Marvel fired Jonathan Major the minute the guilty verdict came in, and it seemed like Kang’s future in the MCU would be far more short-lived than anticipated. Reports then said that Avengers 5 would no longer be titled The Kang Dynasty. As exciting as the villain might be, it’s going to be hard to shake Kang the Conqueror’s association with Majors.
At the same time, Marvel can’t really pivot from the path to Secret Wars. Marvel likely pieced together the conclusion of the Multiverse Saga long ago. The multiversal wars are inevitable, no matter who the next Thanos-level threat is.
Some speculated that Kang would be recast once enough time has passed and the MCU got closer to that epic conclusion of Avengers 5 and Secret Wars.
I also think Kang should continue to be the villain of the upcoming Avengers movies and that a recast is in order. Kang can continue to be a tremendous villain, especially after how Loki season 2 concluded. Admittedly, that finale also leaves the door open to Marvel doing away for good.
With that in mind, I absolutely hope Daniel Richtman’s newest reveal about Avengers 5 is accurate. The Marvel insider says that Kang is still in the picture. The reason Jeff Loveness lost his writing gig has nothing to do with a pivot away from Kang. Mind you, some spoilers might follow.
Several months ago, word got out that Marvel fired the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania writer. He was going to pen the Kang Dynasty script, and he made numerous comments about Avengers 5 in the aftermath of Quantumania.
I thought at the time that Loveness departing the MCU could be a good thing for Avengers 5, because I was hardly a fan of Quantumania. The movie had such potential but it turned out to be a massive disappointment. This was well before Marvel fired Majors.
Richtman said on his Patreon that Loveness was fired exactly because of the Quantumania reception. It had nothing to do with Kang and Jonathan Majors.
According to the leaker, Loveness’s version of Kang Dynasty had the Multiverse Saga leads, except for Thor (Chris Hemsworth), fighting Kang variants on Earth. However, the film would have been more grounded than multiverse, with the Kang variants fighting the Avengers on Earth.
Michael Waldron, who will write both Avengers 5 and Secret Wars, has a similar vision for the film. However, his Avengers 5 will reportedly involve the multiverse more than Loveness’s script.
All of this implies that Kang is very much in the picture, and that’s what Richtman apparently said. Marvel is reportedly in the early stages of finding a new actor for Kang. It’s unclear how long it’ll take, but we might get a replacement soon enough. The recast process might take a few months, according to the report. I’ll remind you that we’ve already had reports mentioning a purported front-runner for the role.
Finally, Richtman also addressed the post-Secret-Wars future of the MCU. Marvel isn’t going for a full reboot. Instead, all the new heroes, the mutants, the Fantastic Four, and other characters might move to a different Earth for a soft reboot.
Interestingly, he also said that Kahhori will jump into live action in the next four years. Kahhori is easily one of the standout characters from What If…? season 2, and I can’t help but wonder whether she’ll join the Avengers to fight Kang.
While none of this can be confirmed, I will say it again: Kang deserves a spot in the Multiverse Saga. I hope Marvel will indeed recast the villain.
