Marvel Delaying Avengers Movies To Recast Jonathan Majors?
Some are speculating Marvel is delaying its films to give it the chance to replace Jonathan Majors as Kang.
Marvel recently announced that it would be delaying the release of the highly anticipated Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars by a year. While Marvel pushed back some other films, the other films were only pushed by a few months. This has led some fans to theorize that the longer delays are due to Marvel looking to recast Jonathan Majors’ Kang.
Jonathan Majors first appeared as He Who Remains in Loki before revealing that there were numerous variants of him in the multiverse, some known as Kang. The first Kang variant made his proper villainous appearance in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Kang is being set up as the major villain in this phase of the MCU and will obviously play a major role in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
However, shortly after the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Jonathan Majors was arrested on charges of assault and harassment. There is an ongoing case involving Majors over an alleged domestic dispute between him and his girlfriend. While Marvel has remained silent on the situation, it’s possible the studio is weighing its options.
Since the case is unresolved and there are only allegations at this point, it’s possible that Marvel doesn’t want to jump the gun and fire Jonathan Majors pre-emptively. However, recasting him would likely be a very time-intensive endeavor, so it would make sense if they delayed two films that would heavily involve Kang. We likely won’t hear anything official on Majors’ status at Marvel until the case plays out.
Of course, the possibility of recasting Jonathan Majors is far from the only thing driving the delays of these major films. The Writer’s Guild of America strike is ongoing, and many of these films likely aren’t completely written, or the scripts need rewrites. By pushing these movies back, they have some breathing room while we wait for negotiations between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to resolve.
While Jonathan Majors certainly made an impression as Kang in both Loki and Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania, the character does have variants who don’t necessarily have to look like Majors since they are from other universes. If Marvel were going to replace a character, Kang would be one of the easiest characters to explain why his appearance changed. Still, it would be a big decision to make, and it’s understandable that Marvel hasn’t made an official public decision about it yet.
We may get some answers to these questions this October when Loki Season 2 comes to Disney+. Jonathan Majors should definitely be appearing in the second season in some capacity, as the end-credits sequence that features the “Victor Timely” Kang variant in Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania was confirmed to be a scene from the second season and not just an end-credits stinger. If Marvel does decide to replace Majors as Kang, it would make sense if they introduce his replacement in Loki Season 2, so they can establish the character before any big movie appearances.
