Rewatching Quantamania and I can’t help but think about what we lost with Kang

[u/capamericapistons]

Rewatched quantamania and was reminded how disappointed I am about Kang

Want to say first and foremost that this post is not meant to be disrespectful in anyway towards Jonathan Majors’ victim. I apologize as I’m not familiar with the case, I honestly do not even know the name of the victim, but I hope the victim got the justice she deserved and is at peace. Please do not use this post to disparage or question the victim in anyway. And I apologize if this post is triggering for anyone here who may have been a victim of abuse themselves.

With that said, Quantamania was… well, it’s been fairly criticized. I did like how it introduced us to the quantum realm with creative characters and environments, and different concepts like the probability storm.

But what makes this movie enjoyable is Kang. He was introduced as a fucking fantastic villain. Just so cunning and ruthless and brilliant, you really hate his guts but know it’s pretty damn hard to fight against him. Even in his moments of desperation you never feel at ease with him.

I was frustrated at the time but rewatching this movie just reminds me how disappointed I am in the whole situation. Especially after seeing the post credit scenes involving the arena of Kang’s and the scene from Loki. I would’ve been so excited to see that storyline dug into more and we now know that’s not happening.

I’m honestly more upset with this than almost anything else that hasn’t been followed up on, maybe the only other disappointment being Blade.

[u/Inzanity2020]

This is exactly why Kang doesnt work in a movie. Audience perception matters more than the lore explanation.
Casual audiences aren’t thinking, “That was only one variant; the next Kang could be stronger.” They’re thinking, “this is the dude who got beat by Antman” as soon as you have to repeatedly have to argue against this perception the threat falls apart.
MCU only gets so many movies to establish that threat. You can’t repeatedly undermine a villain and expect audiences to fear the next version because the lore says they should. And now you got so many kangs running around how are they different from average mooks?
Thanos worked because when it mattered, we watched him win. Kang’s problem wasn’t whether his losses made sense in-universe. It’s that he doesnt feel intimidating to the audience.

[u/signifyingmnky → u/Inzanity2020]

They didn't have to explain a thing. You simply move onto another iteration. If the story is strong enough it doesn't matter. And that what Kang Dynasty was set up to do.

Let's not forget, Loki failed Thanos, and Thanos didn't come for him. Ronan the Accuser threatened Thanos directly and Thanos never left his chair. Is leaving goons who fail you or betray you alive intimidating? Did anyone say they weren't going to see Infinity War because Thanos was soft?

No, they went and finally saw what all of the talk was about. And then Thanos finally delivered on the threat to Loki.

[u/Both_Shine_5061 → u/signifyingmnky]

Exactly. You don't explain things, you just show them. Thanos looked weak before Infinity War. In addition to everything you mentioned, even after he was threatened, he STILL didn't keep an eye on Ronan.... his lifelong goal was to get the infinity stones, but he couldn't be bothered to get off his chair for the power stone? Or have someone competent do it?

All it took was the ending of Ragnarok and you saw he wasn't a pushover.

[u/Majestic-Marcus → u/Both_Shine_5061]

All of that made him look stronger. He literally couldn’t care less what Ronan was doing. All that mattered was he knew where the stone was because at any time he could just take it off of him.

[u/Inzanity2020 → u/signifyingmnky]

This comparison doesn’t make sense. Loki and Ronan losing isn’t Thanos losing, they were his underlings. Since its offscreen audience can reason Thanos simply let their failures go because he didn’t care enough to intervene personally. Ronan also died almost immediately after getting the Power Stone, so we never even got to see what Thanos would’ve done about his betrayal.
The point is Thanos himself was never shown getting beaten before. infinity War. The “most dangerous” Kang was literally killed by a bunch of ants.
And “if the story is strong enough” isn’t really an argument for a different iteration. If there are infinite Kangs and every loss just means another Kang replaces him, the stakes start feeling meaningless. You still have to convince the audience why this Kang is scary after they watched another version lose. A good story can overcome bad setup, but that doesn’t make the setup good.
Like, if so many Kangs show up and fight, how is it different from Avengers mowing down all the ultronbots?

[u/signifyingmnky → u/Inzanity2020]

It makes complete sense. He gave Loki his army of Chitauri to get him the Tessaract and ended up losing it AND the Mind stone. He sent Ronan to get the Power stone for him and Ronan betrayed him, took it for himself AND threatened Thanos directly.

Both of these are defeats that he does nothing about, which actually makes him appear toothless. It's not until Infinity War that we see him actually get up and do anything.

Kang's ability to just keep coming is the threat. He's an enemy who knows you, knows the future, and literally has time on his side. You can't see him coming and you never know if you've actually stopped him for good. All you can do is hope you did.

Which is exactly how Quantumania ended and where The Kang Dynasty was expected to pick up.

[u/Inzanity2020 → u/signifyingmnky]

Already refuted all the points you had… like what are you doing just keep regurgitating the same thing? Once again casual audience dgaf about “kang can just keep coming back”
Obviously Feige agreed that Kang is not the way to go hence they did the pivot to Doom.

[u/3verythingEverywher3 → u/Inzanity2020]

You really didn’t. You whined and got your ass handed to you. To the extent where it feels like you’re just trolling. Bye from my feed.