Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Avengers: The Kang Dynasty writer Jeff Loveness revealed why he had to update the MCU's next big villain.
Loveness spoke to SFX magazine about bringing Kang to life in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While a version of the villain was played by Jonathan Majors already on Loki, Ant-Man 3 will put the time lord front and center as he faces off against Scott Lang and his family. Given Kang's decades of comic book history, the writer was asked if he delved into the archives when crafting the MCU's take on the iconic character.
Loveness said he went "Too deep, too deep!" into comic book lore, adding, "I got way into the Rama-Tut and Scarlet Centurion stuff, trying to read my way through that, and the Celestial Madonna with Mantis! That's the joy of the character. He is just this infinite snake eating infinite tails, a man literally at war against himself." But the writer cautioned that he also took care to make the character his own: "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 have to use that as a foundation and then throw a curveball."
Kang's Time-Traveling Journey
While Loki's He Who Remains isn't a variant of Kang in the comics, Pharaoh Rama-Tut and the Scarlet Centurion are. It's unclear how many versions of the rogue Majors will play in the MCU, but it's rumored that Loki Season 2 will feature another Kang variant. As for the big screen, Kang's time-traveling adventures had to be altered somewhat -- thanks to Avengers: Endgame and its time-hopping plot.
"I haven't seen a time-traveling 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," Loveness said. "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?"
Given that Phase 5 and 6 of the MCU will heavily focus on the Multiverse, it makes sense that Kang's own area of expertise would shift to accommodate. What this will mean for Quantumania and The Kang Dynasty is unclear, but it won't be long before the next Ant-Man adventure introduces the MCU's take on the Avengers villain.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters Feb. 17.
Source: SFX, via The Direct