Marvel ready to fire Jonathan Majors… and even Kang from the MCU?
The studio is said to be in deep reflection, while season 2 of Loki ends and the actor’s trial will take place in November.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is not at its best. Of Thor 4 has Black Panther 2, the 2022 films have barely generated enthusiasm. And the year 2023 which is coming to an end has not allowed us to redress the situation. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania experienced a worrying little flop while The Marvels, which arrives in a few days, is having a hard time generating buzz. Not to mention the Disney Plus series, sometimes widely mocked like She-Hulk or completely redesigned as Daredevil: Born Again.
If it remains a devilishly effective cash machine for Disney, the MCU clearly seems in crisis, as Variety writes this week in a long file citing sources within the studio. A crisis symbolized by a particular case: that of Jonathan Majors ! The brilliant actor revealed by Lovecraft Country has serious legal troubles, which have put him out of Hollywood in recent months. Except from Marvel. It must be said that the studio bet big on him, making his Kang the big bad of the current Phase 5, going so far as to dedicate a film to him Avengerssubtitle Kang Dynasty (planned for 2026). Except that according to Variety, Marvel would have the idea of reviewing its plans to distance itself from Majors.
This is what emerged from a long seminar in Palm Springs, which took place in September and was attended by the studio’s creatives, including boss Kevin Feige. “The most pressing question to discuss at this seminar was: what are we going to do with Jonathan Majors ?“writes Variety. The actor will be at the center of a highly publicized trial in New York very soon, following accusations of violence, notably against a former companion. Marvel executives therefore discussed “contingency plans“, reports a studio source. There would have been a question of completely revising the story, to turn towards a new major adversary of the comics: Dr. Doom. The main enemy of the Fantastic Four taking over the job of big naughty of the MCU for years to come. But it is not that simple. Any change would cause a huge headache, with Majors already being very present in the MCU, after Quantumaniabut also through season 2 of Lokiwhere it will play a major role in the finale, which will be broadcast on November 9…
“Marvel is really screwed with this Kang angle”assures the source in question, who saw the last episode of Loki. “And they haven’t had a chance to rewrite anything until very recently because of the Hollywood strike. That being said, I don’t see how they will move forward with him…“
Except that Jonathan Majors faces three counts of third-degree assault, second-degree aggravated harassment, stemming from an incident in March in which he is accused of assaulting a 30-year-old woman, his ex-girlfriend… who worked on Quantumania…and all this during the filming of season 2 of Loki. An untenable situation for Marvel, especially if the actor is convicted by the New York court at the end of the year (the trial will begin at the end of November).
Even more, another source from the studio notes in Variety that, regardless of the actor’s legal problems, Marvel had already considered moving away from a phase centered on Majors, in the wake of the failure of Quantumania at the box office, which struggled to make a profit. “This made a lot of people in the studio think, given that Quantumania didn’t really work.“
So firing Kang seems like an option. Or can the MCU fire Major and keep the character by “recasting”? The option seems open, as Feige did when he replaced Terrence Howard in Iron Man 2 by Don Cheadle. Variety points out, ultimately, that Marvel is not afraid to change direction, suggesting that the plan announced in recent years will move. The films of phase 6 and in particular Avengers: Kang Dynasty could well be completely revised.
