Credit: Marvel StudiosMarvel Studios has officially confirmed its new Kang the Conqueror actor for the superhero franchise.
With Robert Downey Jr. officially returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Victor Von Doom, better known as Doctor Doom, attention has inevitably turned back to Kang the Conqueror—the villain once expected to headline Marvel’s Multiverse Saga. While Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige discussed why the studio ultimately moved away from Kang, not everyone involved with Marvel agreed with that version of events.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has struggled to maintain the extraordinary momentum it enjoyed before Avengers: Endgame (2019). Although films including Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) delivered major box office success, much of Marvel’s recent output has fallen short of the studio’s usual standards. Even last year’s Captain America: Brave New World (2025), Thunderbolts* (2025), and The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) failed to reach the commercial heights audiences had come to expect from the franchise.
The situation became even more complicated in late 2023 following the legal issues surrounding Jonathan Majors, who portrayed multiple Kang variants throughout the MCU. Once positioned as Marvel’s next overarching villain, the actor exited the franchise after a highly publicized legal battle involving his former partner, Grace Jabbari, who filed claims including battery, assault, malicious prosecution, and defamation.
During San Diego Comic-Con 2024, Kevin Feige confirmed that Anthony and Joe Russo would return to direct the next two Avengers films, Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027). Scheduled for release in December 2026 and 2027, the projects marked the end of the previously announced Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, signaling a major creative shift for the Multiverse Saga.
The surprise announcement became even bigger when Robert Downey Jr., fresh off his Academy Award-winning performance in Oppenheimer (2023), appeared onstage to reveal that he would portray Victor Von Doom. After defining the MCU as Tony Stark for more than a decade, the actor’s return in an entirely different role immediately became one of Marvel’s most talked-about casting decisions.
That leaves one lingering question: what became of Kang?
The villain’s most recent MCU appearance came through Victor Timely in Season 2 of Loki. Before that, Kang’s primary incarnation battled Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023). Since Marvel shifted its long-term plans, fans have continued wondering whether the character would simply disappear—or eventually be played by someone else.
Speaking with select members of the press in 2025, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige insisted that the decision to move away from Kang actually began before Jonathan Majors’ legal troubles.
“We had started even before what had happened to the actor happened, we had started to realize that Kang wasn’t big enough, wasn’t Thanos, and that there was only one character that could be that, because he was that in the comics for decades and decades,” Feige said, per The Hollywood Reporter.
“Because of the Fox acquisition, we finally had it, and it was Dr. Doom. So we had started talking about Dr. Doom even before we officially pivoted from Kang,” the President confirmed. “And in fact, I had started talking with Robert [Downey Jr.] about this audacious idea before Ant-Man 3 even came out. It was a long plan that we had, to take one of our greatest characters and utilize one of our greatest actors.”
Those comments were then challenged by another former Marvel creative.
Former X-Men ’97 writer and showrunner Beau DeMayo, who departed the series following the completion of Season 1, disputed Feige’s timeline in a series of posts on X. According to DeMayo, Kang remained central to Marvel’s future plans throughout 2023.
“In 2023, I was working on Season 2 of #xmen97 who has Kang in it. Majors was definitely who would’ve voiced the character,” DeMayo posted on social media at the time. “I remember seeing John Wick 4 in March 2023 with a top exec at Marvel at the Americana movie theater in Glendale the weekend the news broke about Majors’ legal trouble, discussing how Kang was definitely the game plan and the studio was afraid.”
In a separate post, DeMayo also revealed that Marvel had already recast Kang for the upcoming second season of X-Men ’97, selecting a familiar face from the Star Trek franchise.
After the Majors news broke, @MarvelStudios told me Majors would likely be off the table for my plans with Kang in #XMen97 S2 as they awaited the verdict which would determine if he’d be recast in the MCU. I then [cast] John de Lancie as #Kang as I felt Q would be a great template for him in animated form.
Now, over a year on since those comments surfaced, Marvel’s new Kang has officially debuted. In the second season of X-Men ’97, which had its first three episodes released on Disney+ on July 1, the Rama-Tut Variant of Kang appears.
“This version of Rama-Tut is clearly not played by Jonathan Majors,” The Direct reports. “Instead, Star Trek: The Next Generation actor John de Lancie now brings Kang to life in X-Men ’97 Season 2, completely retconning a major Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania decision that every Kang Variant in the MCU Multiverse looks exactly like Majors.”
As the outlet notes, this version of Rama-Tut draws close inspiration from the Marvel Comics character design, complete with the classic green-and-gold pharaoh costume.
Whether this new version of the character ever crosses into live action remains to be seen, though Marvel’s current emphasis on Doctor Doom suggests Kang’s days as the franchise’s primary villain are likely over.
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