The infant Nathaniel Richards, AKA Baby Kang, has yet to grow up and make the mistakes of his future self, but in his infancy, he has many surprising adventures.
In His Infancy
In the alternate timeline Earth-6311, AKA Other-Earth, the Dark Ages never occur and technology develops without interruption. In this timeline, having diverged circa 300 AD, Other-Earth’s people make their first moon landing in 900 AD, which becomes the first year of their new calendar. After a peaceful era during which a lunar colony was established, a Great War between the colony and Earth destroys the moon and plunges Other-Earth back into a primitive state.
Nathaniel Richards of Earth-616 (mainstream Earth), attempting time travel, reaches Other-Earth and settles there; he uses his knowledge to help rebuild that world and married Cassandra, daughter of the Matriarch of the Eyriennes, who are women dwelling in the mountaintop city known as the Eyrie, and he becomes known as both the Warlord (erroneously) and the Benefactor.
Approximately 1900 years later, in the calendar year 3000, Nathaniel Richards’ descendant and namesake is born into an age of peace and enlightenment, thanks to his ancestor’s efforts. But peace is a far cry from this newborn’s life. The infant’s future time-traveling self—the infamous villain Kang the Conqueror—makes many enemies across time, namely Earth-616’s Avengers. One member of the team, the android Vision, takes it upon himself to prevent their foe from ever terrorizing Earth’s Mightiest. Vision kidnaps the infant and stashes him away for none to find.
Slow-aging and Radiation Resistant
Like others from his native era, circa the 31st century, Baby Kang ages at a slightly slower rate than modern humanity. He is also more resistant to radiation’s effects, though he can be harmed by concentrated doses. After traveling through the timestream, those that come into contact with Baby Kang experience a chronal residue that impacts their genetics and offers them minor chronal powers.
Timely Connections
Being an infant, Baby Kang has little time to make many allies and enemies, except when considering his future time-traveling selves. Thanks to his far-future selves, enemies arrive at this baby’s bedside. The Avenger Vision snatches up Baby Kang from his crib and places him in the protection of the Priests of Pama, hoping that he would never become the despot Kang the Conqueror. Though, his decision creates many paradoxes and the Avengers suffer the consequences. It’s not until Nadia Van Dyne, AKA Wasp, takes matters into her own hands and delivers Baby Kang from whence he came.
Adventures Across Time
Vision’s intention to remove the threat of Kang from time itself resulted in a paradox that created dozens of vengeful Kangs. Taking Vision’s idea to the next level, Kang the Conqueror and Nathaniel Richards, AKA Scarlet Centurion, teamed-up and coordinated attacks on the Avengers by traveling back in time and killing their infant-selves. Though a rogue version of Kang from the future protected the Avengers, allowing Heracles, AKA Hercules, to uncover an amulet that would sustain the paradox of their existence. When the Avengers returned, the duo of Kangs found their child-self being cared for by the Priests of Pama, where Vision had secured him away. The battle raged between the Kangs and the Avengers, with the future Kang ally perishing. Vision came to the conclusion that Baby Kang must be returned to his rightful era, and gave Wasp (Nadia) future Kang’s time armor to flee with Baby Kang through the timestream.
As Nadia traveled through the timestream, she assured Baby Kang that she’d return him to his point of origin, and told him to call her Aunt Nadia. While she suffered attacks from all directions, she remained determined to fight all of history so she and the infant could continue. Suddenly, the two evil Kangs caught up with Nadia and in her best attempts to escape their grasp, something caught hold of her, pulling her into the future.
She and Baby Kang landed in the 26th century surrounded by the Priests of Pama, though they were much more technologically advanced than the priests she had previously encountered. These priests explained that the original priests who had encountered Baby Kang had an unforeseen side effect. Their encounter with the baby, having been ripped from his own timestream, bestowed upon the priests a range of minor chronal powers, changing them, their offspring, and subsequent generations. As such, time itself became their sustenance and they chose to protect history from contradictions in time. They showed her and Baby Kang the Eternal Flame of Pama and explained how it’s fueled by time paradoxes. They asked her to surrender the baby, a living paradox, to the flame so that Nadia could save the Avengers and Kang would have never been born. Nadia considered it just for a moment but then flew off to secure Baby Kang, protection being her first priority as an Avenger. She then entered the flame to correct the paradox that the two Kangs created when they eliminated the Avengers as infants. Returning with the Avengers to the Priests, the two paradox Kangs found them, but they were eaten by the Priests of Pama. The Avengers with Baby Kang in hand escaped and returned to the moment just after Vision stole Baby Kang from his crib in the year 3000. Nadia returned him to the safety of his home and time.
