a young version of Apocalypse, one of the world's first mutants. The other members of the team are trapped far in the future in 3960, where they find Apocalypse at the peak of his power.
Among all this, there is also a present-day version of Apocalypse in the 1990s operating somewhere in between these two milestones of power.
According to rumors about the leaked plot of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, the film would've featured separate Avengers teams, each set to battle one of Immortus, Centurion, or Rama-Tut. This is a similar setup in X-Men '97 Season 2.
In the comics, Rama-Tut is actually the time-traveling Nathanial Richards, who uses his advanced technology to take over the Kingdom of Egypt. Rama-Tut bears many similarities to the early Apocalypse, with both Marvel villains existing in Ancient Egypt.
Before he was Apocalypse, the character was named En Sabah Nur, an outcast among his people due to a mutant gene that turned his skin gray. X-Men '97 producer Larry Houston shared with Entertainment Weekly that "Ancient Egypt Apocalypse gives us this massively powerful mutant backstory."
Stuck in Ancient Egypt alongside Rama-Tut and past Apocalypse is a portion of the X-Men team, which includes Rogue, Nightcrawler, Beast, and Magneto.
With the X-Men vanished from the 1990s, Bishop and Forge are left trying to return them to their own time, and new teams, like X-Force, step up to fill the void. Apocalypse isn't absent from this timeline either. Houston confirms that "Present-day Apocalypse is constantly trying to cull the herd of the weak so that only the strong survive."
Another variant of the Kangs is the Scarlet Centurion, which is an identity Nathaniel Richards typically evolves into after Rama-Tut. After being removed from his post in Ancient Egypt by the Fantastic Four, Richards reinvents himself as the Scarlet Centurion, which is inspired by Doctor Doom. Centurion's advanced technology and battle armor are his main attributes, similar to future versions of Apocalypse.
The last of the Council of Kangs in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty is Immortus, one of the later-stage aliases of Nathaniel Richards. Immortus is a battle-hardened and weary time traveler who works for the Time Keepers and maintains rule over Limbo.
This variant is most akin to the future Apocalypse, who is at the height of his powers, having garnered decades of knowledge, power, and technology. As Houston describes it, "Future Apocalypse is how his vision becomes reality, perhaps," in reference to the Present Apocalypse, who is focused on culling the weak from the strong to enforce his vision of world domination. In this timeline, Cyclops and Jean Grey are trapped and will face off against Future Apocalypse.
While this plotline isn't exactly what would've happened in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, the two projects do share the general concept of three variations of the same character conflicting with different teams of superheroes.
Another plot element the two projects share is the idea that one of these variants is an ally to the heroes. According to early plot rumors (shared by ComicBookMovie), the Avengers would encounter a young scientist named Nathaniel Richards in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, who would join forces with the team to take on his variants (similar to how Victor Timely helped Loki and the TVA in Loki).
Out of the versions of Apocalypse in X-Men '97, Houston did hint that there will be points when the original mutant isn't the villain he's known for becoming, because "no one is born evil."
"No one is born evil, but we see how circumstances led him to become the villainous Apocalypse."
The X-Men in Ancient Egypt could very well find an ally in this pre-Apocalypse version of the character, who may be more sympathetic to his cause if they can catch him before the pivotal events that set him on his villainous path.
Marvel Studios' Kang Dynasty Crosses Over With X-Men '97
While X-Men '97 sits outside of the MCU, this is also exactly what allows it to draw on threads the current MCU films cannot. With Avengers: The Kang Dynasty scrapped, it's unlikely that Kang or his variants will ever be seen again, but the same can't be said for X-Men '97, where one has been sighted in the Season 2 trailer.
As mentioned, Rama-Tut and En Sabah Nur both existed in Ancient Egypt, but they were also depicted during this time, with Apocalypse eventually overthrowing Rama-Tut and taking his place as ruler of Egypt. A version of Rama-Tut appears to be present in X-Men '97 Season 2, with a green helmeted figure seen overlooking the ancient city.
This further cements X-Men '97 as a partial replacement for The Kang Dynasty, as now these Marvel characters are getting a second chance on-screen in the Disney+ series.
