This could be a franchise-dooming disaster if Marvel isn’t careful. In light of all the allegations and uncertainty surrounding Kang the Conqueror actor Jonathan Majors, the future of the MCU’s next main antagonist is up in the air as any change in plans could literally destroy the MCU as we know it.
Am I being a little overdramatic? Probably. Is this situation with Jonathan Majors turning into a disaster for Marvel? Most definitely.
For those who don’t know, Kang the Conqueror actor and rising megastar in the acting world Jonathan Majors has essentially had his career put on indefinite hold as he’s facing assault and domestic violence allegations from numerous, leaving both his own career and the MCU in this state of uncertainty and panic. And, I don’t see it getting better any time soon.
Out of respect for Majors and the people involved in this situation, I’m not going to comment on the allegations themselves or even Majors’ alleged violent behavior and conduct as I simply don’t have enough information to make a decision one way or another. And, in the US, everyone’s innocent until proven guilty, so I’ll follow that line of reasoning and leave any opinion of Majors out of this article.
Instead, I’m going to focus 100% on Majors’ character, Kang the Conqueror, and how the absence of the multiversal-conquering villain in Phase 5 of the MCU could literally destroy the franchise.
I don’t think many people are going to disagree with me when I say that out of all the crap and mediocre projects that came out Phase 4 of the MCU, Majors’ portrayal of the legendary Marvel villain Kang the Conqueror was one of the best additions to the MCU.
In fact, he was so good as Kang in Loki Season 1, Marvel supposedly changed all of their original plan of Phase 5 in favor of heavily featuring Majors’ Kang as the primary antagonist if this article by Collider (I’ll leave a link here and down below if you want to read it) is to be believed.
Nevertheless, if Majors, who is a fantastic actor and more than capable of leading a franchise as the primary antagonist, is forced to step down from his role as Kang due to these allegations, what is Marvel going to do for the upcoming film and T.V. releases?
Marvel currently has Secret Invasion (release date: June 23rd, 2023), Loki Season 2 (release date: September 2023), The Marvels (release date: November 10th, 2023), Agatha: Covenant of Chaos (release date: Winter 2023), Daredevil: Born Again (release date: Spring 2024), Captain America: New World Order (release date: May 3rd, 2024), Thunderbolts (July 26th, 2024), and Blade (September 6th, 2024) all coming out within the next year or so.
Is Kang not going to be mentioned or hinted to at all in any of these films as Majors’ legal issues continue? And even if Majors doesn’t have a major role in these movies, he’s bound to have an important role when all of the heroes and anti-villains have their first team-up film.
How do you not mention or foreshadow the arrival of the biggest villain in the franchise since Thanos in any of the “set-up” films? That just sounds like the recipe for a convoluted, disjointed, mess of a franchise.
Now, I guess Marvel could always cut ties with Majors at any point and just recast him, but that could cause so many other headaches. Namely, wrongful termination if Majors is found innocent of his allegations, hiring an actor who doesn’t have the stage presence of Majors, or hiring an actor who simply can’t carry a franchise like Majors or Josh Brolin (Thanos actor) can.
(Disney/Marvel-Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania-New Trailer)
On the other hand, Marvel could simply move on from Kang and revert back to the original plans with the other antagonists they had intended to use before Majors’ breakthrough performances. However, that solution also has a major problem: there’s no villain big enough left in the MCU to carry a franchise.
Thanos is dead, Killmonger is dead, Red Skull is too outdated and stuck in Vormir, Ronan the Accuser is dead, Ego is also dead/defeated (I’m not entirely sure he’s 100% dead), Ultron is destroyed, the Celestial villains from The Eternals are plagued from being in an awful movie, Hela, Mysterio, Agatha, Namor, and Suttor are not big enough to lead a franchise, Abomination was ruined by She-Hulk, Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, Venom, and Electro are villains from a different era, and The High Evolutionary is most likely dead.
The only person who I can think of that can lead a franchise as the villain is Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch, yet she is supposedly dead after the events of Dr. Strange 2. So, there’s literally no one else left in the MCU who could possibly be the “big bad” like Thanos was.
And if Marvel doesn’t have a passable big villain for the heroes to fight against, then the future of the franchise is screwed. You can’t have a superhero franchise without an equally powerful supervillain as the conflict was just feel unnecessary and boring.
Maybe Marvel has someone great ready to go that we don’t know about, but I highly doubt it. This is Marvel post Phase 3, after all.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Disney/Marvel) (Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania | New Trailer – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Disney/Marvel) (Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania | New Trailer – YouTube)
Other Sources: (Collider.com) (Marvel Reportedly Changed Its Plans for the MCU Because of Jonathan Majors (collider.com))
