Marvel Studios executives reportedly considered replacing Kang (played by Jonathan Majors) with famous Fantastic Four villain Doctor Doom as the overarching bad guy for the current saga of MCU movies. According to a new report, executives considered back-up plans for Kang’s character in the wake of Majors’ domestic violence accusations earlier this year.
Kang was first officially introduced in season 1 of Loki and set up as the overarching villain of the post-Avengers: Endgame saga of MCU movies, similar to Thanos. He has since appeared in a few MCU projects including Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and was set to continue appearing in future projects for his set-up – and eventual showdown – in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars.
READ MORE – Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 is Inspired by Baldur’s Gate 3
A report from Variety reveals that Marvel Studios executives were considering replacing Majors’ Kang the Conqueror as the next main villain of the MCU with Doctor Doom after the actor was accused of domestic violence. Doctor Doom is a pivotal character in Marvel comics and arguably one of the strongest opponents for the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, so it makes sense that he would be the natural choice to replace Kang and potentially surpass Thanos as a threat.
Doctor Doom could easily be introduced in the upcoming Fantastic Four movie and take over as the overarching threat of the MCU. Rewriting Kang out of Phase 5 and 6 won’t be an easy task, though. Variety states that the ending of Loki‘s second season solidifies Kang as the next big bad and it’s too late to do any last-minute reshoots or story restructures. According to one dealmaker, “Marvel is truly f**ked with the whole Kang angle.”
It’s unclear how Marvel Studios plans to move forward with Majors and Kang’s character. A verdict hasn’t been reached on Majors’ domestic violence charges and the actor continues to fight for his innocence.
In related news, Marvel says the MCU X-Men won’t happen for a ‘very long time’ while it pushes ahead with several new movie and TV projects. Meanwhile, multiple MCU movies were delayed earlier this year including Avengers: Secret Wars. A Doctor Doom standalone movie was previously leaked by Howard Stern, though we’ve heard no updates about it since last year.
Source: Variety
