Cody Knight

According to Vulture.com, Marvel has decided to drop Johnathon Majors from portraying the infamous Kang the Conqueror the same day that he was found guilty by jury on a very serious domestic-violence charge against his ex-girlfriend. On December 18, 2023, Majors was found guilty on a third-degree assault charge and a second-degree harassment charge. This has left Marvel fans wondering, “what does this mean for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe?”

In 2021, Kang the Conqueror made his debut as the “big bad” villain of the new “Multiverse” saga in the MCU, portrayed by Johnathon Majors in Marvel’s Disney+ series, Loki. Since then, Majors has worked on another Marvel project, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. Following that film’s release, Majors was accused by his ex-girlfriend, Grace Jabarri, of domestic assault. Cheyenne Roundtree, a reporter at Rolling Stone reports that “prosecutors alleged that during a dispute, Majors tried to get a phone back from Jabbari by twisting her arm behind her back, squeezing and prying her fingers, striking her in the back of her head, and shoving her back into a car.”

This news has left Marvel fans anxious for the future of the MCU. After Marvel had dropped Majors from the important role of Kang the Conqueror, fans flooded social media. On Reddit, a user by the name of “Zepanda66” commented, “it seems that they will move away from the villain entirely. It was rumored all variants of Kang must be played by Majors so that complicates a recast.” To clarify, MovieWeb.com defines Marvel “variants” as “people who diverge from a selected “main” timeline and create another timeline with events and history that differ from the original.” 

Marvel’s reputation is at stake here. This event raises so many questions for the future of the MCU. Marvel produces films and TV shows that allow families to sit down and watch/bond with their children, but what happens when someone who is one of the big faces of that family friendly brand is found guilty of a violent crime? What happens when Marvel writes out a five year plan surrounding Kang the Conqueror and the Multiverse saga, only for the man portraying the infamous villain to become a real life villain? 

Fans have been left in the dark. Will Marvel recast and keep Kang the Conqueror as the “big bad” villain of the Multiverse saga? Or will Marvel stray away from the Multiverse saga altogether and introduce a new big bad?