Warning! This article contains spoilers for Savage Avengers #28
The time-traveling villain, Conan the Barbarian is best known for his tales of high adventure in the ancient time of the Hyborian Age, but on one of his latest missions, Conan teamed up with Kang the Conqueror along with other of the Savage Avengers in the future. When their mission was complete, Kang revealed to Conan that he considers the barbarian to be on his level in the most violent way.
In Savage Avengers #28 by Gerry Duggan and Patch Zircher, Conan is shown training a young Kulan Gath after the Savage Avengers prevented the future version of the wicked sorcerer from destroying the world. In the previous issue, Kang the Conqueror took Conan back in time to kill Kulan as a child, but Conan decided to train Gath as a warrior to prevent him from learning magic rather than killing him. Conan’s kind heart threw a wrench in Kang’s plan, however, which he makes perfectly clear in this issue.
Kang the Conqueror returns to the time period where he left Conan and Kulan, though he comes not as a friend of Conan’s but as a deadly adversary. Kang tells Conan that he was supposed to kill Kulan Gath only to then be killed himself by Kang’s hand. When Kang returns after Conan ensures Kulan will not grow up to be a murderous sorcerer, he immediately tries to kill Conan as he meant to some time earlier. Kang’s reasoning for killing Conan is the potential the barbarian has at becoming Kang’s equal, and thereby becoming his greatest threat. Kang says to Conan, “In one timeline, you acquire a Nova Helmet and left Earth in the late 21st century. In another, you gain immortality from a fallen meteorite with strange properties.” Basically, there are many ways Conan evolves and becomes a threat to Kang, so Kang decides to try and kill him in order to avoid any future headaches.
Conan being considered a challenge for Kang is a shock, though Kang isn’t the first all-powerful being Conan has faced. In the finale of the storyline The Life and Death of Conan, Conan fights and defeats two gods in a single day. Conan is killed as a sacrifice to the blood god Razazel, sending his soul to the afterlife where he meets Crom. Conan challenges Crom to battle, saying that if he won then Crom would send him back to Earth. While Crom put Conan in his place, he ired the mortal’s challenge and brought him back to life anyway, which is absolutely a win in Conan’s corner. When he got back to Earth, Conan immediately attacked the risen Razazel and defeated the blood god right then and there. With Conan’s apparent evolutions as well as his record of killing beings far more powerful than himself, it makes sense that Kang wants the barbarian dead no matter how initially shocking that may be for fans to hear.
While he is an incredibly skilled fighter with kingly destiny, Conan has never been presented as an all-powerful Marvel hero, let alone one who could challenge someone like Kang the Conqueror. However, given Conan’s previously won battles against wizards, demons, and even gods, the barbarian proved he is much more than he seems. Kang the Conqueror names Conan the Barbarian as the one Marvel hero who is on his level, an initial shock that actually makes a lot of sense.
