Marvel Has A Jonathan Majors Problem And They Know It
Despite their deafening silence on the situation, Marvel knows that it has a Jonathan Majors problem.
The studio has built the Multiverse Saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) on Majors, with his charismatic villain Kang the Conqueror primed to be the next Thanos-like Avengers foe.
Majors originally debuted as a variant of Kang in Season 1 of Loki, before going on to appear in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and Loki Season 2.
Majors Was Arrested in March
In the interim, however, Majors was arrested in Manhattan and charged with domestic abuse. While the actor has maintained his innocence following his arrest, he was quickly dropped by his publicists and managers alike.
Photo: AFP via Getty Images
While Marvel executives initially decided that they could wait and see, things have only got worse. In April, other alleged victims of domestic violence by Majors reportedly began cooperating with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Then, ahead of a key court date in October, Variety obtained a court document that referred to a police incident in London between Majors and his ex-girlfriend that required her to seek medical attention.
(Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for The Gotham Film Media Institute)
Making matters uglier for Marvel, the incident happened while Majors was in London shooting season 2 of Loki, and his ex-girlfriend was a movement coach on Quantuamania.
Marvel Weighs Its Options
At the Marvel retreat in Palm Springs this September, the Majors question loomed large.
Source: Complex.com
Executives reportedly discussed pivoting the MCU to another comic book antagonist, like Dr. Doom. While a change sounds simple, Majors’ Kang has already been firmly established in the MCU story. Additionally, Kang was set up to be the titular star of the fifth Avengers film in 2026.
“Marvel is truly [screwed] with the whole Kang angle,” says one top dealmaker who has seen the final Loki episode. “And they haven’t had an opportunity to rewrite until very recently [because of the WGA strike]. But I don’t see a path to how they move forward with him.”
Photo: Marvel
According to reports, Marvel had already considered moving away from Kang after the box-office performance of Quantumania.
Photo: D23
“It gave people pause given that ‘Quantumania’ didn’t exactly land,” a source says.
Could Marvel Recast Kang?
The other option for Marvel could be recasting Majors. Feige has already done it before, replacing Terrence Howard with Don Cheadle in Iron Man 2.
What Marvel does next will likely hinge on how his trial plays out. Still, Marvel has a foundational problem, and they are running out of time to solve it.
