Kang the Conqueror is one of the most iconic villains in Marvel Comics. Kang first appeared in The Avengers #8 in September 1964, later revealing himself to be a prior Fantastic Four villain, Rama-Tut, who was introduced 11 months prior. Since then, the character has been given multiple identities and fought every hero in the Marvel Universe in some shape or form.
Kang, compared to other Marvel villains, can certainly hold his own, but his nature of being a villain means he has to be defeated by the heroes. Yet has Kang ever been killed in the Marvel Universe? Superheroes and villains die all the time in comics and come back to life, so it stands to reason that a time-traveling villain like Kang has been killed many times before. Find out to see if Kang has ever died, and if so, who has killed him?
Kang Has Been Defeated but Rarely Killed
Kang the Conqueror has fought many Marvel superheroes. He has come into conflict with The Avengers, The Fantastic Four, and even Squirrel Girl. Yet unlike the superheroes of the MCU, the Marvel comic versions rarely kill their enemies. Kang has been defeated multiple times, but he continues to come back due to a combination of infinite variants but also the fact that none of the heroes have ever killed him.
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During The Kang Dynasty storyline, which will serve as the inspiration for the upcoming Avengers movie, Captain America notably spared Kang's life. Moon Knight, acting on behalf of the Egyptian God Khonshu, defeated Kang and banished him from the time stream but notably did not kill him. Deadpool has faced off against Kang, and even the Merc with the Mouth did not kill him.
Kang Was Killed By an Inhuman
While The Fantastic Four and The Avengers have spared Kang's life, in the Marvel multiverse the character has not faired so well and was even killed by one of his proteges. Kang was given possession of Ahura, the son of the Inhuman king Black Bolt and Queen Medusa. Black Bolt gave his son to Kang in order to save him from the destruction of the multiverse leading up to the event Secret Wars. Kang told Black Bolt that even if the universe was restored, Ahura would still be his.
When the universe reset, Black Bolt tried to get his son back, which resulted in two divergent timelines. One where Ahura was saved and rejoined his Inhuman family, but another where he stayed with Kang. In the second timeline, Ahura eventually betrayed Kang and murdered him, taking possession of his armor and becoming the new Kang the Conqueror. This would result in Black Bolt being forced to kill his son, now the new Kang, in this timeline.
Kang's Worst Enemy Is Himself
If anyone is likely to kill Kang the Conqueror, it is not a Marvel superhero, but it is himself. Due to the rules of time travel and the multiverse, Kang the Conqueror has come into conflict with past and future versions of himself and his variants. Kang and his variants are often at war with one another and have killed or destroyed each other. Yet in an infinite multiverse, there will always be some version of Kang. Kang's two biggest rivals are Immortus, an older version of Kang from the future who hates his younger self.
The other is Iron Lad, a younger version of Kang who attempts to fight his future of becoming the time-traveling crazy hero. Iron Lad assembled the Young Avengers to stop his future self. In fact, Iron Lad did kill the older version of Kang the Conqueror. However, this resulted in a paradox that threatened all the universes, so Iron Lad returned to his timeline accepting his fate to become Kang the Conqueror.
Who Could Vanish Kang in the MCU
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Kang the Conqueror is the next overarching villain of the MCU. After being teased in Loki, the character made his first proper introduction in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. That film saw the mighty villain defeated and killed by both Scott Lang's Ant-Man and Hope Van Dyne's Wasp. While that might seem anti-climactic for the next Thanos-level threat to be defeated by two of the MCU's literal smallest heroes, this is not the end of Kang's story.
The after-credit scene showcased the iconic Council of Kang's, including versions of Immortus, Pharoh Rama-Tut, and The Scarlet Centurion, hinting at their assault on the main MCU universe and giving a new meaning to the title The Kang Dynasty. With a large amount of Kang variants, this opens the door for various Marvel superheroes to vanquish him.
So far, Sylvie and both Ant-Man and the Wasp have killed a version of Kang the Conqueror. After defeating him in the comics, the MCU incarnation of Moon Knight might kill one of the Kang variants. It has been heavily hinted that Namor will play a role in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and his status as an anti-hero means he has no qualms about killing. Werewolf by Night introduced Man-Thing, and anyone who knows fear burns at the Man-Thing's touch, so that would be a great way for a Kang variant to die. In keeping with the comics, it might be a variant of Kang that is the key to defeating the others. Only time will tell, as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty is still two years away.