Well, there goes two full Phases and nearly four years’ worth of development down the drain. Marvel is fully and wholeheartedly screwed now as they have been forced to fire Kang actor Jonathan Majors after the actor’s conviction of domestic violence offenses.
This is a disaster of unmitigated proportions for everyone involved.
Despite being at the very heart of the MCU’s Phases 4-6+ plans, Jonathan Majors has been FIRED from his Kang the Conqueror role by Marvel and Disney due to his convictions in his domestic violence case against his former girlfriend. And, to be honest, this could very well destroy the MCU as we know it…or revive it back to its former glory.
So, if you want a real-world example of what a sticky bomb explosion aftermath looks like, this is it.
If you haven’t heard the news coming from the New York City courtroom, Jonathan Majors, who was once one of the most coveted, rising stars in the acting world, was CONVICTED of two of the four counts brought against him in his domestic violence trail against his former girlfriend and he now faces up to a year in prison as his maximum sentence.
And, only a few hours after the news, Disney and Marvel came out and said that they were dropping Majors from all projects and firing him from his role as Kang the Conqueror, despite him being at the very heart of the MCU’s plans for Phases 4-6 of the MCU. Like I said, this is an unmitigated mess of the highest proportions…and every party involved going ripped to shreds by this case.
Obviously, Majors’ former girlfriend was affected by the actors’ actions as his abuse is the reason why this is even a case; Majors himself is completely screwed as he’s now been dropped by Marvel, Disney, his talent manager, his PR firm, all of those ad campaigns he had with the US Army, and I highly doubt he’s going to be making an appearance in the next Creed movie.
Though, truth be told, I don’t even know if Michael B. Jordan will be appearing in the next Creed movie if he continues racing and crashing his Ferraris into city traffic, but that’s a story for another day. Anyway, back to Majors and Marvel, I really don’t know what the MCU does from here given how they put ALL OF THEIR EGGS in the Jonathan Majors basket…and he’s smashed them in their faces.
They obviously will have to recast Kang if they wish to continue with the Kang-Multiverse storyline, but they made Jonathan Majors so intertwined with the Kang character given all of his appearances in different projects (Loki, Ant-Man 3) and that end credit scene of Ant-Man 3 of his 10,000 multiverse personalities making it impossible for anyone else to look like a different version of Kang “in-world”.
Plus, the MCU is going to have to recast a villain they took 4 years and nearly three phases worth of movies and shows to establish a year before the next Avengers movies is set to release…which is called Avengers: The Kang Dynasty! It’s possible they recast him, and everything turns out fine but given how poorly the Multiverse Saga has been set-up and Kang’s rather tepid entries in the franchise, Marvel should really just move on from this dumb idea and go HARD CORE down the road everyone wants the MCU to take.
What road might that be? Oh, just…the Doctor Doom route.
Marvel MUST make the new Fantastic Four movie be one of their greatest ever films to date and ensure the Doctor Doom actor, whoever that may be, is a man of irreproachable morality, ethics, and honor AND can also capture the awesome villainy of the Doctor as this is the MCU’s last hope. The Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom have the potential of reviving the MCU and establishing a new class of epic, memorable heroes once the X-Men make their debuts as well.
But, seeing how Marvel still has the buffoons who ruined the studio in the first place still running the helm, I think this is going to be yet another death blow in the sad decay of the MCU.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Disney/Marvel) (Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania | Official Trailer (youtube.com))
