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The next big bad of the Marvel Cinematic Universe had his own personal army from across all time, and they’re far more deadly than Thanos’ Black Order.
With all of the reality hopping and time-traveling of Loki setting the tone for things to come in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the stage has been set for the full debut of Kang the Conqueror is only a matter of time. And when he does show up in the MCU, he might not be alone, thanks to his team the Anachronauts.
Across his adventures throughout the ages, Kang took it upon himself to choose a team of the greatest warriors from among the various eras he visited. In their own times, Kang was the only man to ever defeat them in combat, and this eclectic crew of commandos became absolutely dedicated to their new lord as the Anachronauts. When the Anachronauts were first introduced during “Citizen Kang” by Mark Gruenwald and Herb Trimpe in 1992’s Fantastic Four Annual #25, the titular heroes and Avengers had been manipulated by a disguised Ravonna Renslayer and soon found themselves in Kang’s Chronopolis. There they were greeted by the Anachronauts in force, led by the cybernetically enhanced Deathunt 9000. Even with their incredible powers, the heroes weren’t able to stave off the Anachronauts’ assault for long, leading to an all-out brawl between Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and time’s greatest warriors.
Even though the Anachronauts were victorious in taking the heroes captive, they would come to blows with one another once again when Renslayer revealed herself in a failed assassination attempt on Kang. As Ravonna battled Kang in her new form as the Terminatrix, the heroes managed to escape their bonds for a rematch with the Kang’s forces. This time, the Anachronauts proved no match for the Fantastic Four and Avengers, but Kang’s abrupt demise in the heat of battle brought an end to the chaos entirely.
From that point on, Terminatrix ruled the Chronopolis in Kang’s stead, keeping him in stasis until he could be saved and assuming his visage in public. The Anachronauts, being the only others to know the truth, left Ravonna’s side as they had only sworn fealty to Kang himself. They did vow to return once Kang was healed, which for many of them, came sooner than the others.
When Immortus began posing as Kang, he brought several of the Anachronauts back under his wing including Deathunt 9000 and the final Eternal, Apocryphus. On Immortus’ behalf, Apocryphus was sent to Vietnam to test a weapon that removed the entire region from the timestream, leading to a confrontation with Force Works. This coincided with Deathunt’s own mission, leading a group of cyborg soldiers to hunt down the then-fugitive Hawkeye. 1995’s War Machine #21 by Dan Abnett, Fred Haynes and Sandu Florea saw Deathunt’s search culminate in his near singlehanded defeat of both Hawkeye and the U.S. Agent before the titular hero himself showed up to save the day. Deathunt was able to slip away into the timestream before suffering the same brutal fate as his slain cybernetic compatriots, but nothing could save him from the day that Immortus finally turned on them. As seen in 1998’s Avengers: Forever #3 by Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern and Carlos Pacheco, nearly all of the Anachronauts became unfortunate victims of Immortus’s all-out assault on Kang’s Chronopolis, leaving behind only a gravely injured Wildrun to tell their tale.
It’s hard to imagine that a team with such a complex and twisted story could find themselves translated into the MCU without some serious changes being made, but as Loki has already shown, that might not be as difficult as it seems. Even if the Anachronauts don’t get a chance to appear on the small screen, their time in the comics is well worth revisiting.
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