Warning: Contains spoilers for Timeless #1
Recently, Kang the Conqueror and is supposed to be the start of the future for the Marvel universe.
Written by Jed MacKay and illustrated by Mark Bagley, Joe Bennett, and Kev Walker, Timeless #1 is a great character piece about Kang. It showcases him not just as a potential villain but as a true adventurer and protector of the timeline (even if it is for his own selfish and nefarious purposes). The plot revolves around a disturbance in time that Kang has to rectify. A being is fighting to keep his or her own rogue timeline from vanishing but doing so threatens the main timeline. Kang travels to the end of this timeline, figuring the person behind this has to be Victor von Doom. Instead, Kang discovers Reed Richards has taken up Doom’s persona. Reed also drank celestial blood and replaced his eyes with Infinity Stones in order to have enough power to keep this timeline going and he is the only person who is still alive.
But the highlight of Timeless #1 isn’t Kang or this evil Reed—it’s Dr. Anatoly Petrov. Timeless #1 is Petrov’s first appearance and he has zero super powers. He’s not even a super hero or villain. Instead, Petrov is a simple academic, a professor specializing in super villains. He was hoping to publish a book about Dr. Doom, but Kang shows up and offers Petrov the chance to journey with him through time in the hopes that he might write a book about Kang instead. They travel across thousands of years to prehistoric times, where Kang takes down a mammoth with nothing but a spear and dagger.
With Kang taking up much of the book’s spotlight, Petrov doesn’t get as much focus, but he is a very interesting character. He shows no hesitation to Kang on his journey and expresses no fear when Kang tells him that the entire timeline is threatened. Petrov is also the one to save Kang by impaling Richards when he isn’t looking. When Kang tells him he will die for interfering with the fight, Petrov fearlessly states he would’ve died anyway. That's pretty tough for a professor.
At the current moment, it’s unclear whether Dr. Anatoly Petrov is a one-off character in the Kang-focused Timeless story or has a future with Marvel. He’s essentially a villain fanboy but a multidimensional character with a lot of potential. Petrov isn’t a fighter, but he is smart and genuinely interested in Marvel’s villains.
