I’ve always thought of Marvel’s time-travel stories as a clockwork knot: every time you think you’ve found the loose thread, the whole mechanism pulls tighter and laughs at you. That’s the feeling I got when Timeless #1 began teasing a brand-new rival for Kang the Conqueror. Instead of the usual Avengers interference or another Kang variant showing up to make everything more confusing, the previews introduced Myrddin, a figure who seemed less interested in fighting Kang than in proving that Kang didn’t actually understand the timeline he claimed to rule. As an ordinary fan, I loved that.
According to the original preview, Timeless #1 was designed as a shocking look at the Marvel Universe to come. The creative team included Jed MacKay, Greg Land, Patrick Zircher, Salvador Larraoca, and Kael Ngu. Kang was searching for the Missing Moment, a mysterious event or object that could reshape the future. But he wasn’t alone. Myrddin was also hunting it, and the promotional materials didn’t frame Myrddin as a sidekick or a minion. They called Myrddin Kang’s mysterious new arch-rival.
Kang’s Usual Problems vs. This New Rival
Kang has never really had a single external rival who matches his scope. He fights the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, but those are usually physical, present-tense battles. His most persistent enemy has historically been himself, or rather his many variants. That’s like an ouroboros that keeps swallowing its own tail and then getting annoyed about the digestion. Myrddin breaks that loop.
| Kang’s Typical Obstacles | Why They Usually Work | Myrddin’s Twist |
|---|---|---|
| Avengers / Fantastic Four | They punch the problem in the present | Myrddin challenges Kang’s understanding of time itself |
| Kang variants | They create self-made paradoxes | Myrddin is an outside rival who isn’t another Kang |
| Time itself | Kang usually bends it to his will | Myrddin treats the Missing Moment as a secret Kang fails to grasp |
The idea that someone could walk up to Kang and ask why he doesn’t understand the Tribulation Events is like watching a master chef get asked why he doesn’t understand fire. It suggests Myrddin isn’t just another conqueror; they might be a different kind of temporal authority altogether.
A Tyrant Forced to Run
Looking at that teaser image, I couldn’t help but feel that Marvel was moving Kang into a new role. For years, Kang has been the tyrant of the timeline, master of endless legions. But in Timeless #1, the preview said he would be forced into a position he rarely occupies: on the run across the events of the Marvel Universe’s future. That inversion is what made the teaser feel so fresh. A character who usually stands at the end of history like a lighthouse was suddenly described as running through that history like a fugitive. It was as if the lighthouse packed up its beam and started sprinting from the storm it was built to outlast.
As a player, I think of this like a season roadmap. The Timeless one-shot was essentially the patch notes for the next year of Marvel stories, and Myrddin was the unexpected new character dropped into the meta without a tutorial.
Why the Tease Worked for Me
The preview didn’t explain everything, and that was the point. It offered a handful of glowing puzzle pieces and asked readers to guess the picture before it was assembled. From what was shown, the key teases included:
-
🕰️ A new rival: Myrddin
-
🌀 The Missing Moment mystery
-
👑 A new Twilight Court emerging
-
🏃 Kang on the run across future events
-
📅 A roadmap for the coming year of Marvel stories
While little is known about Myrddin, the fact they were chasing down Kang across space and time suggested there would be considerable fireworks when the two encountered each other. The promotional text made it clear that the Missing Moment and the Tribulation Events were universe-changing secrets. For once, Kang wasn’t the only one who knew how to read the map.
A Time Capsule in 2026
Now in 2026, I still think of Timeless #1 as a time capsule loaded with unexploded teases. It arrived in comic book stores on December 28, 2022, and it intentionally left a lot of threads dangling. That’s normal for these one-shots. They hand you a mystery and then let the next year of stories decide which pieces actually mattered. Even years later, I remember the introduction of Myrddin because it felt like an actual gear shift for Kang, not just another battle but a challenge to his place in the timeline.
Kang the Conqueror has spent decades fighting heroes and himself, so giving him an external rival with apparent authority over the same mysteries was a welcome change. I’m still not sure exactly what the Missing Moment or the Tribulation Events fully meant, but sometimes a good time-travel story doesn’t need to explain every paradox. It just needs to make you feel like you’re falling through the clock face, and Timeless definitely did that.