10 Comics You Must Read Before Avengers: Infinity War

5. Kang Dynasty

Avengers Kang Dynasty
Marvel Comics

Kurt Busiek's Avengers run is undeniably one of the best out there, and still it's yet to get its big MCU break. That sucks, and while there are plenty of storylines from his tenure on the book that deserve the cinematic treatment, The Kang Dynasty presents perhaps the best opportunity to build on the cosmic influences of Infinity War, Guardians, and Doctor Strange.

The interesting thing about this particular storyline, however, is that the villain is successful for the vast majority of it. He takes over the world for a good while, taking a once clichéd threat and crystallising it in horrifying fashion, and it takes a whole lot of grafting from Earth's Mightiest Heroes to undo the damage caused.

Kang is a lot like Thanos in that respect, except without the stone-themed infatuation that typified the Mad Titan's role as an Avengers antagonist. A time-traveling dictator from the future, Kang is as draconian as they come, flying around in a giant sword-shaped space-ship and taking a particular interest in Earth. In TKD, he realises his quest and the Avengers have to throw the entire kitchen sink at him in order to win, a victory which - even then - comes at great cost.

There's some confusion regarding who holds the rights to the character (in much the same way there was with Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch), but he's an Avengers villain through and through, and one comparable to Thanos at that.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.