Thanos, the Mad Titan, gave the Avengers all they could handle in the Infinity Saga, overpowering many of them to obtain the Infinity Stones and snap half the universe out of existence.
Kang the Conqueror is an up-and-coming villain introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in Loki and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. He is a supergenius who mastered the art of time traveling.
What would happen if these two bad guys were to fight each other head-to-head? Which one would win?
Read on for a detailed comparison of Thanos and Kang to get an idea what a fight between them might look like.
Contents
Who is Thanos?
Thanos is one of the primary antagonists of the MCU’s Infinity Saga. A member of the Titan race, he hailed from Saturn’s moon Titan. His people were god-like beings before they all died out due to overpopulation and a lack of resources.
Seeing his people slowly die off affected Thanos, who was already ruthless and sadistic. He saw that the rest of the universe was heading toward the same fate as his homeworld, so he hatched a plan to destroy half of all life in the universe to “restore balance”.
Because of this, he became known as the Mad Titan. He believed the universe was overpopulated and the only solution was to destroy half of all life. That way, those who were left could thrive and wouldn’t have to fight for resources.
Thanos fought many battles over time, killing wherever he went. He ultimately began seeking the Infinity Stones, which would help him achieve his purpose.
Once he obtained all the Stones, he snapped his fingers and half of the universe disintegrated.
The surviving Avengers later learned how to time travel and went back to undo what Thanos had done. In the ensuing Battle of Earth, Tony Stark seized the stones away and snapped Thanos and his followers out of existence.
Who is Kang?
Kang the Conqueror debuted in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania after being teased in Disney Plus’ Loki. Speculation is that he will continue to be a major antagonist in MCU movies and shows going forward.
Originally named Nathaniel Richards, Kang was a supergenius human from the 31st century. He learned to time travel after discovering the Quantum Realm. Every time he time traveled, he created a new variant of himself, and eventually, he decided to conquer all of these variants and their worlds.
His variants, comprising the Council of Kangs, banished him to protect themselves, trapping him in the Quantum Realm.
He set about conquering the Quantum Realm, bringing those who lived there into submission as he searched for a way out.
Various heroes, including Scott and Cassie Lang, Hank Pym, and Hope Van Dyne, fight against him in his quest to leave the Quantum Realm and destroy the Council of Kangs, which would cost trillions of lives.
Ultimately, Kang is sucked into a power core after losing a fight with Scott Lang (Ant-Man), and he is presumably killed.
However, there are still thousands of his variants remaining in the Multiverse, and it’s uncertain whether Kang the Conqueror was actually killed or sucked deeper into the Quantum Realm.
Thanos’ Strengths
Even without the Infinity Stones, Thanos has many strengths.
Because he is a Titan, he is strong and durable; he has incredible stamina. He also possesses superhuman speed, despite his large size. Thanos also has superhuman levels of agility and reflexes.
He can self-heal from injuries, even devastating ones, quickly.
Thanos is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, having gained several centuries of war experience. The Mad Titan is also intelligent, which makes him an exceptional strategist and leader.
Finally, he has the dual abilities of telepathy, and resisting telepathy.
The Infinity Stones augment his own powers.
With all six stones, he showed he could snap anything he wanted out of existence. Even without all six, he could alter reality, time travel, increase his own speed and strength, etc–depending on which stones he had in his possession and the powers they granted him.
Kang’s Strengths
One of Kang’s biggest strengths is his time traveling–before he became trapped in the Quantum Realm, he could move forward and backward through time, seemingly at will.
He is intelligent, possibly even more so Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. He gathered knowledge from the future and the past, and created various technologies to serve his purposes.
One of his greatest inventions is his suit of body armor. This armor gives him enhanced strength, speed, stamina, and other superhuman abilities–even telekinesis. He can also send out force fields and energy blasts from the suit.
Kang has access to many different weapons from throughout history. Due to his time traveling abilities, he can bring any of these weapons into any time period he chooses, where there may not be any shields or armor to defend against them.
Another great strength is his willpower–he doesn’t give up, even when it looks like he’s beaten.
Thanos’ Weaknesses
Even a near-immortal Titan can have weaknesses, and Thanos is no different.
His ego is possibly his biggest weakness. He believes that his solution is the only solution, and this belief can blind him to seeing better options. More than that, he doesn’t want to accept that there might be a better way than his own.
He is also overconfident. This was seen throughout his battles in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, when he frequently tossed opponents aside with little effort.
Thanos could have destroyed them, but he didn’t bother because he didn’t see them as threats. Of course, this overconfidence came back to hurt him in the end.
Finally, Thanos had the power to kill anyone with a simple snap. But he usually chose to kill them slowly and cruelly because he enjoyed reveling in their suffering.
This is a typical mistake many movie villains make. It often leads to their demise, as it gives the heroes time to either save themselves or be saved by someone else.
Kang’s Weaknesses
One of Kang’s greatest weaknesses is his all-consuming desire for revenge. This desire drives him mad and prevents him from seeing better methods to accomplish his purposes.
He has also shown a desperation to accomplish his goals, as he will stop at nothing to conquer worlds and universes. This desperation blinds him to the rational choices and steps he should take along the way.
Kang has no superpowers of his own; at the end of the day, he’s only human. He must rely on his suit and weapons to give him the abilities that he lacks. If his suit were damaged or destroyed, he would have little chance against a stronger opponent.
Thanos vs. Kang: Side-By-Side Comparisons
| Character | Thanos | Kang |
| Homeworld | Titan | 31st-century Earth |
| Greatest Strength | Infinity Gauntlet | Time travel, body armor suit |
| Greatest Weakness | Ego | Desire for revenge, reliance on suit |
Thanos vs. Kang: Who Would Win?
This one is a tough call.
On the one hand, with all of the Infinity Stones, Thanos could snap Kang out of existence, ending the battle quickly.
Then again, Thanos does not take the quick and easy route to ending battles. He would try to incapacitate Kang, then kill him slowly.
This would give Kang time to figure out a way to save himself. With his suit, his weapons, his time-traveling prowess, and his supergenius intellect, there are ways he could escape with his life.
For Thanos to win this one with the Infinity Gauntlet, he will need to set aside his ego, sadistic nature, and quickly snap Kang into oblivion. Without the Infinity Gauntlet, he must find a way to disable Kang’s suit, or separate him from it.
That said, Kang’s time-traveling abilities may give him an edge. Thanks to time travel, Kang may already be privy to the outcome of any battle before it happens. This would help him figure out how and under what circumstances he could beat Thanos.
Once he has used time traveling to his advantage, Kang will still have to outsmart Thanos to defeat him, as he is not as strong as the Mad Titan. Though both villains are intelligent, Kang may have the edge in this category.
To summarize, Thanos could defeat Kang by snapping him out of existence or by separating him from his suit. But Kang could defeat Thanos by manipulating time or by outsmarting him. So this battle could easily go either way.
Conclusion
Thanos and Kang are powerful villains in the MCU. Each one has strengths that they could use to defeat the other. With this in mind, it is impossible to say which character would win in a one-on-one battle.
Sarah Hood is a freelance content writer and editor with a love for all things Star Wars. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking, singing, and spending time in the great outdoors.