Victor Timely, Kang the Conqueror’s Most Secret Identity

The time-traveling Kang the Conqueror, who is from the 31st century, wants to live up to his name and rule over, well, everything. The heroes of the Marvel Universe have, however, consistently thwarted the villain’s schemes. Kang has occasionally remade himself as part of a long-term plan to beat his enemies because he never gives up. The most notable instance of him doing that was when Kang assumed the identity of Victor Timely. All you need to know about this Nathaniel Richards, alias Kang, is as follows.

VICTOR TIMELY: AN INVENTOR, AN INDUSTRIALIST, AND SO MUCH MORE

The “Citizen Kang” narrative began in 1992’s CAPTAIN AMERICA ANNUAL (1971) #11, and it ran throughout multiple annuals that year. The storyline introduced the Fantastic Four and Avengers to Timely, Wisconsin, which they quickly learned was connected to Chronopolis, the time-traveling base of Kang the Conqueror.

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Readers discovered Kang’s relationship with Timely around the close of that storyline in the “The Puzzle” short story that appeared in AVENGERS ANNUAL (1967) #21. Kang was beaten by Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in his first appearance in AVENGERS (1963) #8, and after that, the villain traveled back in time to January 1, 1901, adopting the name Victor Timely. Kang formed Timely and presented himself as an entrepreneur and innovator with expertise in technology and robotics using that alias. Kang nevertheless secretly constructed Chronopolis at the same site as Timely the town, even though it was out of sync with it in the timestream. That essentially made Chronopolis untraceable to everyone, concealed within a paradox.

Kang was the town’s first mayor and reigned over Timely for many years. Kang’s longtime love interest Ravonna Renslayer sought to extend Chronopolis in AVENGERS: THE TERMINATRIX OBJECTIVE (1993), which required Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to step in and brought them into direct contact with Kang as Timely in the town’s early years. After the tale, Renslayer and Kang resumed their romance, and she started residing in Timely as Rebecca Tourminet.

Kang made numerous notable contributions to the field of robotics while running Timely. He once even worked with a teenage Dr. Phineas Horton, who would later create Jim Hammond, also known as the original Human Torch. Yet Kang’s focus remained on arming himself and preparing Earth for his eventual conquest. The “Kang Dynasty” storyline, which ran from AVENGERS (1998) #41–55 and AVENGERS ANNUAL (2001) #1, then brought their intentions to fruition.

The government sought to utilize Sentinels—the traditional Bolivar Trask X-Men foes—against Kang in the “Kang Dynasty.” The villain soon revealed, however, that he had included fail safes in the technology that was a result of his work at Timely Industries. Kang was able to take control of the deadly machines and turn them against Earth because the Sentinels depended on the same technological developments. That indicated that Richards’ time spent as Victor Timely was crucial to his eventual conquest of the world, which had for so long eluded him.

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