Pharaoh Rama-Tut

Reign over Ancient Egypt

In the 25th Century, after building a sphinx-shaped time machine, an unnamed Egyptomaniac criminal decides to use it to travel back in time to the year 2960 BC an conquer Ancient Egypt, with plans to claim En Sabah Nur—the mutant destined to become Apocalypse—as his heir.^[10][11] After his ship instead crashes, leaving him injured and blind, the traveller is nursed back to health by a group of travelling Sandstormers and their leader Baal, before fleeing into the desert with his technology and building an army of robots to conquer Egypt, dubbing himself Rama-Tut.^[12] Learning of a radioactive herb that could restore his sight, Rama-Tut acquires it, and in triumph, builds a variety of massive statues in his honour, replacing those of an angered Khonshu and Moon Knight.^[13][14] Several weeks later, Rama-Tut sends Ozymandias and an army to the Sandstormers to retrieve his records of En Sabah Nur. After the group refuse to returns Rama-Tut's records—having adopted them as a doctrine—Ozymandias slaughters the majority of them and enslaves the survivors for Rama-Tut, while Baal escapes to find Nur, raising him over the following twenty years.^[15] After finding the Sandstormers' new location and sending out Ozymandias to kill them and retrieve his records and the young Nur, having learned of his adoption by Baal, Baal is killed by Ozymandias while Nur escapes, swearing vengeance.^[12]

In 2940 BC, the West Coast Avengers arrive in Rama-Tut's kingdom using a time machine that can only go backwards in time.^[14][16] Hoping to use Rama-Tut's technology to return to their own era, Khonshu disguises their appearances as peasants, only for Rama-Tut to quickly subdue them and place their bodies in the temple of Khonshu to die, where unbeknownst to Rama-Tut, they are revived by Khonshu.^[14][16] Shortly afterward, the Fantastic Four travel back in time in search of the same herbs Rama-Tut used to cure his blindness to restore the sight of their friend Alicia Masters, only to be captured by Rama-Tut's guards.^[2][13] Deciding to wed the Invisible Woman instead of Nephri after becoming fascinated by her appearance, Rama-Tut enslaves the other members of the group, only for the Invisible Woman to be freed by a jealous Nephri, whom is imprisoned.^[13] After facing the freed West Coast Avengers once again as they seek to steal his time machine,^[14] Rama-Tut finds En Sabah Nur hidden among his slaves and, realizing Logos' betrayal, orders him to be put to be tortured and executed. Upon witnessing Logos' demise, Nur rejects Rama-Tut's offer of making him his heir, before manifesting his mutant abilities and decimating Rama-Tut's armies, becoming Apocalypse. While fleeing from Apocalypse, Rama-Tut encounters the Fantastic Four, who chase after Rama-Tut as he attempts to flee back to his original era in his time machine. The Fantastic Four find the herb while chasing Rama-Tut and decide to return to their own era. Rama-Tut leaves for the 25th century in his time machine, as the West Coast Avengers return to the present. Apocalypse, enhancing himself with Rama-Tut's technology, walks out into the desert alone to find meaning.^[12]

Attempts to return to the future

While attempting to flee, Rama-Tut's ship is trapped in a time storm and he is forced into the present outside the planet Jupiter, where he encounters a stranded Doctor Doom floating in space.^[17] After helping Doom return to Earth,^[18] Rama-Tut returns to Ancient Egypt.^[19] After returning to ancient Egypt, Rama-Tut continues to reign, encountering Doom and Iron Man after they are stranded in his time, several years later in their own personal future from when Doom last met Rama-Tut, before they are suddenly returned to the present. Inspired by his encounters with Doom,^[20] Rama-Tut decides to become the Scarlet Centurion before being defeated by the Avengers of another timeline (Earth-689).^[21] Several decades later, a bored Rama-Tut finds himself stranded in a war-torn 40th century during an attempt to return to his home time.^[22] Finding his sense of honor and battle reinvigorated, Rama-Tut decides to conquer the future, reinventing himself as Kang the Conqueror.^[23]

Retirement and battling Kang

After sixty years as Kang the Conqueror and desiring a return to a more simpler time, Kang turns his empire over to his lover Ravonna and returns to Ancient Egypt to retire, resuming his guise of Rama-Tut and position as pharaoh. He destroys his time machine so-as not to be tempted to return to the future.^[23] As the years progress, a mellowed Rama-Tut begins to lead his people with a sense of virtue and compassion. Regretting his past actions and recalling how as Kang, he had been opposed by Rama-Tut in attempting to take the Celestial Madonna as his bride, Rama-Tut decides to try to alter his own history and bring enlightenment to his younger self earlier. Over the following years, working in conjunction with his court wizard Shamaz, Rama-Tut devises a means for himself to be put in suspended animation for five thousand years inside a sarcophagus. Meeting the West Coast Avengers once again shortly before they had met his younger self, he instructs them on where to find his time machine, warning him that his younger self would oppose them.^[14] Five thousand years later, Rama-Tut is awoken by Swordsman, offering his aid to him in battling Kang and thwarting his own past plans.^[24] Returning to New York, the pair recruit Hawkeye before freeing the other Avengers from Kang's control.^[25] With the Avengers free, Rama-Tut reveals himself to Kang to be him and the Avengers to be the same person from different points in time, causing reality to begin to rupture and revealing Mantis to be the Celestial Madonna.^[25][26] Opposed by himself and the Avengers, Kang decides to kill Mantis; in attempting to stop him, Rama-Tut unintentionally inspires the Swordsman to sacrifice himself to save Mantis' life, before engaging Kang in hand-to-hand combat, battling each furiously before being pulled into the timestream after crashing into Kang's time-sphere.^[25][27] In the time stream, Rama-Tut and Kang continue to battle before being plucked out of time by Immortus, who allows Kang to defeat the Avengers, before Kang traps him alongside Rama-Tut and teleports the Avengers to Limbo to get his revenge. Rama-Tut and Immortus are found and freed by Hawkeye, before joining the Avengers in defeating Kang.^[28]

Divergence from Kang and Immortus

After Kang learns that Immortus is the future version of Rama-Tut left on the path of righteousness, to a "Destiny War" ensues between the Time-Keepers and the Avengers, in which Kang and Immortus are involved, the Time-Keepers have the Time Variance Authority interfere in Rama-Tut's history in an attempt to bring forward the moment in time Rama-Tut became Immortus to an earlier potion in his existence.^[29] However, due to Rama-Tut's positioning in Limbo at the time of the Time-Keepers' interference, Rama-Tut is unknowingly splits into three different beings: one who becomes Immortus,^[30] one who upon learning of Immortus' eventual servitude to the Time-Keepers decides to return to the identity of Kang the Conqueror,^[23] and one who continues to exist as simply Rama-Tut, assisting the Avengers and the Fantastic Four throughout history.^[29]

Only Myself Left to Conquer

Rama-Tut is featured as a major character in the 2021 limited series Kang the Conqueror,^[31] as an alternate younger version of Kang joins the forces of En Sabah Nur against him,^[32][33][34] taking on the persona of Iron Lad before being folded by Rama-Tut into a new version of the Scarlet Centurion.^[35]

Television

• Rama-Tut appears in Fantastic Four (1967), voiced by Mike Road.^[38] This version rules as the pharaoh of Egypt in the year 2000 B.C., having traveled from the future in a time machine built by himself (which is revealed to be the Sphinx). Using a device of his own creation, he enslaves the Egyptian people, as well as the Fantastic Four, when they visit that era, intending to turn Susan Storm into his queen. Later, when trying to return to the future in his time machine, he is stopped by the Fantastic Four, and is killed when the time machine explodes.
• Rama-Tut makes a cameo appearance in the X-Men: Evolution episode "Dark Horizon".^[39]
• Rama-Tut appears in the X-Men '97 episode "Rise of Apocalypse", voiced by John de Lancie. This version traveled back in time and landed in 3000 B.C. Egypt and ruled with an iron fist, only to be challenged by En Sabah Nur and the Sandstormers. After Nur becomes Apocalypse, Rama-Tut abandons Egypt and returns to the present day.^[40]

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Numerous versions of Rama-Tut appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe:

• Chronicoms, based on rogue lower-ranked Time Variance Authority chronomonitors and Chronomonitor #616, appear in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..^[41]
• Rama-Tut appears in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), portrayed by Jonathan Majors. In addition, a variant of Kang based on Chronomonitor #616 makes a cameo appearance.^[42][43]