Earlier today, actor Jonathan Majors was found guilty of two misdemeanor counts of harassment and assault in his trial against his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari, as well as found “not guilty of one of the counts in assault in the third degree” and aggravated harassment in the second degree. While Majors won’t be sentenced until February 6, there’s already been a major development in the aftermath of this trial’s conclusion, as Marvel Studios has dropped the Kang the Conqueror actor.
This update comes to us from Variety, which describes Marvel cutting ties with Majors as “the most high-profile professional consequence of Majors’ arrest to date.” Other consequences that have hit the actor since this legal saga started unfolding in early 2023 include his talent agency dropping him and the U.S. Army pulling its ad campaign that centered on him, to name just a couple. Still, Marvel’s move doesn’t come as a complete shock, as it was rumored in November that the company was looking to distance itself from Majors.
Jonathan Majors debuted in the MCU in the Loki Season 1 finale as He Who Remains, a variant of Kang the Conqueror who established the Time Variance Authority and took drastic actions to ensure another multiversal war between the other Kangs didn’t break out. Then Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, one of the early 2023 movie releases, saw him play a more traditional version of Kang the Conqueror, although the Quantumania mid-credits scene teased just how many other version of the character were ready to cause trouble. Finally, there was Loki Season 2, where in addition to briefly reprising He Who Remains, Majors played Victor Timely, a more benevolent Kang variant from late 19th century America who was first teased in Quantumania’s end-credits scene.
Marvel Studios now finds itself in a difficult position, because at least one of the biggest upcoming Marvel movies, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, was obviously going to heavily feature Majors, and it’s likely he would have played a major role in Avengers: Secret Wars too. There are now two options the company needs to consider: simply recast Kang and move forward with its original plan, or refocus on a new villain to take center stage in The Multiverse Saga, akin to Thanos snagging the limelight during The Infinity Saga.
Needless to say if the latter is picked, not only will that require the fifth Avengers movie to be retitled, more importantly, the script to be completely overhauled. But again, if a new actor simply takes over as the many versions of Kang, this won’t be an issue, especially considering that Spider-Man: No Way Home established that not all variants look exactly the same. As of late November, Loki’s Michael Waldron has taken over writing duties on Kang Dynasty, and he’s also been attached to Secret Wars since October 2022.
CinemaBlend will keep you apprised on how Marvel Studios ends up handling its plans for Kang the Conqueror following Jonathan Majors’ firing. In the meantime, use your Disney+ subscription to stream nearly all the Marvel movies in order and the MCU’s TV shows.
