If you don’t follow the news (which, to be fair, is very justified these days), you may not know Marvel has a problem with its current crop of media projects, aside from VFX issues and waning interest from the general public for much of it. Specifically, Kang the Conqueror star Jonathan Majors is facing assault allegations, and, while not yet convicted of anything, he is headed to court and in the wake of all this many are wondering just how the studio may respond.
Right now, it is important to note as of this story’s filing, they have not really said a peep. Stars like Anthony Mackie have and he correctly noted nothing has been proven in the legal system about the entertainer, so, with this in mind, it is likely Marvel and by extension Disney are weighing their options for the man who was once on deck to replace Josh Brolin’s Thanos in the Avengers’ nightmares. They could write the character out and elevate someone else, though, this is probably unlikely given the tight production timeline across films and television and what is likely a strong pay or play contract for Majors right now. So, the other options are an old Hollywood standard or something various writers from Marvel may be familiar with over at another franchise.
To begin with, the old Hollywood standard is recasting a character with a different actor when troubles arise. This happened with Darrin Stephens on Bewitched, when he went from being brought to life by Dick York and then Dick Sargent due to the first’s health issues, and in the Marvel Cinematic Universe itself when Don Cheadle was brought in to replace Terrence Howard for Iron Man 2. In the near-future, we’ll be seeing this occur again with Henry Cavill getting replaced by Liam Hemsworth in Netflix’s The Witcher. When a star’s role is essential to a project and they are beloved for the work, fans can get upset as Netflix has recently seen, but, it is also the case that when their character has not been seen too much a shift can also work out if someone equally as capable comes aboard. So, with this in mind, there are certainly other actors with talent like Majors and in the same age range if the studio decides to shop.
On the more extreme end, if Marvel really does not want new or casual fans fixating on the past, they could also go with the clean break recasting method, as seen on Rick and Morty and Solar Opposites when creator Justin Roiland was replaced due to allegations of domestic abuse which were later dropped from the legal system due to insufficient evidence. Dan Stevens, who’s replacing Roiland on SO, naturally sounds nothing like his predecessor and, as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars writers Jeff Loveness and Michael Waldron are prior veterans of working on Rick and Morty, they may have Feige’s ear on this.
Of course, until something happens, all audiences can do is wait, see, and wonder. There is also the chance Majors could have his name cleared and this all could be swept under the rug and the Multiverse Saga continues as planned. Ultimately, nothing will really be official until is truly is official.
