Avengers: The Kang Dynasty will have MCU fans asking one major question - how will Kang the Conqueror be different to the franchise than Thanos as he faces the Avengers? Now, that question has been answered.
Kang is on his way toward becoming the most powerful villain in the MCU's long history following his true introduction to the MCU in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. But with great villains comes great responsibility to the grand Marvel Studios narrative, and Kang already has some massive shoes to fill in Avengers 5 after Josh Brolin's masterful performance as the Mad Titan Thanos in the Infinity Saga.
Majors hasn't been able to say much about how Kang compares to Thanos, although he called it "a whole different world" and teased that his "assignment is different" when looking at his upcoming work later in the Multiverse Saga.
Now, one important creative from both Ant-Man 3 and Avengers 5 took his own stab at this mystery, explaining the differences he sees in the two A-list antagonists.
Thanos vs. Kang In the MCU
Speaking with GamesRadar, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty writer Jeff Loveness addressed how Jonathan Majors' Kang the Conqueror will live up to the villainous standard set in the MCU by Josh Brolin's Thanos.
The main difference to Loveness is Kang's humanity, with Thanos being "a big purple CGI guy" from space, and the writer intends to make that difference clear by leaning into the fact that Kang is human above anything:
"To me it’s all about the humanity. Obviously Thanos is a great, iconic villain, but he’s also a big purple CGI guy. He’s an alien from outer space. The thing I really wanted to lean into is that Kang is a human being."
Kang was also described as "a very lonely character," as Loveness teased that fans will see "the humanity and even the vulnerability" in him before he becomes the next Avengers-level threat:
“Kang’s also a very lonely character. We’re going to be seeing a lot of him in a lot of different ways going forward, but I really wanted to introduce the humanity and even the vulnerability of this character before he gets to such apocalyptic, Avengers-scale heights.”
Loveness then moved back to the Thanos comparison, hyping up that Kang is "almost this infinite Thanos" and teasing that this new villain could be compared to the Mad Titan "on an exponential level:"
“Kang is a top-tier, A-list Avengers villain. What do you do when you feel you’re not enough against that? How do you step up to face the challenge of this generation, who is Thanos on an exponential level? He’s almost this infinite Thanos. I think we’re setting things up for a pretty dynamic story.
How Avengers 5 Puts Kang on New Level
Looking at these quotes from Jeff Loveness, Jonathan Majors' Kang certainly has plenty of character details working in his favor as the next major antagonist in the MCU.
Even though Thanos' size and alien nature worked well at the end of the Infinity Saga, he was the exception to the trend of MCU villains being most terrifying when they're more human and relatable, such as the Erik Killmongers and Baron Zemos of the universe. Kang will now get to use his own humanity to take what Thanos did and bring something different and potentially bigger, especially considering his powers are far more than what's seen in his suit and technology.
On top of that humanity is the fact that Kang can exist as an infinite number of Variants of himself, having the ability to come into any point in history across time and space.
Ant-Man 3's Variant will already be the second one in play after He Who Remains kicked things off in Season 1 of Loki, and that will only be the start of what Kang is truly capable of. As his story develops beyond the next Ant-Man movie and into Phase 6's duo of Avengers adventures, fans are hoping that Marvel doesn't hold back on potential Variants as Majors' villain goes on his reign of Multiversal terror.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania will debut in theaters on Friday, February 17. Avengers: The Kang Dynasty will then arrive on May 2, 2025.
