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Credit: Marvel StudiosKang the Conqueror is the big bad villain of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the Muliverse Saga, but the lead actor, Jonathan Majors, is in legal trouble right now. This puts Marvel Studios in a tough situation as they might have to let Majors go, but even if the actor can’t stick around, there is an easy way to recast the actor without any need for a retcon.
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Kang the Conqueror is everyone’s favorite time-traveling warlord, and his main goal in the MCU is to rule the Multiverse. Not many people can achieve a feat like this. Still, Kang’s main resource is that his variants tend to want the same goal, allowing himself to team up with several versions of himself and raise several armies to conquer different universes.
There’s a reason why He Who Remains from Loki was afraid of only himself. You may defeat one Kang variant, but to be able to defeat all of Kang’s variants is impossible. Avengers: Kang Dynasty (2025) will be the next major story for Kang in the MCU, but the villain will appear in Loki Season 2 and other projects as the MCU continues to tie Kang into more and more stories.
Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror
In Loki, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki and Sophie Di Martino’s Sylvie encountered He Who Remains, a variant of Kang who split the MCU from the Multiverse and kept one timeline with a set order of events. He presented the two with an option to rule in his place or to kill him. Ruling in his place kept their universe safe, but if they killed him, they would have to deal with Kang’s other variants whether or not they wanted to.
Sylvie didn’t believe He Who Remains and ended up causing the Multiverse to join back with the MCU. From now on, fans can see different versions of Kang the Conqueror, thanks to Loki. In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), fans saw an exiled Kang the Conqueror who was bloodthirsty but trapped in the Quantum Realm.
This led Paul Rudd and the Ant-Man family to stop Kang, but the message got out to the Council of Kangs — an elite collective of the villain who planned to get revenge for their fallen variant. This means that Kang Dynasty will be Kang’s invasion of Earth, and unlike before, Kang the Conqueror might just win.
What is happening with Jonathan Majors?
Jonathan Majors was arrested for allegedly abusing his partner. She had bruises on her arms, and the police arrested Majors. His lawyer claims the actor is not guilty and has posted evidence citing that he isn’t, with one of them being text messages from his girlfriend. It’s true that both of them got into a fight and that she did go to a hospital, but it was not due to her physical wounds. She went to the hospital due to a mental breakdown.
Majors also called 911 to have the police check on her since he was worried about her, and when the officers arrived, she changed her narrative, and Majors was arrested. Now, if Majors can’t clear his name while others are sharing previous experiences of the actor not having great moments on set with others, then it looks like the rising star might not keep his role in the MCU.
What is Marvel Studios likely to do
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Marvel Studios will likely wait as long as possible before making a decision. Kang Dynasty is set to start filming very soon next year, meaning that Marvel wouldn’t have much time beforehand to audition and secure another actor to star as their new Kang if they recast.
Since the situation around Jonathan Majors is so uncertain, it wouldn’t be wise to take a side now when more details are surely going to surface and reveal what is really happening. In the meantime, Marvel Studios can hope for the best but start to prepare for the worst. They have already contacted Majors’s assistant about how to move forward, meaning that Marvel hasn’t cut ties entirely with the actor as of right now.
How the MCU villain could be recast
With the Multiverse, it wouldn’t be too hard to recast Kang the Conqueror. The one tricky thing is that Marvel will have to decide quickly whether or not they want to keep Kang the Conqueror’s ethnicity in the MCU the same. In the comics, Kang is white, while Majors is obviously not, and that works perfectly fine in the MCU, but if Marvel were to choose a white actor, that wouldn’t go so well.
If Marvel Studios thinks through the situation, they can pick another to be their Kang and have that Kang be the new leader of the Kang variants, and it won’t be a huge deal for Marvel to have a new variant of Kang because it will respect the hard work that Jonathan Majors did, while also continuing to further the villain’s story as the MCU continues to expand.
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If Marvel were to recast an actor and didn’t feel like that character was the best fit, they could always repeat the process and choose another actor. Originally, Jonathan Majors was meant to star as He Who Remains, but another actor was going to play the role. Majors blew Marvel away with his appearance, so they allowed him to stay as Kang after his initial role.
Why Marvel can’t change villains
Marvel isn’t in a position to change villains. Josh Brolin’s Thanos was the big villain of the Infinity Saga, and Kang is now the next big bad. If Majors couldn’t stay around, Marvel Studios would have to recast for one big reason. The MCU is planned far in advance. The stories we see have been kicking in Kevin Feige’s mind for a long time, and while he doesn’t write every script, he knows how each story will impact the MCU and where things will go.
If we were to change the MCU big baddie to another villain, it could cause a lot of problems for movies currently filming, for projects in post-production that plan to include Kang the Conqueror, and for future projects to be completely rewritten would greatly affect the number of resources Marvel Studios is using for the Multiverse Saga. Changing the villain now would actually be more costly than perhaps delaying a few projects and getting a new actor.
How Kang fits into Avengers: Secret Wars
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Avengers: Secret Wars (2026) is supposedly the end of the Multiverse Saga, which in the comics includes a huge battle on Battle World with Kang, Doctor Doom, Galactus, Dock Ock, the Lizard, Ultron, and of course, the Avengers, X-Men, and Fantastic Four. All of these characters fight because of one character, the Beyonder.
The sentient being hosts this elaborate fight and, in the comics, is one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe. One theory states that while Kang the Conqueror might be several different people across the Multiverse, somehow, one of his variants will end up as the Beyonder. If this is true, it will be fascinating seeing so many different sides of Kang and make the ending of the Multiverse Saga feel more in line with the MCU because if Kang isn’t the Beyonder, it doesn’t feel like Kang will have the same impact that Thanos had.
If Marvel has its way, it can keep Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror. It’s too early to tell what will happen for the actor, but at least Marvel has options for how to move forward. At least the recent surge of delays will help the studio have more time to figure out what to do with their main villain.
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