After Disney cut ties with actor Jonathan Majors, on which Fandom Pulse reported here, speculation ran rife once again on whether Doctor Doom will replace Kang in Disney’s upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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Kang the Conqueror, the supervillain created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and the mainstay nemesis of The Fantastic Four and The Avengers, first appeared in The Avengers #8 (September 1964).
Whispers about Doctor Doom replacing Kang already started earlier this year, hot on the heels of a string of Disney box office failures. This was discussed during September at an angst-ridden Marvel creators’ annual retreat.
Their biggest headache was what to do with Jonathan Majors, whose domestic violence court case was pending at the time. One possibility that studio chief Kevin Feige considered was to replace Kang, dust off the archives, and bring back the ever-diabolical Doctor Doom.
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Unfortunately for Marvel, it may not be as easy as simply replacing one super-villain with another. Kang has been set up to be the linchpin in the next Marvel movies and spin-off serials. After Kang’s debut in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the upcoming Avengers project was supposed to be called ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’. To complicate matters further, the second season of Loki was laying the groundwork for a sequel where Kang was to play a major role, as one industry insider said: “Marvel is truly fucked with the whole Kang angle.”
That was then. Now, matters have gotten even worse for Marvel. Majors has been found guilty of harassment and assault, and Disney has cut ties with him.
In a clear pivot away from Kang, the upcoming Avengers project is no longer referred to as ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’ but simply ‘Avengers 5’.
This ostensible pivot away from Kang has got the internet abuzz with speculation, so much so that Doctor Doom is now trending on X. Of course, the memes must flow: “Can Doctor Doom fix the MCU after Kevin Feige dropped Jonathan Majors as Kang following his guilty verdict for harassment and assault?”
Considering the resources and effort already spent on setting up Kang as the next linchpin for the MCU, one has to question the decision, if indeed it turns out to be true, to let go of Kang and replace him with Doctor Doom. Why doesn’t Marvel replace Majors with another actor? Surely there isn’t a dearth of talented black actors (seeing that Kang has already been race-swapped)?
We may have a hint as to why Marvel may consider replacing Kang with Doctor Doom instead of simply replacing the actor: Recall Bob Iger’s statement a couple of weeks ago: “Creators at Disney have lost sight of what their jobs should be, entertain first, not messages” and “stories infused with ‘positive messages for the world’ can be great but that it shouldn’t be the primary job.”
Does this ostensible pivot have more to do with a directional change at Disney than with the legal troubles of Majors? Let us know in the comments.
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