I’ll say this from the start so you don’t get the wrong idea. I think there’s no excuse in this universe, or any others if we also cohabitate a multiverse of realities like our favorite Marvel heroes, where Jonathan Majors’s real-life actions should be excused or tolerated. If a jury found him guilty, that’s that. His career is over — at least for the time being — and that includes his interpretation of Kang for the MCU.
I’ll also say that Jonathan Majors made me love Kang more than I thought I would. I think this is an amazing villain/hero for the MCU, even better and more powerful than Thanos (Josh Brolin).
But Kang’s presence should not depend on Majors. Plenty of talented actors could bring this multi-faceted hero to life on the big screen and on Disney Plus. I would certainly want to see Kang again, as I’m dying to see how Avengers 5 and Secret Wars shape up.
Finally, I’ll add that I have not read the comics. I’m not that kind of diehard fan. Like many MCU fans, I’ve discovered Kang via Loki, Quantumania, and then Loki season 2. Therefore, I’ve never had any expectations for this Multiverse Saga villain.
With all that in mind, I’m excited to see not one but several Marvel insiders I follow say that the MCU will not abandon Kang. Instead, the villain will return by the end of the Multiverse Saga via a recast. Before I explain, let me give you the usual warning: Spoilers might follow below.
Kang has to be the main antagonist
When Marvel developed the Infinity Saga, it teased Thanos along the way. But we didn’t really get to appreciate the villain until Infinity War, which is the first movie that really focused on Thanos. Looking back, I would have loved to explore the character more in the previous films. The credits scenes teasers did not do him justice.
By now, you must think I like Marvel villains more than heroes, but that’s not the case. We need amazing villains in any story for the heroes’ stories to make sense. We need villains who we love to hate. Like Darth Vader in Star Wars. Or Thanos and Kang in the MCU.
Back to the latter, the Multiverse Saga did something differently. It brought not one but several versions of Kang much earlier than we would have seen the character. We saw at least a couple of them in Loki on Disney Plus, and then quite a bunch of them in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. On top of that, Marvel placed other teasers of Kang in other shows.
What I’m getting at is that Marvel has been building Kang in a much better way than Thanos. He is the story’s main villain, one that has to lead to a multiversal war. Make no mistake, multiversal wars are coming. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) ensured it would happen by not killing Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) and preserving the He Who Remains way.
Sure, Loki season 2 also concluded with exactly the finale that gives Marvel lots of wiggle room. A different antagonist can replace Kang while the world forgets about Majors.
I’ll also say that I’d expect one of the Kangs to help the Avengers in the looming multiversal war.
No matter how you look at it, Kang can’t just vanish from the MCU. Or it’d be a shame if Marvel shelved the character.
Rumors say a recast is coming
Marvel could have recast Kang immediately after the verdict in the Majors case came out. But it’s too soon, unfortunately, for the character. Majors is Kang right now. Hopefully, that association will change in time for Avengers 5 and Secret Wars. Even if it doesn’t, Marvel has a great excuse to recast the character, according to several providers of inside MCU information.
Well-known MyTimeToShineHello said “Beyonder is still the main villain for Secret Wars,” and that will be “their excuse to recast Kang.” Beyonder is the villain of the Secret Wars comics, and he could very well be a version of Kang. Or Marvel could set him (or her) up as one.
Alex Perez, who recently gave us a big rundown of MCU story arcs leading to Avengers 5 and Secret Wars, confirmed MyTimeToShineHello’s scoop with a simple “yup.”
Furthermore, a leaker who goes by the name Cryptic HD QUALITY on Twitter/X reacted to the same rumor. They say Marvel “won’t explicity present him as Beyonder Kang until the aftermath of the [Earth-]616 collapse, when he will then go on to establish Battleworld.”
As always, with these leakers, nothing is confirmed until we see it in a future Marvel project. But as a fan of what Kang could be for the MCU, I hope these predictions come true.
