The Worst Things Kang The Conqueror Has Ever Done

Kang the Conqueror, aka Nathaniel Richards, is considered to be one of the Avengers' greatest foes. A time-traveling warlord, he's held dominion over entire millennia at different points in his villainous career. Kang has also taken on many variant personas over the course of Marvel history: He's been known as Pharaoh Rama-Tut, Immortus, Iron Lad, Victor Timely, Mr. Gryphon, and the Scarlet Centurion. Ultimately, all of these various incarnations are rooted in one guy named Nathaniel Richards, who lives on the idyllic Earth of the 30th century. He's bored out of his mind by the peace and prosperity of the era, and is obsessed with the superheroes of the 20th century. 

Eventually, Nathaniel digs around and finds a time machine built by one of his ancestors. It might be the work of another Nathaniel Richards, who was Reed Richards' father. It might also have been built by Doctor Doom. Regardless, he goes to Egypt and promptly turns the awestruck people there into his slaves. Thus begins Kang the Conqueror's long reign of terror, which takes him to the far future, the distant past, and everywhere in between. Kang rains non-stop war and misery on multiple worlds and in multiple timelines over the course of his career, but some of his evil deeds still manage to stand out as especially sinister. Which are the most massively malicious? We're here to find out. These are the worst things Kang the Conqueror has ever done.

At a certain point, Kang kidnaps the Apocalypse Twins, Uriel and Eimin, and raises them as his own murderous children. They turn against him and manipulate events such that a Celestial named Exitar destroys the Earth. Even worse, they throw up a tachyon dam that prevents Kang — or anyone else — from stopping them. 

Kang works with a united team of Avengers and X-Men, and puts together his own squad of time-spanning warriors to infiltrate the Twins' defenses. Thanks to Rogue, the Sentry, and Thor, the Celestial is given a mortal wound. At this point, unfortunately, Kang reveals his true colors. He neutralizes Thor so that he can absorb the pure energy of the Celestial and ascend to godhood. Kang doesn't reveal his true motives until it's nearly too late to stop him, and mixes what seems to be goodwill with his own sinister scheming.

Sunfire and Havoc are the last line of defense. After Kang apparently disintegrates Sunfire, Havoc ignores Kang's lies about saving Havoc's daughter and gains the upper hand. Sunfire reemerges with a huge power-up, and the two of them force Kang to flee and abandon his attempt to gain godlike power. It just goes to show that any deal you make with Kang is bound to wind up being trouble.

One of the hazards of being a time traveler is creating alternate selves. One can also create alternate versions of vengeful paramours. This is what happens to Kang when an alternate version of Ravonna seeks revenge, disguising herself as the old Avengers foe Nebula. As she tries to get revenge on Kang, the Avengers and Fantastic Four are roped into the battle. When Kang sees Thor's hammer heading straight for Ravonna, he saves her life at the expense of his own. She puts him in stasis, vowing to revive him and get revenge. 

Ravonna takes over Kang's empire and learns of its complications. A monstrous, ancient, time-devouring being named Alioth lurks at the borders of Kang's kingdom, ever-present as he deals with other time-adjacent entities like the Time Variance Authority and the Time Keepers. She must also manage the Council of Cross-Time Kangs, a group of alternate Kangs who have authority in Kang's kingdom. 

With the help of her alternate future self, Revelation, Ravonna gets treatment for Kang and ropes in the Avengers to help her fight Alioth. Kang lures the beast into murdering the entire Council of Cross-Time Kangs before he gives the Avengers the means to hold off Alioth. Later, Kang confirms that the death of every single one of his annoying alternate selves was entirely intentional on his part. 

After an encounter with Hawkeye in the timestream, Kang gets the idea to journey to the American Southwest of the late 19th century and use it as a beachhead to conquer the 20th century. Expecting no resistance, he builds a "hotel" with a mind control device that enslaves everyone in the town of Tombstone, Arizona. He promptly sends a group of criminals to rob a train in order to get its uranium so that he can build more sophisticated and deadly weapons. 

Kang believes that his mind control devices will make it easy to conquer America, the world, and, eventually, everything else. He faces some resistance in the face of Marvel's Western heroes, however: the Rawhide Kid, the Night Rider, Kid Colt, and the Two-Gun Kid. Kang is able to dismiss them without much trouble, sending a dinosaur to scare them off. Hawkeye appears out of the timestream to help, and is later joined by Thor and Moondragon. 

Kang is one of the pettiest supervillains around. He's actually glad the Avengers show up, because he's still mad at them for foiling his Celestial Madonna scheme. He wants to kill them more than he wants to conquer the 19th and 20th centuries. However, Thor beats him decisively, and Kang's armor malfunctions and (apparently) disintegrates him. The fact that he so casually considers the free will of hundreds of townsfolk indicates just how awful he truly is.

One of the many advanced weapons Kang uses is his small army of Growing Men. These intelligent soldiers are stimuloids, who grow upon impact. This makes them a formidable and nearly unstoppable force. How does Kang create them? Like most of his accomplishments, he outsources it through conquest. Some time in the future, he discovers the dimension of Kosmos and the world of the same name, which is populated by insectoid creatures. Hank Pym initially discovered Kosmos; it's the home of Pym Particles, which allow those exposed to grow or shrink. Pym defeats various Kosmosian criminals trying to invade Earth and also frees Eric "Goliath" Josten from its grip. Years later, the Thunderbolts are taken by Kosmos after they set off a beacon that delivers the Kosmosians a lesson.

The message is this: In the future, a blue man will conquer and enslave the entire planet. He will kill millions, turn the survivors into his servants, and force their scientists to construct his Growing Men using their growth pollen. Because Kang has the Growing Men sent to the past and hidden for his later use, the Kosmosians are able to sneak in a beacon that will deliver this message from the future. Of course, the message causes turmoil and sparks a civil war, as Kang causes mayhem and bloodshed for his future slaves by the mere fact of his existence. 

Kang falls in love with Princess Ravonna, who is too proud to surrender her kingdom. When Kang's men turn on him, she helps him, but is killed. Like so many supervillains before him, he sticks her in a stasis tube until he can revive her. Kang makes a deal with the Grandmaster, one of the Elders of the Universe, to play the Game of the Galaxies. If he wins, he gains the power of life and death. Naturally, he chooses the Avengers as his pawns. 

The Grandmaster splits the game into two parts. First, the Avengers are matched up against the Squadron Sinister, a new group of villains with distinct similarities to DC Comics' Justice League. The Avengers are on their way to winning until their friend, the Black Knight, interferes in the battle between the Avengers' Goliath and the Squadron's Whizzer. The Grandmaster declares this round a forfeit. 

The other Avengers are sent back to World War II to battle the Invaders. They win cleanly, thanks to the knowledge they have of their opponents, Captain America, Prince Namor, and the original Human Torch. The Grandmaster forces Kang to choose between power over life and power over death. He's about to pick life for Ravonna's sake, until the Avengers burst in and demand freedom. An incensed Kang demands death for the Avengers instead of reviving his love, but the Black Knight knocks him out. Kang goes home with nothing.