Home Movie News Avengers 5 Writer Explains How Endgame’s Time Travel Affected Kang Plans

Writer Jeff Loveness explains how the time travel heist featured in Avengers: Endgame changed his plans for Kang in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.

Avengers: The Kang Dynasty writer Jeff Loveness reveals how the time travel featured in Avengers: Endgame altered his plans for Kang in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and the upcoming Phase 6 team-up movie. After being teased throughout Phases 1 and 2 of the MCU, Josh Brolin’s Thanos was finally unveiled in all his glory in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. After defeating Earth’s mightiest heroes, the big bad was eventually killed in the subsequent film due to a clever time travel plan. Now, Kang the Conqueror, the MCU’s next big villain, is set to be introduced in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania before serving as the primary antagonist in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty in 2025.
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In a recent interview with SFX Magazine (via The Direct), Loveness, the screenwriter tapped for both Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, reveals how Avengers: Endgame caused changes to his depiction of Kang. The writer explains that because the MCU has already featured a lot of time travel, he was forced to broaden his vision for Kang, exploring the multiversal aspect of the villain instead of just his mastery of time-hopping. While Loveness doesn’t reveal too much about what’s in store for audiences when it comes to Kang, he does tease that there are some “curveball” surprises to come. Check out Loveness’ full comment below:

“I haven’t seen a time-travelling character done with such intricacy and exploration. I’m a little bummed because ‘Endgame’ did so much time travel, so you almost need to broaden him out a little bit too, maybe broaden out into the multiverse a little more, the dimensionality of the character, the limitless freedom he has while also being completely uprooted from his time and himself. Is it just going to all fall apart again because another version of him can destroy it as well? What’s the purpose of building Rome if you are going to burn it down the next day, because they want to have their own Rome?
“I certainly took a ton from the comics but the joy of these movies is you also get to put some of yourself into it, you get to put a completely new spin because if you just do a 100% comic book adaptation people know all the tricks and what to expect. You have to use that as a foundation and then throw a curveball. I’ve tried to lean into him being a more interesting character than people expect, hopefully.”

Related: Iron Man & Thanos Parallel Means Steve Rogers Must Return To Face Kang

How Kang Will Be Different From Thanos

Thanos, a purple alien with an eye for military strategy, boasts superhuman strength and durability, eventually becoming even stronger after acquiring all of the Infinity Stones. The Infinity Stones, once united in the Infinity Gauntlet, give Thanos the ability to manipulate time and space as he chooses, giving him a major edge over the Avengers. Kang, on the other hand, is a human being, meaning there’s already one major difference between the two villains already. Kang relies on highly advanced technology to give him his powers, with an arsenal including a time-traveling ship, Damocles Base, and weaponry from the far reaches of the future.

Kang’s technology gives him enhanced strength, speed, durability, and stamina. In addition to the ability to travel through time as he pleases, the comics also see Kang wield energy-based weapons and defenses, including holograms and force fields. Interestingly, however, whatever similarities and differences exist between Kang and Thanos’ specific abilities, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty could explore more variants of Kang. Two variants of Thanos are featured in Avengers: Endgame but the variants are basically the same and they never meet. Kang’s variants, on the other hand, vary wildly in terms of their power level and general demeanor, and the inclusion of these variants could end up really differentiating Majors’ villain from Brolin’s.

In some ways, then, Kang could end up actually feeling like multiple different characters depending on which variants are introduced in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Furthermore, he could prove especially difficult to defeat because if one dies, another could potentially take his place. From Scarlet Centurion to Victor Timely, Mr. Gryphon to Kamala Kang, there have been multiple different Kangs featured in the Marvel comic books, each more wacky than the last. While it remains to be seen what Loveness has in store for fans with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, it seems like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the MCU’s newest big bad.

More: Ant-Man 3 Makes Iron Man’s Endgame Death Even Better

Source: SFX Magazine (via The Direct)

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