Kang

Nathaniel Richards was born in the 30th century of Earth-6311, a reality where humanity achieved advanced peace through the intervention of a time-traveler from Earth-616. Though he is believed to be a descendant of Reed Richards or possibly Dr. Doom, his path was forever altered at the age of sixteen when his future self, acting as Kang the Conqueror, attempted to accelerate his transformation into a villain. This led young Nathaniel to briefly rebel as the hero Iron Lad and later as Kid Immortus before he eventually embraced his destined path. Bored by his peaceful era, he traveled to ancient Egypt on Earth-616 to rule as the Pharaoh Rama-Tut until being ousted by the Fantastic Four. After a brief, failed stint as the Scarlet Centurion, he overshot his own era and arrived in the war-torn 40th century, where his superior knowledge of ancient weapons allowed him to conquer the galaxy and officially adopt the mantle of Kang the Conqueror.

Determined to conquer the modern age of heroes and locate the "Celestial Madonna" who was destined to mother the most powerful man in history, Kang launched an assault on Earth-616 near Washington D.C.. In this first encounter, he successfully captured the Avengers and exiled Captain America to 1945, though he was eventually forced to flee by the combined efforts of the Wasp and the Teen Brigade. To establish a more permanent presence in the 20th century, a divergent version of Kang traveled to 1901 and founded the town of Timely, Wisconsin, under the alias Victor Timely. As the mayor and founder of Timely Industries, he subtly directed the course of human robotics and technology, influencing the equipment of the Fantastic Four and the original Human Torch while building Chronopolis, a fortress serving as a massive crossroads for all of time.

Kang’s existence is characterized by constant divergence, resulting in a multitude of alternate selves such as the "Prime" Kang and various usurpers known as the Council of Cross-Time Kangs. His personal life was marked by a tragic and complex romance with Princess Ravonna Renslayer, who died saving his life but was later the subject of a cold betrayal when Kang chose the "power of death" over her revival in a game against the Grandmaster. Kang also faced a recurring struggle against his future self, Immortus, who sought to manipulate Kang’s life to ensure he followed the path ordained by the Time-Keepers. During the Destiny War, Kang achieved a significant victory by fighting off the Time-Keepers' attempts to force his transformation, successfully severing his destiny from that of Immortus.

In later years, Kang orchestrated his most successful invasion during the "Kang Dynasty" alongside his son Marcus, the new Scarlet Centurion. During this conflict, Kang decimated Washington D.C. and officially forced the United Nations to sign a declaration of surrender, though he was eventually defeated by the Avengers and later killed his own son for betraying him. Following a brief death at the hands of his younger self, Iron Lad, Kang continued to manipulate history, notably raising the Apocalypse Twins to eliminate mutant threats and attempting to absorb cosmic energy from a Celestial during a plot to restore Earth. Most recently, he focused his efforts on claiming the "Missing Moment," a hidden second in time, even manipulating the Black Cat to help him steal back a data codex containing his own removed memories of the event.

Appearance: Kang has no exposed skin, as a smooth blue mask covers his face. A purple helmet sits atop his head, featuring side guards that curve along his jawline. His eyes are solid white ovals set into the mask. He wears a loose green tunic that drapes over his torso, creating deep, gathered folds across the chest. A wide purple band runs vertically down the center of the tunic from the neckline to the hem. His arms are encased in tight blue material. A massive grey cannon with a vented barrel and circular side mechanisms rests on his left shoulder. His right forearm and hand are engulfed in a jagged mass of translucent pink energy. A purple utility belt encircles his waist, equipped with rectangular pouches and a central buckle shaped like an X. Beneath the tunic, his thighs are covered in blue fabric. He wears tall, purple armored boots that reach his mid-thighs. These boots feature articulated knee pads and segmented plating running down the front of the shins. A pointed flap of the tunic hangs down between his legs.

Personality: Kang is defined by a supreme sense of superiority and an insatiable boredom with the peaceful advancements of his native 30th-century era. He views the timestream not as a sequence to be respected, but as a vast empire to be dominated, leading him to set up various beachheads across history as the Pharaoh Rama-Tut or the businessman Victor Timely. His ambition is fueled by a desire to be the master of all eras, often driven by specific obsessions such as the search for the "Celestial Madonna" to ensure he fathers the most powerful being in history. He is characterized by an unyielding ego, believing that his advanced knowledge of technology and weaponry makes him the rightful ruler of any time period he visits.

In combat and leadership, he is a cold, calculated master of strategy who utilizes technology far beyond the comprehension of contemporary humanity. He is a man of extreme discipline, willing to train and execute dozens of his own offspring if they fail to meet his standard of the ideal warrior. This ruthlessness is matched only by his tactical patience, as he is willing to monitor his enemies for decades from the timeless realm of Chronopolis before launching a strike. Despite his cruelty, he possesses a twisted sense of honor; he views mercy as a weakness but values a glorious death in battle or execution over a shameful rescue by his underlings.

His emotional landscape is dominated by a fierce independence and a refusal to be a slave to any destiny, especially that of his future self, Immortus. He actively fights against the ordained paths of the Time-Keepers, viewing his own future as a rival entity to be overcome rather than accepted. His relationships are often possessive and transactional; although he loved Princess Ravonna, he was capable of betraying her revival to claim the power to kill his enemies during a cosmic game. Ultimately, he is a survivor of infinite temporal divergences who trusts only his own intellect and his iron will to shape the multiverse to his design.

Kang is a human hailing from the 31st century who possesses no innate superpowers, yet his biology is so advanced that he appears to be in his mid-40s despite being over 70 years old. He is defined by a superior intellect that is considered superhuman by modern standards, enabling him to command technology that surpasses the designs of both Stark Industries and Doctor Doom. This genius has led to significant breakthroughs in robotics and time travel, making him one of the few beings capable of traversing time without creating unintended divergences. By utilizing the trans-dimensional realm of Limbo, Kang maintains access to technology from any century or alien world, and he has demonstrated the expertise to manipulate powerful artifacts like the last Cosmic Cube and the reality-erasing Forever Crystal.

Beyond his scientific mind, Kang is a brilliant military tactician and a peerless general who once conquered his first world within weeks of constructing his armor. His vast empire extends across a thousand thousand worlds and multiple dimensions, including conquered versions of the Badoon and Shi'ar empires. While he is a capable statesman, he remains a master of both armed and unarmed combat, famously holding his own against Captain America and single-handedly resisting an entire time-tossed army. His indomitable will is so powerful that he successfully separated himself from his future counterpart, Immortus, to become a distinct entity, and he remains an absolutely fearless individual who stops at nothing to achieve his goals.

Kang’s primary equipment is a neuro-kinetic battle armor made from a rare 40th-century synthetic alloy that responds directly to his subconscious thoughts. This suit grants him superhuman strength sufficient to lift five tons and features a built-in force field capable of withstanding nuclear strikes at point-blank range. The armor is outfitted with a diverse range of gadgets, including gauntlets with anti-gravity devices that can render heavy objects weightless and fingertips capable of firing concussive bolts with the force of dynamite. It also contains a video communicator to maintain contact across the timestream, a 30-day survival kit, and formerly utilized nano-technology to transfer his mind into a new body at the moment of his death.

The armor further serves as a vehicle for time travel and "chronocloning," allowing Kang to intentionally multiply himself through temporal divergences to conquer more timelines. He can instantly summon advanced weaponry through the timestream, such as anti-matter screens, neutrino-ray warheads, and molecular expanders. He also utilizes specialized vehicles like the Light of the Centuries Sphere, which transports or captures individuals at faster-than-light speeds, and a massive Time-Ship for space-time travel. To bolster his forces, he commands various robots, most notably the Growing Man stimuloids that absorb kinetic energy to increase in size and strength through growth pollen similar to Pym Particle energy.