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Welcome to the main discussion thread for the Marvel Cinematic Universe! This pinned post is here to establish some basic guidelines. All of the Media Forum rules still apply.

  • This thread is for talking about the live-action films, TV shows, animated works, and related content that use the Marvel brand, currently owned by Disney.
  • While mild digressions are okay, discussion of the comic books should go in this thread. Extended digressions may be thumped as off-topic.
  • Spoilers for new releases should not be discussed without spoiler tagging for at least two weeks. Rather, each title should have a dedicated thread where that sort of conversation is held. We can mention new releases in a general sense, but please be courteous to people who don't want to be spoiled.

If you're posting tagged spoilers, make sure that the film or series is clearly identified outside the spoiler tagging. People need to know what will be spoiled before they choose to read the post.

    Original post 
Since Thor and now Captain America came out this year, I wanted to get what Tropers thought of the concept and execution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general. Personally I love the idea and wonder why this idea hasn't been seriously tried before. It sorta seems to me like the DCAU in movie form (And well, ummm, with Marvel), and really 'gets' the comic book feel of a shared universe while not being completely alienating.

Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM

chasemaddigan I'm Sad Frogerson. Since: Oct, 2011
I'm Sad Frogerson.
#130001: Jul 15th 2021 at 12:03:33 PM

Awww, I thought it was a play on "con"querer.

This Kang's so strong, it isn't funny
♩Can make an Avenger cry out for mummy♫

Edited by chasemaddigan on Jul 15th 2021 at 3:04:52 PM

Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#130002: Jul 15th 2021 at 12:05:46 PM

I'm familiar with the name Kang because Teenage mutant ninja turtles..

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
comicwriter Since: Sep, 2011
#130003: Jul 15th 2021 at 12:20:47 PM

Kang's awesome so I'm happy to see it looks like he has a big future ahead of him.

Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#130004: Jul 15th 2021 at 12:33:25 PM

I recently started to believe, without evidence, that the name Kang came from Khan with letter substitution and shuffling

It wouldn’t be beyond the pale for how marvel comes up with names

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#130005: Jul 15th 2021 at 1:59:24 PM

Jesus Bucky was a complete beast as the Winter Soldier.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
Hodor2 Since: Jan, 2015
#130006: Jul 15th 2021 at 2:03:51 PM

Does Richards ever give an in-universe reason for why he calls himself Kang?

Also, I'm curious, is he actually immortal? Or more specifically, how old is biologically? Like I know time travel is obviously his thing, but has Richards (or at least a version of him) taken The Slow Path from whenever he was a Pharaoh to the 31st century and beyond?

Just a side note, although I know that the Ancient Egyptians were not Sub-Saharan Africans (at least for the most part), but I find it a huge improvement that the guy who was a Pharaoh looks like Jonathan Majors in the MCU and not a pale white guy.

Edited by Hodor2 on Jul 15th 2021 at 4:08:14 AM

Blueace Surrounded by weirdoes from The End Of the World Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Surrounded by weirdoes
#130007: Jul 15th 2021 at 2:14:58 PM

Kang is apparently his name. Dude has so many origin stories and alternate selves it's hard to keep track, but since he is from so far in the future, he can basically have any ethnicity imaginable, even if he descends from Reed, Tony, Doom or whatever.

Wake me up at your own risk.
Hodor2 Since: Jan, 2015
#130008: Jul 15th 2021 at 2:22:02 PM

I know it's quite confusing since I Have Many Names (and again, time travel) is in effect, but at least my off-hand understanding was that the guy's birth certificate says Nathaniel Richards and that all of the other names are his aliases. Is that not correct?

Re ethnicity, I quite agree in terms of Nathaniel Richards/Kang generally. I'm just saying that someone who was a Pharaoh should look a lot more like Johnathan Majors than like Kang's (as I understand it rare) unmasked appearance in the comics.

Edited by Hodor2 on Jul 15th 2021 at 4:24:07 AM

chasemaddigan I'm Sad Frogerson. Since: Oct, 2011
I'm Sad Frogerson.
#130009: Jul 15th 2021 at 2:50:25 PM

Maybe Kang's just a big fan of old Star Trek episodes.

Either that or he's into the Treehouse of Horror.

Gaon Smoking Snake from Grim Up North Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#130010: Jul 15th 2021 at 3:27:58 PM

Kang the Conqueror's name is likely indeed reverse-engineered from "Khan", moreso because I think Kang is a a stylistic descendant of the iconic pulp fiction Galactic Conqueror Ming The Merciless, who had a Yellow Peril-esque thing going on with a asian-ish aesthetic (see the name). You'll notice Kang the Conqueror even follows the same naming pattern as Ming the Merciless ("x the Y", short first name long sobriquet, phonetically alliterative). Thankfully Kang stuck more with the aesthetics of "gaudy cosmic conqueror usually in a chair/throne" rather than the Yellow Peril tidbits of Ming.

As for where his name came from, I think his name is usually written as a bootstrap paradox of sorts where he calls himself Kang because he has foreknowledge that in the future he'd call himself Kang.

PS: The TMNT guy was Krang.

Edited by Gaon on Jul 15th 2021 at 3:29:02 AM

"All you Fascists bound to lose."
Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#130011: Jul 15th 2021 at 3:29:55 PM

I mean, kid Kang did know he'd wind up as Kang because Kang showed up and offered to beat up his bullies for him. Slash murder them.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#130012: Jul 15th 2021 at 3:39:12 PM

> PS: The TMNT guy was Krang.

damn it!

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
Hodor2 Since: Jan, 2015
#130013: Jul 15th 2021 at 4:01:03 PM

@Gaon- Thank you for the explanation. That makes a lot of sense.

comicwriter Since: Sep, 2011
#130014: Jul 15th 2021 at 4:42:46 PM

There was a recent-ish issue from 2016 where Kang narrates his backstory and even then he says the origins of the name "are not for [him] to reveal." The closest we ever get is him saying he wanted a name to be feared across the centuries, and on that front I guess "Kang" sounds more intimidating than "Nathaniel."

Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#130015: Jul 15th 2021 at 5:03:08 PM

He heard about Nate Grey from history class and went “oh fuck no” and immediately petitioned to legally change his own name

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#130016: Jul 15th 2021 at 5:05:14 PM

Oh God one can only imagine how the X-Men are gonna be involved in this and they bring in their own Omega level threats.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#130017: Jul 15th 2021 at 5:07:04 PM

and then inhumans

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
comicwriter Since: Sep, 2011
#130018: Jul 15th 2021 at 5:41:39 PM

The X-Men are kings of time travel fuckery so it'd be funny to see.

slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#130019: Jul 15th 2021 at 5:47:06 PM

Cyclops and Jean Grey have like 3 kids and none of them was technically conceived by them.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#130020: Jul 15th 2021 at 5:56:51 PM

Aren’t two of the kids the same kid and the other was fathered by the Phoenix? If you believe an interview with Claremont which I do

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#130021: Jul 15th 2021 at 6:16:59 PM

I also have always wondered if Kang's name was inspired by Ming, given that of all the Avengers' classic enemies, Kang is probably the most space opera-styled.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Jul 15th 2021 at 6:17:55 AM

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#130022: Jul 15th 2021 at 7:01:32 PM

Same. The name itself reeks of Yellow Peril imagery, although thankfully the character himself isn't.

Hodor2 Since: Jan, 2015
#130023: Jul 15th 2021 at 7:04:58 PM

Immortus in the comics has a suspiciously Ming-like appearance.

KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#130024: Jul 15th 2021 at 7:10:23 PM

Much like Baron Mordo's original design, comics Immortus' original design had a kind of "white guy with a vague Yellow Peril vibe despite explicitly being a white guy" thing going for him.

Which does feel a bit like Stan and Jack going "we want to do all the requisite tropes and visual cues, but don't want to offend anybody, so white guy." The 60's equivalent of the Ancient One thing.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Jul 15th 2021 at 7:11:41 AM

TargetmasterJoe from Velocitron Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: I like big bots and I can not lie
#130025: Jul 15th 2021 at 8:17:25 PM

RE: Kang hype:

While all the stuff about Kang being a crazy prepared overlord from the far-flung future that can duke it out with Captain America and have infinite versions of himself is hype enough, there's also the hype from the meta angle.

Kang the Conqueror has always been an Avengers villain from day one of his appearances, specifically Avengers #8 in 1964. However! One of his several aliases, Pharaoh Rama-Tut, appeared before Kang himself in Fantastic Four #19 in 1963.

Because Rama-Tut came before Kang, both guys were classified as Fantastic 4 villains, which meant their film rights ended up with 20th Century Fox...who proceeded to do jack squat with them as they fixated on X-Men and only gave Marvel's First Family two subpar movies.

Now that Disney bought Fox, that meant the film rights to both bad guys got lumped back into Marvel Studios. And judging by social media reactions, they wasted no time establishing our conqueror... (Heh, time pun.)


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