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Immortus

Immortus is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, primarily known as a time-traveling supervillain and a future incarnation of the conqueror Nathaniel Richards, also called Kang the Conqueror.^[1] As the final divergent counterpart of Kang, Immortus operates as an agent of the Time-Keepers, safeguarding the timestream by pruning dangerous chronal branches and ruling the extra-dimensional realm of Limbo as its Custodian.^[1] He possesses advanced time-manipulation abilities, including teleportation across time and space, summoning warriors from various timelines, and altering events within Limbo using artifacts like the Forever Crystal, which grants him control over timelines; his aging is slowed or halted in the timeless environment of Limbo, potentially rendering him immortal.^[1] Born in the alternate timeline of Earth-6311 (also known as Other-Earth) in the 41st century, Nathaniel Richards evolves through various identities, including Rama-Tut and Kang, before becoming Immortus after being recruited by the Time-Keepers to avert threats to their dominion over time.^[1] Initially tasked with dismantling the Avengers, Immortus instead develops a complex relationship with the team, often manipulating events to guide or protect them while clashing with his past selves, such as Kang, and other temporal entities like the Time-Twisters.^[1] His notable conflicts include leading the Council of Kangs, a gathering of his alternate versions, and involvement in major arcs like the manipulation of Scarlet Witch's children and the "Avengers Forever" storyline, where he engages in a time-war against divergent Kangs.^[2] Immortus first appeared in Avengers #10 (November 1964), created by writer Stan Lee and artist Don Heck.

Publication history

Creation and debut

Immortus was created by writer Stan Lee and cover artist Jack Kirby, with interior artwork by Don Heck, debuting in The Avengers #10 (cover-dated November 1964).^[1] In this issue, titled "The Avengers Break Up!", Immortus emerges as a enigmatic immortal entity from beyond time, approaching Baron Zemo's Masters of Evil—comprising Zemo, Enchantress, Executioner, Melter, and Black Knight—to propose an alliance against the Avengers.^[1] He demonstrates his power by kidnapping Rick Jones, Captain America's young sidekick, and transporting him to his fortress in Limbo, a pocket dimension detached from the normal flow of time where lost beings and temporal anomalies reside.^[1]^[3] To retrieve Jones, Immortus compels Captain America to assemble the Avengers at his Limbo citadel, where he falsely accuses one team member of orchestrating the abduction, fracturing their unity and forcing each Avenger—Thor, Iron Man, Giant-Man, Wasp, and Captain America—to face isolated challenges from Space Phantoms, illusory foes drawn from the team's past encounters.^[1]^[4] This manipulation nearly dissolves the team, aligning with Immortus's initial portrayal as a cunning manipulator with ambiguous motives: a self-proclaimed guardian of the timestream, observing and intervening in heroic destinies while serving higher entities like the Time-Keepers.^[1] His debut establishes him not as a direct combatant but as a timeless observer who prefers deception over confrontation, ruling Limbo as a neutral yet antagonistic force.^[1] Immortus's early appearances continued to build this foundation in 1965, notably in The Avengers #16 (cover-dated May 1965), titled "The Old Order Changeth!".^[5] Here, amid the Avengers' roster transition—with founding members Giant-Man, Wasp, and Iron Man departing, and Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver joining—Immortus lurks in the shadows, voicing his intent to eradicate the team and reinforcing his role as an eternal schemer monitoring their evolution.^[1]^[5] These initial stories from 1964-1965, including the Kirby-illustrated cover of Avengers #10 depicting the Avengers clashing with the Masters of Evil, set Immortus apart as a figure of temporal intrigue, distinct from typical villains through his detached, almost philosophical oversight of multiversal events.

Evolution across storylines

Immortus first appeared in Avengers #10 (1964), establishing him as a enigmatic time-lord manipulating events from Limbo. In the 1970s, Immortus's role expanded during the "Celestial Madonna" storyline in Avengers #129–137 (1974–1975), where he covertly orchestrated conflicts between Kang the Conqueror and the Avengers to influence the prophecy of a powerful child, positioning himself as a shadowy puppet-master in multiversal affairs.^[6] This arc highlighted his growing narrative importance as a behind-the-scenes antagonist in Avengers titles, blending time manipulation with prophetic intrigue. The 1980s brought a pivotal retcon in Avengers #267–269 (1986), revealing Immortus as the aged future incarnation of Kang the Conqueror, driven mad by centuries of conquest and now serving the Time-Keepers to enforce temporal stability.^[7] This connection transformed his character from a standalone villain to a complex variant within the Kang lineage, emphasizing themes of destiny and self-sabotage in stories like "The Once and Future Kang." His appearances in related titles during this era, such as Avengers West Coast, further explored his immortality and Limbo domain, solidifying his anti-heroic undertones as he occasionally aided the heroes against greater threats. Entering the 1990s, Immortus's scope broadened in Avengers Forever #1–12 (1998–1999), where he acted as the Time-Keepers' enforcer, attempting to assassinate Rick Jones to prevent multiversal disruptions, only to betray his masters and ally with Kang and the Avengers against them.^[8]^[9] This series elevated him to a multiversal overseer, shifting his portrayal toward reluctant guardian while deepening ties to the Time-Keepers' agenda of pruning divergent timelines. The early 2000s featured expansions in "Kang Dynasty" (Avengers vol. 3 #41–55 and Avengers Annual 2001, 2001–2002), where Immortus's legacy influenced events through Kang's cloned son Marcus XXIII, who posed as the Scarlet Centurion to aid Kang's invasion of Earth, underscoring familial and dynastic elements in his storyline.^[10] Retcons in this period linked him more explicitly to the Time Variance Authority (TVA), portraying the Time-Keepers as its progenitors in the Null-Time Zone.^[11] In the 2010s, Immortus received further integrations in multiverse-spanning titles like Exiles (2001–2009, with ongoing echoes), where his Time-Keeper affiliations influenced interdimensional corrections, and Uncanny Avengers #9 (2013), in which he pledged temporal forces to the Unity Squad against a rampaging Kang, marking a clearer anti-heroic pivot. These developments tied his role to TVA bureaucracy, emphasizing enforcement of a "sacred timeline" amid broader retcons connecting him to variants like He Who Remains in conceptual multiversal oversight. Recent 2020s publications, such as Timeless #1 (2022), depicted Immortus severing rogue timelines into null-time to maintain cosmic order, reinforcing his guardian function amid Kang-centric events echoing Infinity Wars' multiversal stakes, with minor roles in 2023–2025 Kang-related arcs like Avengers Academy: Marvel Voices Infinity Comic #50 (2025).^[12] This evolution has cemented Immortus as a nuanced figure, transitioning from outright villainy to a conflicted steward of time, often allying against existential threats to the multiverse.

Fictional character biography

Origins as Nathaniel Richards

Nathaniel Richards was born in the 30th century on Earth-6311, an alternate timeline also known as Other-Earth, where humanity avoided the Dark Ages and achieved rapid technological advancement.^[13] As a descendant of the 20th-century scientist Nathaniel Richards—father of Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four—he grew up in a utopian society shaped by the aftermath of a great war, fostering his fascination with Earth's heroic age in the 20th and 21st centuries.^[14] From a young age, Richards displayed exceptional intellect in robotics and engineering; as a teenager, he constructed an advanced android known as the Growing Man and later, at around 25 years old, discovered and repaired a damaged time machine left behind by his ancestor, enabling his first ventures into time travel.^[15] Richards's initial foray into the past was driven by a thirst for adventure and conquest, leading him to Earth-616's ancient Egypt around 2950 BC, where he adopted the identity of Rama-Tut, the "Sun King."^[16] Using his future technology—including energy weapons, force fields, and android servants—he overthrew the reigning pharaoh and ruled as a benevolent yet tyrannical leader for several years, amassing power and slowing his own aging through scientific means.^[17] His reign ended in confrontation with the Fantastic Four, who traveled back in time to stop him; defeated, Rama-Tut entered suspended animation to preserve himself for 5,000 years, marking his debut in Fantastic Four #19 (October 1963).^[17] This encounter highlighted his early reliance on superior technology to dominate primitive eras, setting the stage for broader temporal ambitions. Following his defeat as Rama-Tut, Richards experimented further with time manipulation, adopting the guise of the Scarlet Centurion in a bid to alter key events in Earth's heroic history.^[15] Clad in crimson armor and wielding an advanced will-disruptor ray, he targeted the formation of the Avengers by creating divergent realities, such as summoning the Hulk to disrupt their original assembly and pitting original members against newer recruits.^[18] This identity debuted in Avengers Annual #2 (September 1968), where his schemes aimed to prevent the team's solidification, ultimately failing against the heroes' unity.^[18] Inspired partly by the armored conqueror Doctor Doom, the Scarlet Centurion represented Richards's evolving strategy of indirect timeline interference over outright rule.^[15] Throughout these early incarnations, Richards's motivations centered on conquest and a growing obsession with Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, whom his temporal studies identified as a nexus being capable of altering probabilities across realities.^[1] Believing her powers could unlock ultimate control over divergent timelines, he sought to manipulate events surrounding her integration into the Avengers, laying the groundwork for prerequisite divergences that would define his future paths.^[1] These pursuits established the foundational conflicts of his existence, briefly referencing his later evolutions into Kang the Conqueror and Immortus without resolving them in this phase.

Transformation into Immortus

Following his exhaustive campaigns of conquest across countless timelines as Kang the Conqueror, Nathaniel Richards grew weary of perpetual conflict and sought refuge in the extra-dimensional realm of Limbo, a timeless void outside conventional reality. There, he first encountered the Time-Keepers, a trio of cosmic entities dedicated to preserving the integrity of the timestream by eliminating potential threats to its stability. This pivotal meeting, retroactively established in Avengers #11-12 (1964-1965), marked the beginning of Richards' shift away from domination toward reluctant guardianship.^[19] The Time-Keepers proposed a transformative bargain to Richards: in exchange for his immortality and mastery over time, he would serve as their agent, monitoring the multiverse, averting paradoxes, and neutralizing anomalies that could fracture reality. Detailed in Giant-Size Avengers #2 (1974), this agreement halted his aging, binding him eternally to Limbo's stasis while granting him advanced temporal technologies to fulfill his duties. Upon accepting, Richards shed his identity as Kang, adopting the moniker Immortus to symbolize his transcendence beyond mortal ambitions, and established his stronghold in Limbo's Castle Tenebrae, from which he could access and manipulate myriad timelines. He amassed alternate versions of his own body—manifestations drawn from divergent realities—to project his influence across the multiverse without physical limitation.^[20]^[1] Yet Immortus' role engendered profound internal conflict, as the Time-Keepers' directives curtailed his free will, reducing him to a pawn in their grand design. 1990s retcons, particularly in Avengers Forever #8 (1999), revealed that the Time-Keepers themselves were puppets of their creator, He Who Remains, a enigmatic figure from the era's end who manipulated Immortus to enforce a singular, "correct" timeline, further eroding his autonomy and fueling his subtle acts of defiance against his overseers.^[21]^[22]

Major conflicts and role in the multiverse

Immortus, serving as a reluctant agent of the Time-Keepers, was tasked with overseeing the timestream from approximately 3000 BC to 4000 AD, pruning divergent timelines to prevent threats to the multiverse's stability.^[1] This role frequently placed him in opposition to Earth's heroes, particularly the Avengers, whom he alternately manipulated and protected to fulfill his directives.^[1] His interventions often involved subtle deceptions, such as deploying Space Phantoms to impersonate Avengers allies and foes, aiming to disrupt the team while ensuring key events unfolded as prophesied.^[1] One of Immortus's most notorious schemes against the Avengers unfolded during "The Crossing" in 1995, where he disguised himself as Kang the Conqueror to orchestrate widespread chaos.^[1] Posing as his younger self, Immortus manipulated Iron Man into becoming a traitor, leading to internal betrayals, the apparent deaths of team members like Gilgamesh and Yellowjacket, and the overall destabilization of the Avengers.^[1] This plot, spanning Avengers #390-395 and crossover issues in Iron Man and related titles, was designed to keep the heroes preoccupied amid broader multiversal threats, ultimately contributing to the "Heroes Reborn" event in 1996 by forcing the Avengers into an alternate reality pocket universe created by Franklin Richards.^[1]^[23] Immortus's conflicts escalated into direct confrontations with his past incarnation, Kang, during the "Destiny War" of 1995-1996, a multiversal clash dubbed for its stakes in altering Kang's fated transformation into Immortus.^[1] In this saga, detailed across Avengers: The Crossing and related miniseries, Immortus, under Time-Keeper orders, sought to eliminate potential threats to the timeline, including aiding in the corruption of heroes and pruning realities.^[1] Kang, allying with temporally displaced Avengers from various eras, rebelled against Immortus and the Time-Keepers, culminating in a war that preserved divergent timelines and severed Kang's destined path to becoming Immortus.^[23] The aftermath of the Destiny War fed into the 1998 miniseries Avengers Forever, where Immortus's role shifted toward uneasy alliances amid a larger multiversal crisis.^[23] Here, Immortus initially targeted Rick Jones to avert a prophesied Celestial Madonna event but ultimately betrayed the Time-Keepers, joining Kang and a coalition of Avengers variants to combat their genocidal pruning of human timelines.^[1] In a climactic act, Immortus sacrificed himself using the Forever Crystal to safeguard approximately 50% of all realities from the Time-Keepers' annihilation, transforming into a temporal wave later neutralized by the Time Variance Authority (TVA) and the Watcher Uatu.^[1] This event solidified his complex guardianship, balancing enforcement with subtle resistance against the Time-Keepers' authoritarian control over the multiverse.^[1] In later arcs, such as the 2001 Exiles series, Immortus continued manipulating realities from Limbo, including Earth-772 and Earth-90110, to correct timeline anomalies and counter threats like the Timebroker.^[1] His ties to the Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff, stemmed from earlier interventions where he officiated her wedding to the Vision—whom he had secretly created by reconfiguring the original Human Torch android—and later destabilized her psyche to erase her illusory children, exploiting her nascent chaos magic as a nexus being capable of multiversal disruption.^[1] These manipulations, seen in West Coast Avengers #51-62, highlighted Immortus's strategy of leveraging powerful individuals to enforce temporal order without direct confrontation.^[1] By the 2000s, his fragmented essence persisted as a multiverse overseer, with echoes in TVA operations, though direct post-2000 guardianship roles emphasized his legacy in preventing timeline collapses rather than active scheming.^[1]

Powers and abilities

Temporal powers

Immortus possesses extensive temporal powers derived from his alliance with the Time-Keepers, enabling him to traverse and manipulate the timestream with proficiency that transcends conventional machinery. Following his pact with these entities, he gained the ability, technologically enhanced by the pact, to teleport across time and space, summon warriors and beings from various timelines, as well as coordinate with alternate versions of himself, and create self-sustaining temporal loops to ensnare adversaries or protect key events. This autonomy in time travel allows him to intervene in multiversal affairs without reliance on external devices, as demonstrated in his orchestration of complex chronal schemes against the Avengers.^[1]^[11] Central to his temporal arsenal is the Forever Crystal, a potent artifact that grants Immortus the capacity to view, navigate, and prune timelines on a multiversal scale. By wielding this crystal, he can erase divergent branches of reality deemed threatening, such as those where humanity develops unchecked power, effectively controlling event divergences and stabilizing the broader timestream. In the events of Avengers Forever, Immortus employs the Forever Crystal to condense Chronopolis and manipulate timeline multiplicities, underscoring its role in his efforts to enforce temporal order. These abilities position him as a custodian of time, capable of altering outcomes across eras while monitoring the timestream from 3000 B.C. to A.D. 4000 (spanning approximately seven millennia) as tasked by the Time-Keepers.^[1] Immortus indirectly influences probabilistic outcomes, particularly through his obsessive focus on the Scarlet Witch, a nexus being whose probability-altering abilities ripple across realities. By influencing events surrounding Wanda Maximoff, he alters outcomes to prevent catastrophic divergences, such as the birth of her children who could rival the Time-Keepers' authority, without directly accessing hex-like powers himself. This strategic interference manifests in long-term deceptions, like engineering relational turmoil in the Avengers to curb her potential.^[1] However, these temporal powers are constrained by the directives of the Time-Keepers, who prohibit alterations to Immortus's own personal timeline to maintain cosmic balance. This binding limits his autonomy, forcing reliance on proxies like Space Phantoms for direct confrontations and preventing self-serving chronal revisions, as seen when the Time-Keepers neutralize his initiatives that stray too far from their mandate. Despite occasional defiance, such as shepherding the Avengers instead of dismantling them, these rules ensure his role remains that of a reluctant guardian rather than an unchecked conqueror.^[1]^[11]

Technological enhancements and immortality

Immortus's immortality stems from advanced technological interventions and agreements with the Time-Keepers, granting him cessation of aging and virtual indestructibility. Upon entering the timeless realm of Limbo, his aging process, already slowed by 31st-century future sciences encountered during his time as Rama-Tut, was virtually halted, allowing him to exist as long as time itself in some accounts. The Time-Keepers, extradimensional entities tasked with safeguarding the timestream, bestowed upon him true immortality as part of his servitude, preventing his transformation into a Space Phantom and ensuring his consciousness persists indefinitely. This arrangement ties his eternal life directly to their oversight, making him a nigh-immortal guardian rather than a naturally ageless being.^[1] Central to his longevity are cybernetic enhancements and body-transfer mechanisms, enabling regeneration from fatal injuries through consciousness projection into alternate android or duplicate bodies stored in Limbo. Derived from Kang's original fail-safe devices, this technology allows Immortus to abandon a damaged physical form and inhabit a new one seamlessly, effectively rendering him unkillable as long as his Limbo fortress remains intact. His 31st-century armor, constructed from unidentified futuristic alloys, further sustains this immortality by providing comprehensive life-support systems that regulate vital functions and protect against environmental hazards, including radiation and temporal anomalies. The armor incorporates cybernetic implants that enhance his physical capabilities, boosting strength to lift approximately five tons and speed to superhuman levels, while integrated force fields extend up to 20 feet, capable of withstanding nuclear-level blasts. Energy projection arrays within the suit allow for directed blasts, adding offensive utility to his defensive longevity tech.^[13] Immortus relies on specialized vehicles for multiversal mobility, including time platforms and 20-foot-long space-worthy ships equipped with chronal-displacement inertial fields for precise temporal navigation. These devices, powered by Limbo's transtemporal energies, facilitate his operations without overlapping into direct timeline manipulation. However, his immortality is not without vulnerabilities; prolonged isolation in Limbo has induced psychological torment, exacerbated by the merged psyches of countless slain Kang variants, leading to bouts of madness and emotional instability. Moreover, his dependence on the Limbo base for body storage and technological maintenance creates a critical weakness, as disruptions to this sanctuary could sever his regenerative cycle and expose him to permanent death.^[13]

Character variants

Alternate timeline versions

In alternate timelines outside the primary Earth-616 continuity, Immortus exhibits variations in his role as a temporal overseer, often emphasizing his manipulative influence on multiversal events or divergences from his standard guardianship duties. One prominent variant appears in Earth-691, the dystopian future of the Killraven saga where Martians conquer Earth in 2001. Here, Immortus intervenes as a more tyrannical figure, visiting the timeline prior to the invasion to shape its course, including potential alliances with the Badoon conquerors who later dominate the planet after the Martians' retreat. This version underscores his authoritarian control over divergent histories, tying into the resistance led by Killraven against extraterrestrial overlords.^[24] In the "What If?" anthology series, Immortus features in an alternate reality explored in What If? #32 (1981), titled "What If the Avengers Had Become the Pawns of Korvac?" In this scenario, the power-mad Korvac slays the Avengers and bends them to his will, sealing the universe in a time lock that even traps Immortus, preventing his intervention. This depiction highlights a rare instance of Immortus's unchecked dominion being overridden, portraying him as a distant "Lord Immortus" whose temporal authority falters against cosmic threats.^[25] Recent 2020s depictions expand on Immortus's legacy through artifacts in multiverse events. In Ultimate Invasion #3 (2023), the "Immortus Engine"—a time-travel device of uncertain origins, later employed by the Maker from Earth-1610—plays a key role, enabling Reed Richards (the Maker) to orchestrate incursions across timelines. This reinforces Immortus's enduring impact as an architect of temporal chaos in non-canon realities, without direct personal appearances.^[26] A more recent variant, known as Teen Immortus, appears in the 2025 Infinity Comic series Avengers Academy: Marvel's Voices. This youthful incarnation enrolls as a student at Avengers Academy, navigating teenage dynamics while grappling with his temporal heritage, and interacts with peers including Blackheart in stories exploring young heroes' growth.^[27]

Connections to Kang and Rama-Tut

Immortus serves as the future incarnation of Nathaniel Richards, the same individual who adopts the identities of Rama-Tut and Kang the Conqueror across different phases of his life in the Marvel Universe's main continuity (Earth-616). This connection was first explicitly revealed during a confrontation in Limbo, where Immortus disclosed his origins as an evolved version of Kang to the Avengers, sharing the core identity of the 31st-century scientist who discovered time travel.^[1]^[13] While Rama-Tut represents Richards' early, youthful phase as a time-displaced pharaoh ruling ancient Egypt in 2937 B.C., and Kang embodies his prime as a militaristic conqueror building empires across eras, Immortus distinguishes himself as the "retired" overseer, having grown weary of conquest and instead focusing on manipulating timelines from Limbo under the influence of higher temporal entities. This progression underscores Immortus's role as the aged, embittered endpoint of Richards' timeline, often acting to prune divergent paths that threaten stability.^[16]^[1]^[28] Immortus plays a pivotal advisory and antagonistic role within the Council of Kangs, a multiversal assembly he helped form to judge and eliminate rogue variants of himself, including younger iterations like Kang, in order to preserve the timestream. In the 2021 Kang the Conqueror miniseries, Immortus betrays council members by orchestrating events that force Kang to confront his potential futures, ultimately sacrificing variants to consolidate power and avert greater temporal chaos.^[1]^[2]^[29] Recent 2020s retcons further intertwine Immortus with He Who Remains, the enigmatic survivor who founded the Time-Keepers—entities that later subjugate Immortus—and established the Time Variance Authority (TVA) to enforce a singular timeline. In Timeless #1-2 (2022), Kang's quest for a "missing moment" to escape his fated transformation into Immortus highlights these links, portraying Immortus as a TVA-adjacent variant entangled in multiversal wars that echo He Who Remains' efforts to contain variant proliferation.^[22]^[30]

In other media

Animated television

Immortus's appearances in animated television have been limited, primarily confined to a supporting role in the 1990s as a guardian of the timeline rather than a central antagonist. His debut occurred in X-Men: The Animated Series (1992–1997), where he was voiced by Stephen Ouimette.^[31] In season 4's four-part arc "Beyond Good and Evil" (episodes 63–66, aired November–December 1995), Immortus operates under the alias Bender, an eccentric figure claiming to maintain the Axis of Time—a metaphysical structure connecting all timelines. Disguised as Bender, he encounters the time-displaced mutant Bishop and subtly manipulates events to counter Apocalypse's scheme to kidnap psychics across history and rewrite reality in his image. Bender annoys Bishop with cryptic riddles and janitorial antics while providing key insights into the temporal crisis, ultimately aiding the X-Men in thwarting Apocalypse. His true identity as Immortus is revealed only in the finale, "End and Beginning," where he morphs into his regal, armored form to repair the damaged Axis of Time after the heroes depart, emphasizing his role as a neutral custodian bound by the Time-Keepers to preserve multiversal stability. This portrayal draws from Immortus's comic roots as an evolved Kang variant but limits him to a cameo-like function, lacking the depth of his comic manipulations of history and the Avengers.^[32] Subsequent Marvel animated series, such as The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (2010–2012) and Avengers Assemble (2013–2019), featured extensive plots involving Kang the Conqueror—Immortus's younger incarnation—but omitted Immortus himself, opting instead for Kang's conquest-driven narratives. Similarly, Ultimate Spider-Man (2012–2017) included time-travel elements in arcs like "The Spider-Slayers" but relegated any temporal overlords to background threats without Immortus's involvement. These adaptations prioritized action-oriented team-ups over Immortus's philosophical temporal oversight, resulting in shallower explorations of his character compared to comics. As of 2025, Immortus has no major roles in 2020s animated productions, including What If...? (2021–present), where multiversal variants abound but focus on other Kang iterations like He Who Remains. His animated legacy remains tied to the 1990s X-Men series, with potential for expanded appearances in future seasons of continuations like X-Men '97 unconfirmed.

Live-action and Marvel Cinematic Universe

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Immortus was first conceptually introduced through the character He Who Remains in the first season of the Disney+ series Loki (2021). Portrayed by Jonathan Majors, He Who Remains serves as the founder and overseer of the Time Variance Authority (TVA), operating from the Citadel at the End of Time to enforce a single Sacred Timeline and prevent multiversal wars among Kang variants. This portrayal draws from Immortus's comic origins as an aged Kang variant who allies with the Time-Keepers to safeguard the multiverse, positioning He Who Remains as a proto-Immortus figure focused on temporal stability rather than conquest. Immortus received explicit mention and a brief live-action appearance in the film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023). In the mid-credits scene, Majors voices Immortus as a key member of the Council of Kangs, a governing body of exiled Nathaniel Richards variants assembled to hunt down the disruptive Kang the Conqueror. Described as a wise but authoritarian leader who "found the multiverse" and now seeks to contain its chaos, Immortus underscores the escalating threat of Kang's fractured timeline, banishing aggressive variants to maintain order among the council. This depiction emphasizes his role as a strategic guardian, distinct from more militaristic Kangs, while highlighting the multiverse's fragility post-Loki.^[33] As of November 2025, Immortus's live-action presence remains limited to these portrayals, with no confirmed further appearances following Majors's departure from Marvel Studios in December 2023 amid legal issues. The character's storyline, tied to broader Kang arcs, has been de-emphasized in favor of Doctor Doom as the primary antagonist for upcoming Avengers projects, including the retitled Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027), leaving Immortus's multiversal guardianship role unresolved in live-action media.^[34]

Reception

Critical analysis

Immortus's character has been critiqued for its inconsistent portrayals across Marvel's decades-long publication history, shifting from a manipulative time-traveling villain intent on altering key events to a reluctant guardian bound by cosmic duties. Early depictions, such as in Avengers #10 (1964), emphasize his role as a scheming antagonist summoning historical figures to thwart the heroes, while later stories like Avengers Forever (1998–1999) reframe him as a conflicted overseer manipulated by the Time-Keepers, highlighting narrative challenges in maintaining coherence amid evolving multiversal lore. Scholars have analyzed Immortus's thematic depth, particularly in arcs involving the Time-Keepers, where his actions explore tensions between determinism and free will; compelled to prune divergent timelines to preserve a singular reality, Immortus often subverts his masters' edicts through subtle interventions, underscoring the illusion of agency in an orchestrated multiverse. This motif reaches a pinnacle in Avengers Forever, where his rebellion against predestined roles questions whether temporal mastery equates to liberation or eternal imprisonment. Academic discussions further examine Immortus's evolution as a tragic figure ensnared by time's inexorable grip, from Kang the Conqueror's imperial ambitions to a weary custodian. Feminist readings critique Immortus's obsessive fixation on the Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff), portraying it as a mechanism that reinforces misogynistic tropes by reducing her to a manipulable nexus for timeline control. In Avengers West Coast #51–52 (1989–1990), Immortus confesses to engineering Wanda's life events—from her marriage to Vision to the loss of her children—to exploit her chaos magic, framing her emotional turmoil as hysterical instability and blaming her for broader disruptions, a pattern that pathologizes female agency and echoes historical victim-blaming in superhero comics. This portrayal, as analyzed in Madison M. Kooba's thesis A Cultural History of Anti-Feminism in Marvel's Scarlet Witch (2023), underscores how Immortus's schemes perpetuate anti-feminist narratives by demonizing women's power and emotions as threats to patriarchal order.^[35]

Fan and cultural impact

The introduction of Kang variants in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, particularly through the 2021 Disney+ series Loki, sparked significant fan interest in Immortus as an aged, future iteration of Nathaniel Richards.^[36] Fans debated whether He Who Remains, portrayed by Jonathan Majors, represented a blend of Kang and Immortus, with director Kate Herron confirming the character's roots in Immortus mythology while distinguishing it as a unique variant.^[37] This discourse extended into 2023 with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, where post-credits scenes featuring the Council of Kangs reignited discussions on Immortus's role in multiversal timelines, sustaining elevated engagement through 2025.^[38] Merchandise reflecting Immortus's legacy appeared in licensed products, such as the 2024 Marvel United: Multiverse board game expansion, which included an Immortus villain figure and corresponding trading cards depicting his time-manipulating abilities.^[39] Hasbro's Marvel Legends Series contributed indirectly through its 2022-2023 Kang the Conqueror waves, featuring articulated figures with variant armor designs that echoed Immortus's comic aesthetics, appealing to collectors exploring the character's timeline-spanning lore.^[40] In 2025, the introduction of "Teen Immortus" in the Avengers Academy series further boosted fan engagement, with discussions on social media and comic forums exploring this youthful variant's implications for Immortus's multiversal identity and connections to Kang.^[27] Cultural references to Immortus proliferated in fan theories linking him to Loki's He Who Remains, often portraying him as the weary guardian of temporal order in online analyses and entertainment media.^[41] While memes and cosplay trends featuring Immortus variants emerged on platforms like TikTok, mainstream coverage remains limited, focusing instead on broader Kang dynasty narratives. Immortus's portrayal has subtly reinforced time-travel tropes in superhero fiction, emphasizing the burdens of eternal vigilance over chaotic multiverses.

References

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Immortus Powers, Enemies, History | Marvel
As the final divergent counterpart of Kang the Conqueror, Immortus safeguards the timestream as an agent for the Time-Keepers.
[2]
The Council of Kangs, Explained - Marvel.com
Feb 22, 2023 · And, only two issues after that fateful debut, Kang's future self, Immortus, made his first appearance in AVENGERS (1963) #10.
[3]
Immortus (Avengers character, Kang counterpart)
Jan 2, 2006 · Immortus instructed Captain America to bring the Avengers to him and he would return Rick. After a brief struggle, the Avengers agreed to ...
[4]
264: Avengers (1963) #10 - Complete Marvel Reading Order
Rating 2.7 (1,265) Avengers (1963) #10, 'The Avengers Break Up!'. Published December 1969. Immortus attacks the Avengers and forces them to tackle opponents one-on-one without ...
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The Avengers (Marvel, 1963 series) #16 - GCD :: Issue
Information about the comic The Avengers #16, which has a publication date of May 1965 and was published by Marvel.<|control11|><|separator|>
[6]
Avengers (1963) #129 | Comic Issues - Marvel
Free delivery 30-day returnsNov 1, 1974 · Kang appears at the Avengers Mansion seeking a woman who is known as the Celestial Madonna. One of the two women at the Mansion will be the Madonna that Kang ...
[7]
Avengers (1963) #269 | Comic Issues - Marvel.com
Jul 1, 1986 · While Kang gloats over his captive Avengers, the unengaged members attack. The team manages to flee the clutches of Kang, and convince Immortus to send them ...
[8]
Avengers Forever (1998) #1 | Comic Issues - Marvel.com
Dec 1, 1998 · Avengers from throughout history are brought together to stop a time-war between Kang the Conqueror and Immortus! Print Issue. In Stores Now.
[9]
Avengers Forever | Series Spotlight | Marvel Comic Reading List
... Avengers—plucked from the past, present, and future—to prevent Rick Jones' death at the hands of Immortus. A quest against the clock by creators Kurt Busiek ...
[10]
Looking Back on 'Avengers: Kang Dynasty' - Marvel
Aug 5, 2022 · The adventure known as KANG DYNASTY spanned AVENGERS (1998) #41-55 and AVENGERS ANNUAL 2001 and did quite a bit of damage to change the trajectory of Earth's ...
[11]
Time-Keepers In Comics Members, Enemies, Powers - Marvel.com
The Time-Keepers only true allies are themselves as time will tell that their time custodian Immortus turns on them. They also serve the TVA as their living ...Missing: Exiles Uncanny
[12]
TIMELESS (2022) #1 | Comic Issues - Marvel
Dec 28, 2022 · Browse the Marvel Comics issue TIMELESS (2022) #1. Learn where to read it, and check out the comic's cover art, variants, writers, & more!Missing: Immortus | Show results with:Immortus
[13]
Kang the Conqueror In Comics Powers, Enemies, History - Marvel.com
Nathaniel Richards was born in the alternate timeline Earth-6311, aka Other-Earth. In this reality, the Dark Ages never occurred and technology developed ...
[14]
The Many Faces of Kang - Marvel
Jul 23, 2021 · FIRST APPEARANCE: AVENGERS (1963) #10 Unlike Kang, Immortus is more scholarly, and he bends at the knee to the Time-Keepers in return for ...
[15]
Scarlet Centurion (Nathaniel Richards) Powers, Enemies, History
Born in the alternate reality known as Other-Earth (Earth-6311), Nathaniel Richards grows up in a time where the Dark Ages never occurred and technology ...
[16]
Rama-Tut (Nathaniel Richards) Powers, Enemies, History | Marvel
An adventurous robotics student turned time-traveling Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, Nathaniel Richards is the evil overlord Rama-Tut!
[17]
Fantastic Four (1961) #19 | Comic Issues - Marvel.com
Fantastic Four #19, published October 1, 1963, features the first appearance of Rama-Tut (Kang the Conqueror), written by Stan Lee and penciled by Jack Kirby. ...
[18]
Avengers Annual (1967) #2 | Comic Issues - Marvel
$$1.99 Free delivery 30-day returnsThe new Avengers take on the original Avengers! It's a time-travel battle for the ages that involves two teams of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
[19]
Avengers (1963) #11 | Comic Issues - Marvel.com
Browse the Marvel Comics issue Avengers (1963) #11. Learn where to read it, and check out the comic's cover art, variants, writers, & more!
[20]
Giant-Size Avengers (1974) #2 | Comic Issues - Marvel
Nov 10, 1974 · The Avengers, hurtled through time at the hands of Kang! Earth's Mightiest Heroes find themselves neck-deep in a rescue mission...in ancient Egypt!
[21]
Avengers Forever (1998) #8 | Comic Issues - Marvel.com
Jul 1, 1999 · Browse the Marvel Comics issue Avengers Forever (1998) #8. Learn where to read it, and check out the comic's cover art, variants, writers, ...
[22]
He Who Remains: The Survivor at the End of Time? - Marvel.com
Jul 20, 2021 · A first appearance in THOR (1966) #245! In THOR (1966) #245, Thor: God of Thunder, Jane Foster, and their companions travelled to the ...
[23]
Kang the Conqueror Across the Decades - Marvel
Feb 10, 2023 · Despite seemingly dying in the '70s, Kang returned in AVENGERS (1963) #267 for a three-part story. The shocking first issue introduced the ...
[24]
How Kang the Conqueror became Immortus, Iron Lad, Rama-Tut ...
Aug 27, 2021 · Immortus is the elder self of Kang the Conqueror, an embittered manipulator whose previous chronological crimes led him to become an agent of the Time-Keepers.
[25]
Every Version of Kang the Conqueror, from Immortus to Iron Lad - CBR
Every Version of Kang the Conqueror, from Immortus to Iron Lad · Iron Lad · Kid Immortus · Rama-Tut · The Scarlet Centurion · Kang the Conqueror · Immortus.
[26]
Marvel Teases Kang Becoming Immortus In Timeless 2022 #1
Nov 9, 2022 · Marvel Comics has just teased the following image on social media for their upcoming Timeless 2022 #1 in December, going to Final Order Cut-Off this week.
[27]
Stephen Ouimette - IMDb
Stephen Ouimette was born on 30 June 1954 in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. He is an actor, known for Slings and Arrows (2003), X-Men (1992) and Mentors (1998).
[28]
"X-Men" Beyond Good & Evil: Part 1 (TV Episode 1995) - IMDb
Rating 8/10 (870) In the year 3999, Apocalypse steals Cable's computer and time-travels to the past in order to end his struggle against inferior mutants permanently.
[29]
How Many Kang Variants Have We Seen in the MCU So Far? - Nerdist
Feb 28, 2023 · Immortus first appeared in Avengers #10, only two issues after Kang. Immortus is, in most continuities, a Kang variant who took over as emissary ...
[30]
What the Experts Are Saying About the MCU's Future After Jonathan ...
Dec 21, 2023 · It's official: Jonathan Majors will no longer play Kang in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The news that Marvel Studios was cutting ties with the actor came ...
[31]
A Cultural History of Anti-Feminism in Marvel's Scarlet Witch
This thesis challenges interpretations of Wanda as a feminist character by documenting the misogynistic nature of Wanda's publication history.Missing: Immortus | Show results with:Immortus<|control11|><|separator|>
[32]
Loki Director Addresses Immortus Theories - Screen Rant
Jul 17, 2021 · Loki director Kate Herron addresses the fan theory that He Who Remains, the Kang variant who made the TVA, is actually the comics character ...
[33]
Loki's He Who Remains Is A Mix Of Two Characters - TheGamer
Jul 16, 2021 · Jonathan Majors portrays a hammy villain in purple called He Who Remains, the elusive head of the TVA.Missing: Timeless #1-2 2022
[34]
The comic book roots (and MCU teases) behind that Ant-Man & The ...
Feb 17, 2023 · Why are there so many Kangs in the MCU, and why are they all working together? Popverse digs into the roots of that Ant-Man & The Wasp ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[35]
Marvel United Multiverse Figure + Cards In Hand Villain Immortus
Marvel United Multiverse Single Figure + Cards In Hand. Condition is New. Shipped with USPS Ground Advantage. I combine shipping so check out my other MU ...
[36]
https://screenrant.com/loki-immortus-theory-kate-herron-debunk-explained/
[37]
He Who Remains in 'Loki' Might Not Quite Be the Character You Think
Jul 16, 2021 · Immortus is a variant of Kang who is older in age. Basically, he's like the Old Man Logan of the Kang character—i.e. after a life spent fighting ...