Iron Man in Avengers: Endgame has hinted at a new villain in the MCU. 2 Years later, it is clear who that is. Thanos served the Infinity Saga really well, and now Kang The Conqueror, will take his place. Jonathan Majors is to portray the character of this time-traveling genius. The MCU has opened up about this only recently, but Tony Stark seemed to have already foreshadowed his introduction.
Iron Man was the first avenger to predict the danger of Thanos lurking around the corner. In Avengers: Infinity War, the Purple Titan revealed himself to the world, proving his intuition correct. Of course, there were some arguable moments from Iron Man’s side like the creation of Ultron, but he certainly made sense. The Avengers might have been better prepared had they heeded his warning before Thanos’ catastrophe. Considering his foreshadowing of Thanos, it will not be surprising if Tony Stark had sensed Kang’s arrival too.
Tony knew that the Time-Travelling attempts in the Endgame were not without the risks. He was initially skeptical about the idea, which is why he opposed it. Although when they found to way to make it work, he took the opportunity. His primary motivation behind this was to bring back dead Spider-Man from Infinity War. In 2014, following the Avengers‘ successful time heist to revive the Infinity War casualties, Thanos attacked, taking the heroes by surprise.
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There’s a scene in Avengers: Endgame that sheds some light on this. When the confused Captain America asked Iron Man what happened, to which Tony replied: “you mess with time, it tends to mess back”. This shows Iron Man was well aware of the consequences of tampering with time. This may also mean he had anticipated Kang’s entry too, as his very ability is time travel.
A descendant of Reed Richards and Sue Storm, Kang, is born in the 30th century and has access to a time machine. Kang’s method of working is relatively constant, despite the appearance of many versions of him. Since Endgame has put on the stamp on time travel, now it may be a good time for Kang to be the new ‘bad guy’. It is unlikely that Iron man was aware of Kang in particular. However, it’s logical to say he had sensed villains using time as their chief weapon to bring havoc on the world.
As Tony Stark is no longer there to lead against upcoming villainy in the MCU, there are many others who can step up to tackle Kang the Conqueror. There, of course, is Doctor Strange, who has access to the multiverse and connections to time stone. Also, with the exploration of Pym Particles and Quantum Realm, Ant-Man movies provide a suitable framework to bring Kang into the picture. So it is easy to understand the rumours of Kang in Ant-Man 3 instead of future Marvel Studios projects.
