“X-Males ’97” Season 2 hasn’t shied away from the formidable storytelling of the comics, however in faithfully exploring the origins of Apocalypse (Ross Marquand), it has additionally heralded the return of a serious villain to the Marvel-adapted media multiverse.
Across the roll out of 2023’s “Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania,” the MCU was positioning Kang the Conqueror as its subsequent multi-franchise-spanning cosmic-level antagonist. Kang’s deal is he is a time-traveler with just about infinite variants scattered all through historical past — or histories, to be extra exact. Sadly, a lot of these variants are supervillains.
Nevertheless, when Kang’s actor Jonathan Majors was discovered responsible of assault, the studio reworked its plans round Physician Doom (Robert Downey. Jr) and relegated Kang to a last flip in the second season of Disney+’s “Loki.”
In “X-Males ’97,” Season 2, Episode 3, the Disney+ animated collection flashes again to 3000 B.C.E. in Historic Egypt the place the younger Apocalypse, En Sabah Nur, is a self-emancipated slave rebelling towards the cruelty of ruler Rama-Tut. Surprisingly, the dictator and warlord has a technologically superior citadel in the midst of the desert. That is as a result of Rama-Tut is one among Kang the Conqueror’s youngest selves. Majors performed him one of many end-credit scenes in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” and he is the primary model of Kang to look within the comics — particularly “Improbable 4” #19 (1963) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
One other model of Kang the Conqueror seems in X-Males: The Animated Sequence
Rama-Tut’s arrival marks the second time a model of Kang the Conqueror seems within the shared continuity of “X-Males ’97” and “X-Males: The Animated Sequence.” Again in “X-Males: TAS” Season 4 Episode 21, Apocalypse (James Blendick) tried to manage time by kidnapping completely different psychics. Bishop (Philip Akin) partnered up with a mysterious mutant referred to as Bender (Stephen Ouimette) to assist cease the villain’s plan.
Following Apocalypse’s defeat, Bender is left behind and remarks that they left behind “such a multitude.” Since he is alone, he reverts again to his true type: Immortus, sporting a inexperienced go well with with a purple cloak and headdress — his typical costume within the comics.
Immortus is without doubt one of the oldest Kang variants and usually tries to ensure that nobody fiddles with the timeline, and consequentially, his personal energy. Majors additionally performed a model of Immortus on the finish of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” in addition to a number of different Kang variants — together with Rama-Tut, in the identical shot.