You know what Marvel’s biggest mistake has been post Avengers: Endgame? Experimenting with its set formula? Nah. Though I am no fan of She-Hulk’s obsession with going excessively meta, or Love and Thunder parody-style continuation of Thor’s story, they have their merits. No, no, the MCU played a rather big gamble when it hinged its Phase Five and Six on the arrival and exploits of Kang the Conqueror — a risk which not only backfired, but also hangs like the proverbial sword over the franchise’s fluctuating future.
Unlike the past where MCU focused on who saved the universe, this time the overarching arc revolves around the one who is set to destroy it — Kang, who is not exactly proving to be a bang-up choice so far. Nope, not prejudiced here, because Kang’s presence in the MCU was tainted long before the whole Jonathan Majors’ controversy marked its presence — but it did add fuel to the initially-only-simmering fire, one which is only destined to spread even higher and further as the actor’s pending assault trial draws near.
Kicking out the actor when his culpability hasn’t been proven would attract criticism, but Marvel going ahead with its plans of keeping Majors as its prime villain while his assault case runs in the background is bound to have repercussions — some immediate, and some haunting the MCU’s footsteps as it ventures further into the multiverse.
It will have to continue advertising as if its films and shows don’t revolve around its villain
The arrival of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania on Disney Plus, and the marketing for Loki season 2 demonstrate just how Marvel is dealing with its Kang problem — by sidelining the character, even in its promotions of projects that include him. For those who don’t remember, the official synopsis of Quantumania on the streamer omitted Kang — it’s key character — altogether, and so did the later Ant-Man 3 promos. These stand in stark contrast to the initial marketing strategy, which hyped and focused on Majors’ character way more than that of the film’s protagonist, Scott Lang, or any of his team.
And yes, while the Loki season 2 trailer did acknowledge Majors’ presence — its premise hinges on the God of Mischief going up against Kang’s variant, Marvel hardly had any other option — it still restricts him to a brief shot and a single line of dialogue. Yes, the character whose existence is what the show is based on barely gets a hot second in the trailer.
This is what awaits any and every MCU project that is set to feature the actor; an inability to flaunt the one thing around which Marvel planned the journey and conclusion of its current and upcoming phase.
Run the palpable risk of incurring a loss
It’s not like Marvel has been able to recreate the success it tasted up until the culmination of Phase Three — and it is already feeling the lingering effects of its poorly stitched films, and shows in the shaken faith of Marvel’s vocal fandom. But it certainly won’t do it any good if demands of boycott and those actually seeing their threats through join its overflowing plate of troubles. It’s what The Flash faced — yes, it tanked because of its glaringly incomplete storyline and bad CGI, but also because many didn’t share Warner Bros.’ decision to overlook Ezra Miller’s long line of controversies.
So far, Loki hasn’t faced any major calls for boycott for keeping Majors, but the petitions for the same are out there, and so are the occasionally-popping social media sentiments against the show. There is no assurance that this will remain the case when season 2 debuts and progresses on Disney Plus amid Majors’ ongoing trial.
Weaken the next phases and their villains
After Thanos, MCU was supposed to build on its existing excellence when it comes to villains — it made mistakes, like the fake Mandarin, but it fixed it with better antagonists soon thereafter — but it has mostly downgraded, whether we look at the amateurly written (but well-played) Gorr the God Butcher, the quick to fizzle out Gravik, or, well, Kang. As I mentioned above, Majors’ time as the universe-annihilating and timeline-conquering villain was doomed long before his real-life troubles caught up with him.
Though many have argued that Majors did play both variations of his character well, whether it was his timid debut as He Who Remains and his rather quick decimation, or his arrival as Kang and going up against the weakest Avenger (who ends up beating him as well, with the aid of ants), this villain, who was supposed to be even worse and more sinister than Thanos, never really managed to cast a lasting impression. This is disappointing, since he is ultimately expected to become a grand threat who will force the Avengers to band together to defeat him.
Speculation by fans wanting to see Kang replaced by a different villain from the comic books was already soaring when the assault case became public knowledge. Then fan castings of who could replace Majors as Kang joined the foray as well. At this pace (and these hindrances dogging its every step), if Marvel does stick to its original plan, not only will Phase Five and Six suffer, but the lingering after-effects will also make it really hard to believe in MCU’s ability to a) give us memorable antagonists and b) take the steps needed to fix its errors.