Kang Getting Completly Removed From Marvel?
It’s no secret that the MCU has lost some of its luster recently after years of dominating the box office. This downturn has multiple avenues from Marvel fatigue, to visual effects, but one of the most high-profile issues the franchise is facing is the fall of Jonathan Majors. Unsurprisingly, Marvel is now in the process of erasing Major’s character, Kang the Conqueror, from the MCU’s plans.
Kang’s Aborted Build-Up
Jonathan Majors played the villain Kang, who was being set up as the next big bad for the entire MCU with multiple shows and movies setting his character up in a central role. Kang is a time-traveling villain from the comic books, known for his ability to time travel and the many alternate versions of Kang that result from that time traveling. The MCU version of Kang featured heavily in both seasons of Loki, and in Ant-Man and Wasp: Quantumania.
Jonathan Majors’ Real Life Drama
Between the release of Ant-Man and Wasp: Quantumania and season 2 of Loki Jonathan Majors was arrested and accused of abusing and harassing his ex-girlfriend. Then, in December of 2023, he was found guilty of reckless assault in the third degree and harassment, leading Disney to drop the actor from their future productions. Since then Disney and Marvel have been reworking plans for the MCU and that reworking is already evident.
No More Kang Dynasty
However, according to The Hollywood Reporter, plans to minimize Kang’s role in the MCU were underway before Majors’ conviction, due to the poor performance of Ant-Man and Wasp: Quantumania. One of the most public-facing changes is the plan to find a new title for the next Avengers movie, which was previously titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. These changes are obviously much deeper than changing some titles, as it is clear that Marvel is working to completely change the franchise’s direction.
Doctor Doom Filling The Void?
While it seems that performance issues were already causing Marvel to reconsider Kang as the central villain for the MCU’s future Jonathan Major’s conviction has forced the company to take a more extreme approach of completely removing the character. Fans have speculated that focusing on the upcoming movie The Fantastic Four is a way for Marvel to replace Kang with the iconic villain Doctor Doom. Regardless of whether that’s true or not, the MCU’s survival seems to depend on how well Disney can recover from its current downturn.
Marvel Is Stepping On The Brakes A Bit
The phrase being used by executives internally is a creative retooling for the franchise as opposed to a full reboot. In addition to the efforts to remove Kang from Marvel’s slate, there’s been a reduction in the number of movies and TV shows in order to focus on improving quality, and likely to combat the idea of Marvel fatigue. It’s difficult to say how much of the slowdown is because of the need to remove Kang’s role in projects, how much is because of last year’s entertainment industry strikes, and how much is decided by Disney.
Marvel Could Bounce Back
Despite having to write Kang out of their plans among numerous other problems, there is hope for the once monumental Marvel. The recent Deadpool and Wolverine trailer broke viewership records, though some of that is due to it premiering during the Super Bowl. The decision to slim down the release schedule is also cause for hope as it demonstrates that Disney is actively aware of and trying to solve the problems MCU is facing.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
