After months of bated breath from MCU fans and the general entertainment community, actor Jonathan Majors (most well-known for his roles in Creed III and Ant-Man & The Wasp Quantumania) has been found guilty of assault and resultingly dropped by Marvel Studios, where he had been set to be their new overarching antagonist for the ongoing Multiverse Saga, Kang The Conquerer.
RELATED: Jonathan Majors Fired By Marvel Studios After Being Found Guilty of Assault and Harassment
Now that that’s been settled, the question for many is this: Should Marvel recast Kang and continue with the Multiverse Saga (into which it is several films and shows deep) or scrap it entirely? To me, the answer is simple: Marvel Studios must recast Jonathan Majors in the role of Kang the Conqueror.
Kang’s Place in the MCU Post-Jonathan Majors
When the Multiverse saga began, Marvel head Kevin Feige told us that Kang The Conquerer would be the next Thanos, the next major threat our heroes would have to fight to save the world and its various universes as we know them. As such, many of the films and shows in Phases 4 and 5 of the MCU have introduced audiences to the Multiverse and the Kang character (with his most recent appearance being the recently released Loki season 2).
As of writing this, one of the upcoming Avengers movies is even subtitled The Kang Dynasty, so it’s clear they were putting all their eggs in this basket. However, The Hollywood Reporter stated this week that The Kang Dynasty is now being called Avengers 5 internally by Marvel Studios, and The Kang Dynasty subtitle has been dropped. That implies that Marvel Studios might be considering reworking the next two films and dropping the Kang character entirely. That said, Marvel and Disney have not yet confirmed the title change.
While the overall reception to Phases 4 and 5 is a whole other conversation, the audience and fan reaction to the Kang character has largely been positive. While part of this is obviously due to Majors’ performance in the role, there are many other talented actors out there who aren’t PR nightmares who could bring Kang to life for the remainder of his story in the MCU and do it without concern of committing criminal acts. Checking the online fan reaction to Majors’ firing, many fans have already begun offering up replacements for the character, so it’s clear there’s still an audience who wants to see the Kang story reach its conclusion.
Far From the First Recast Rodeo
If you’re still sheepish about the idea of recasting, Marvel has done this a few times before over the years and people acquiesced to the new actors quite quickly. Don Cheadle replaced Terrence Howard as James “Rhodey” Rhodes starting with Iron Man 2, Mark Ruffalo took over from Edward Norton starting with The Avengers, Zackary Levi stepped in for Josh Dallas for Thor: The Dark World, and Harrison Ford will replace actor William Hurt as Thunderbolt Ross in Thunderbolts. Also, Ross Marquand replaced Hugo Weaving as The Red Skull in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
While it’s slightly different for these actors in that they either had one appearance each or didn’t have much done with them before getting recast (the latter mostly referring to Hurt), it still highlights Marvel being willing and able to find new actors for their characters in cases where the originals departed.
Marvel Studios Is In Too Deep
There’s also the business side of things to consider. As of this writing, the Kang character has made appearances in the Loki television show and Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania, each one building him up to be a major threat to the Avengers. Quantumania even included a post-credits scene with Loki and Agent Mobius, along with another one hinting at countless Kang variants.
Plus, with Deadpool 3 recently wrapping filming and set to feature both the multiverse and Agent Mobius in some capacity, scrapping the Kang storyline this late into the game would mean huge reshoots and rewrites for Deadpool 3 that it likely couldn’t recover from. Of course, if audiences don’t show up for Deadpool 3 or that film is impossible to follow without having seen Loki, Marvel may shift course regardless of the Majors drama and scramble to set up a new big bad guy.
At this point, I believe the best course of action is to recast Kang and push forward (Similar to what the Fantastic Beasts films did in replacing Johnny Depp with Mads Mikkelsen amid the formers’ court trial) rather than let the sins of one man define an entire section of their cinematic universe. Then, if all goes well, I believe the MCU should bow out on as high a note as possible following the (as of this writing) 2-part Avengers finale. I’ve been watching this series ever since I was 13 years old back in 2008, and while I’ve enjoyed the ride, I hope the Multiverse Saga provides it with a definitive conclusion. To me, that would be truly Marvelous.
Currently, the fifth Avengers movie, with or without The Kang Dynasty subtitle, is set to arrive on May 1, 2026. Avengers: Secret Wars will arrive on May 7, 2027.
What do you think should be done with Kang? Should Marvel Studios recast Jonathan Majors with a different actor and continue forward with the character as the center of The Multiverse Saga, or should they pivot away from said saga altogether? Let us know on our social media.
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