Back in 1997, The Simpsons aired an episode called ‘The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show,’ which contains what might be one of the most memetic moments of the entire series: the last-minute shoddy rewrite of Itchy & Scratchy to get rid of the unpopular character Poochie, with the caption “Poochie died on the way back to his home planet.” It became the go-to for people making fun of last-minute rewrites and obvious swerves in storytelling that clearly weren’t intended by those responsible. You can see where I’m going with this, right?

At San Diego Comic-Con 2024, Marvel Studios confirmed rumors that what had initially been announced just two years earlier as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty — the centerpiece of the current ‘Multiverse Saga,’ and showcase for Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conquerer — had been retitled, and refocused. Kang was gone, thanks to Majors’ legal troubles, and in his place was a new villain to the MCU, played by an actor very, very familiar with the MCU: Robert Downey Jr., playing Doctor Doom, in the newly-titled Avengers: Doomsday. Kang, it seemed, had died on the way back to his home planet.

Except… the strange thing is, he hadn’t, thanks to stories already released by Marvel. Accidentally — and it was an accident, because these stories were written and produced at a point when Kang was still intended to be set up as a Thanos-level threat across multiple projects — Marvel Studios had already managed to give itself an out to bench Kang, and provide some level of closure to the Kang storyline… as long as you’re willing to accept that some things are happening off-screen when no-one’s watching.

The Kang Dynasty That Was

Instead of running through six or seven years’ worth of projects as the core story of ‘The Multiverse Saga,’ Marvel Studios’ Kang storyline instead has three chapters: Loki season 1, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Loki season 2. By a strange twist of fate, that’s enough to provide a strangely complete story in and of itself, even if it’s not the story that everyone originally intended to tell.

That story is, basically, this:

Once upon a time, there had been a multiverse. The existence of such, as opposed to everyone just happily sticking to their own realities, was discovered by a Kang in the 31st century, and what was initially a peaceful, scientific exploration of alternate realities was overtaken by evil Kangs, who starting attacking other universes in order to conquer them. Eventually, full-scale war erupted between realities, and all seemed lost… until one Kang variant discovered Alioth, an entity that literally ate time and reality, and used it to “prune” the multiverse down to one single timeline, which became known as The Sacred Timeline, and was protected by that Kang variant, who became known as He Who Remains, and the Time Variance Authority, a group he created to destroy aberrant timelines.

And then Loki came along and ruined everything.

Loki — or, more accurately, Sophie, who was herself an alternate reality Loki — killed He Who Remains, which resulted in the rebirth of the multiverse and, importantly, the rebirth of evil alternate reality Kangs. One in particular worried He Who Remains: Kang the Conqueror, who was discovered accidentally by Ant-Man and the Wasp when they visited the Quantum Realm. That Kang wanted to escape the Quantum Realm to continue conquering other timelines, but also warned that he was the only person who could stop “what’s coming,” meaning other Kangs going to war and plunging reality into another multiverse war. Thing is, that Kang died, thanks to the actions of Ant-Man, the Wasp, and friends, who believed they were saving reality.

Meanwhile, outside of time, things were going poorly. The death of He Who Remains meant that alternate realities were multiplying without end, which might overwhelm reality itself. An attempt to bring things back under control by using an ancestor of Kang called Victor Timely went awry — not helped by the fact that Timely was initially recruited by a former follower of He Who Remains, who had their own plans for him. Ultimately, reality is saved by Loki himself, who takes on the role that He Who Remains but seeks to control the branching realities,  rather than destroy them. Reality is saved, seemingly… and the Kang menace is seemingly over.

No, really. Think about it: He Who Remains dies, and warns that Kang the Conqueror is going to come and be scary — and he does and he is, but he’s also killed by the end of Quantumania. The rebirth of the multiverse, meanwhile, isn’t stopped, but it is managed, thanks to Loki. All’s well that ends well, right?

The Kang Dynasty That Wasn’t

Okay, there are two dangling plot lines that remain from the two Loki seasons and Quantumania that, on the face of it, need to be addressed. Firstly, there’s the existence of the multiverse itself, which is clearly and obviously something that’s going to factor into future movies and find some kind of resolution in the two upcoming Avengers movies in 2026 and 2027 — they are, after all, the final chapters of the ‘Multiverse Saga.’ That’s all fine and good, and doesn’t really need any input from Kang at this point: he was the one who got things started, but who says he has to be part of the resolution, especially when you have Doctor Doom involved…?

(Of course, we’ll quietly drop in the fact that there’s a version of Marvel comic book canon where it’s suggested that Doctor Doom and Kang might be the same person, in weird time-traveling ways, so maybe there is going to be a Kang involved in the resolution of the story after all…)

The other thing is, of course, the first post-credit scene in Quantumania, which sees multiple variants of Kang gathering together to plan mischief now that Kang the Conquerer has been taken out of the picture. It’s intended as foreshadowing of what’s to come, and also proof that the Conqueror wasn’t lying when he said that worse things were about to happen… but, strangely enough, there’s actually an exchange in the final episode of Loki that, if looked at in the right way, actually closes this narrative hole. After Loki has taken on the role of He Who Remains Mark 2, Mobius and B-15 have a discussion where it’s revealed that the TVA’s new mission isn’t just to monitor the timeline… it’s to keep tabs on all variant versions of He Who Remains and Victor Timely, to the point where the events of Quantumania are even referenced.

So we never see another Kang in the MCU ever again. Who’s to say that’s not proof that the TVA is quietly doing its job behind the scenes?

The Poochie Dynasty That Wasn’t

Again, let’s not pretend that Marvel intentionally filled potential plot holes surrounding its ditching of Kang —this was all an entirely happy accident based on groundwork originally laid for entirely other purposes entirely. (I’m sure there was a “TVA is overrun by Kangs” plot somewhere in the future that was being set up by the announcement that the agency was looking into the time traveling threats, for example.) However, it’s good news for Marvel nonetheless as it moves into its Doom-laden future, knowing that Kang has, in some unexpected manner, been dealt with… even if much of that is happening off-camera.

Of course, who’s to say Marvel isn’t secretly planning a surprise Jonathan Majors return at the end of Doomsday, throwing all of the above into disrepair? Stranger things have happened, after all… and Marvel does like to keep fans on their toes.

Keep up to date on Popverse's Marvel coverage, with these highlights:

• Marvel Studios has accidentally created a new Phase that predates Phases 1 - 6: the MCU Phase Zero
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• Overgrown children of the atom: Marvel's X-Men can't evolve past their '90s commercial peak
• The biggest outstanding questions of the Marvel Studios' movies & TV shows
• Marvel's accidental closure on the Kang storyline
• Robert Downey Jr. is entering his villain era
• Donald Trump is the landlord for Marvel's House of Ideas
• For Marvel actors, the MCU also stands for the Marvel Commercials Universe
• The Fantastic 4: First Steps offers Marvel a visual makeover, courtesy of a classic movie designer
• Marvel Studios swapping out Doctor Doom for Kang offers the chance to jettison the Multiverse Saga