How will Marvel evolve the MCU after firing Jonathan Majors?

One Kang, three possibilities. We take stock.

It had been in the pipeline for months. Disney was only waiting for the New York court verdict to confirm. Jonathan Majors was found guilty of assault and harassment against his ex-partner. He is therefore unceremoniously fired by Marvel. Would he have been kicked out so quickly if Ant-Man 3 had made $1 billion at the start of the year? We’ll never have the answer, so we might as well look at the real question: where is the MCU going from now on?

It should be remembered that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has built its entire current narrative arc around Kang the Conqueror. The very promising Jonathan Majors was to be the new ultimate villain, the new Thanos, a being traveling through time and dimensions. Quantumania (at the cinema) and season 2 of Loki (on Disney Plus) were to pave the way for his big film, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. This will not happen. So how will the studio correct the situation. Several options are available to Marvel now.

A new actor to replace Majors?

First, there is the outright recast. We don’t change anything and we hire another actor to take Kang’s place. A practice which annoys fans but which has never cooled Marvel (Terrence Howard was replaced by Don Cheadle, Edward Norton gave way to Mark Ruffalo, the late William Hurt will be replaced by Harrison Ford…). This solution still assumes that a fairly solid actor will accept a particularly difficult job as number 2. There is time since Avengers: The Kang Dynasty was postponed to May 2026.

A new villain in Kang’s place?

The second solution consists of moving the lines. Completely change plans. Agree to draw a line under the start of a failed phase V and start from an almost blank slate, around a new villain. The exit door could be found in Fantastic Four. It is rumored that several villains will be in the next MCU film, which is slow to announce its casting. We are talking about Victor Von Doom (Doctor Doom in Vf) but also the planet devourer Galactus, one of the most iconic villains of Marvel Comics, who would undoubtedly make a perfect ultimate enemy for the Avengers. Perhaps this is why the originally planned director (Destin Daniel Cretton) was fired recently, in order to start a new project altogether. According to THR, behind the scenes, Kang Dynasty is now even soberly called Avengers 5seeming to mark the end of Kang.

Loki, the new Kang?

Unless… There is a third solution, which would be a mix of the two previous ones: Marvel could decide not to completely remove Kang from the equation, so as not to have to erase the last months of the MCU in one fell swoop. the hand ! In the season 2 finale of the recently broadcast Disney Plus series, Loki generally took Kang’s position within the multiverse, overseeing all branches and other timelines. An omnipotent deity who already seemed to make Jonathan Majors obsolete. So, obviously, we wonder if the studio didn’t anticipate and install Loki in this new position, with an idea in mind. We know that omnipotence could easily go to the head of Thor’s brother. And the first villain of the saga, complex and adored by fans, would have the shoulders of an unexpected nemesis to face the Avengers. Moreover, it should be noted that the creator of Loki, Michael Waldronwas signed to take over the screenplay for the next Avengers… A sign ?