Kang Isn't The Real 'He Who Remains,' and Marvel Just Proved It

Marvel's Kang the Conqueror is known in the MCU as He Who Remains, but the comics reveal a much more powerful villain already stole the title.

Warning: contains spoilers for Devil's Reign: Superior Four #3!

Marvel's Kang the Conqueror has recently been bested by the boastful and brilliant bastion of black magic, Doctor Doom; he has taken away the Conqueror's most recently-acquired title. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Kang's first variant is known as He Who Remains, the last remaining variant after a brutal and bloody Multiversal War. But the writers of Devil's Reign: Superior Four #3 took the liberty of taking the title from the 31st-century descendant of Reed Richards and granting it to a much more terrifying supervillain.

The most recently Marvel crossover event continues in Devil's Reign, a Kingpin and Daredevil-centric event that nonetheless involves every corner of Marvel's New York City. As mayor, the Kingpin uses his power to outlaw superheroes within the city limits. While heroes such as Susan Storm and Reed Richards are locked away, the Kingpin uses villains like Doctor Octopus to keep the peace. But Otto Octavius has his own agenda, and uses the Fantastic Four's Forever Gate to travel between universes and locates three other Doctor Octopus variants: Otto Blaze (with the powers of Ghostrider), Otto Howlett (with the powers of Wolverine) and Otto Banner (with the powers of the Incredible Hulk).

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The four Ottos journey through the gate when mysterious energy is detected; the quartet are quickly quashed in a quagmire of their own making. They've arrived in the dimension of Doctor Doom - or rather Otto Werner Von Strange, a hybrid of Doctor Doom, Doctor Strange and Doctor Octopus. Calling himself Doom Supreme, Doom explains his predicament to the other Ottos: he is the sole survivor of a terrible Multiversal War and "maintain[s] balance within our multiversal existence." As such, he's in need of a successor.

Doom's entire expository monologue is somewhat reminiscent of He Who Remains at the end of 2021's Loki. Like Doom, the Kang variant was the sole survivor at the end of a massive war between his other variants, and created the Sacred Timeline to prevent any multiversal incursions and/or timeline branching. Unlike He Who Remains, Doom actually manages to fight back in this timeline; while Kang seemingly has knowledge of the future, there is a point in the show in which he is as blind to future events as his guests; Doom has no such restriction ( but he is defeated nonetheless through the four Ottos working together).

He Who Remains was initially a rather polarizing figure during the debut of Loki; fans didn't take too kindly to a powerless Kang the Conqueror who unceremoniously died after only one episode. But Doom Supreme, while sharing Kang's penchant for incessant monologues, never hesitates to demonstrate his power on or off the field of battle. Kang the Conqueror may be gone (at least as far as Loki is concerned), but the comics version of He Who Remains is Doctor Doom, the more powerful villain.

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