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Jun 29, 2023

Kang the Conqueror Gets His Own Iron Man Armor in Jaw

Kang the Conqueror just got his own Iron Man armor, as Ultimate Invasion sees the ultimate villain vs villain war threaten an entire universe. Warning: contains spoilers for Ultimate Invasion

Kang the Conqueror just got his own Iron Man armor, as Ultimate Invasion sees the ultimate villain vs villain war threaten an entire universe.

Warning: contains spoilers for Ultimate Invasion #2!Marvel's Ultimate Invasion is redefining many of its iconic heroes and villains, including an epic new version of Kang the Conqueror who boasts purple and green armor that would make even Iron Man jealous. However, this new look is no coincidence, and may even be a clue as to who's under the helmet of the ultimate time-traveling antihero.

Fans have their first look at Kang thanks to Francis Manapul's variant cover art for Ultimate Invasion #4, by Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch. In this world, the Maker (an alternate version of Reed Richards) has used time travel to tailor an entire reality to his own preferences. Maker has prevented the creation of heroes like the Fantastic Four and elevated key villains to positions of international power. However, despite constructing his ideal status quo, he's not without competitors - in the recent Ultimate Invasion #2, Reed was attacked by a time-traveling army, with members based on key Avengers like Thor and Captain America. Enjoy Manapul's cover and the issue's official synopsis below:

THE END…OR THE BEGINNING? War breaks out as timelines and universes collide! Iron Man must choose between the lesser of two evils - the Maker or Kang. But what secret does Iron Man know about the men behind the masks? And at the end of it all, the world outside your window will be forever changed! Don’t miss this giant-sized, action-packed conclusion - or is it only the beginning…?

Related: Iron Man Takes on the 1 Mutant Who's a Bigger Threat to His Armor Than Magneto

In a world where time itself has been rewritten, nothing is quite as Marvel fans know it. This includes Iron Man, who in this world is Howard Stark, not his son Tony. In Ultimate Invasion #2, the Maker revealed that he's being targeted by an enemy in the future, with a grievous injury done to his unique body having destroyed many of his memories. He hypothesizes that Howard is the creator of a time machine in his possession - the Immortus Engine - but knows little about his time-traveling enemy. His big advantage is that - having come from another universe and rewritten the timeline of this alternate reality - he can't be targeted at an earlier point in his life. His enemy - clearly a new version of Kang the Conqueror - has to face him at his strongest. Hitch's main cover for the issue (below) had previously shown Kang and his time-traveling army of 'heroes,' but in the version released by Marvel, he was shrouded in shadow.

In Marvel's main canon, Kang is Nathaniel Richards, but it's unlikely that's who's behind the mask this time around. The obvious candidate is Howard himself - the armor in Manapul's art uses the same symbol as the Immortus Engine the Maker believes he built - however another candidate is his son Tony. It makes sense that a Tony Stark who never became Iron Man would still design a similar-looking armor as Kang, and it would be a perfect way to reinvent him in this new world. Marvel's Ultimate imprint was originally intended to tell stories its main universe couldn't, and an evil Tony Stark and Reed Richards fighting over reality more than fits the bill for its grand rebirth.

However, Marvel's Ultimate Invasion is setting up a whole new reality for multiple series to spin out of, so it's possible someone else is under the helmet, better suited to setting up new narratives. Indeed, in the prior iteration of the Ultimate Universe, it turned out Susan Storm (aka the Invisible Woman) was the villainous Kang. With time travel involved, it's possible that Kang is a future version of the Maker (the same relationship the mainstream Kang and Immortus share), or even that it's this world's native Reed Richards, who never became a superhero thanks to the Maker's meddling. There's very little that's off the table, since Ultimate Invasion doesn't have to answer to prior lore.

Will Kang be a hero, a villain, or something else entirely? Fans will only get an answer when the issue hits shelves, but the promise of Kang's new Iron Man armor is undeniable.

Ultimate Invasion #4 is on sale from Marvel Comics September 27.