After a months-long rollercoaster, Jonathan Majors has been found guilty of assault and harassment and Marvel has subsequently ended their relationship with him.
The actor was arrested on March 25 after his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari alleged that he had assaulted her in the backseat of a private car, resulting in an “excruciating” injury to her right middle finger and a cut behind her right ear. Majors’ trial began on Dec. 4 and ended on Dec. 18 with the jury finding him guilty of a single count of assault and one count of harassment. His sentencing is slated to take place next year on Feb. 6.
Marvel Studios has officially dropped Jonathan Majors following guilty verdict. pic.twitter.com/kxvgl1Bpr8
— Complex Pop Culture (@ComplexPop) December 18, 2023
X/Twitter: @ComplexPop
The actor has already dealt with the consequences of the allegations with his manager and agency notably dropping him earlier this year. But Marvel, the largest asset of Majors’ career was practically radio silent throughout the entire ordeal. Since the release of Loki Season 1, Marvel had been essentially grooming Majors to be the next big villain of their fifth and sixth phases, with the actor slated to have two whole Avengers films built around his character, Kang the Conqueror.
Upon the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania earlier this year, all signs pointed to Majors taking over as the MCU’s next Thanos, with several post-credit scenes and Easter eggs hinting at his role to come. However, following the recent verdict, Marvel has officially dropped Majors from its roster, leaving the future of the MCU at its grayest horizon to date. While the contentions surrounding the MCU aren’t nearly as important as the more pressing issue of women’s safety resting at the core of this trial, nor are they as nuanced as the lucid racial double standards that have defined the handling of Majors’ case, industry (and Internet) eyes have been eagerly looking toward how Marvel was going to respond over the past few months.
Now that we have our answer, here are the likely ways Marvel’s going to try to adapt in a post-Majors MCU.
1. A Recast
Marvel
Perhaps the easiest, and cheapest, option Marvel has to save face in this situation is recasting Majors entirely. The studio has done this before, several times in fact, with some of its most loved characters. Don Cheadle, who’s now a staple face of the franchise, actually came in later and replaced Terrence Howard’s original role as James Rhodes in Iron Man. And if Marvel does decide to recast Majors, it wouldn’t be the first time the MCU’s plopped a new face for its main villain, with the role of Thanos also being recast from Damion Poitier to Josh Brolin.
Recasting Majors currently seems like Marvel’s most obvious option, but who would take on the role of Kang is entirely up for debate and a whole other mammoth task.
2. A Complete Storyline Shift
There’s no denying that 2023 was a bleak turning point for the MCU’s future. The studio experienced a significant decline at the box office (and for Marvel that meant millions of lost profit), low viewership on its streaming debuts, and some of the worst critic ratings since its inception. In the face of such a sinking ship, where does Majors’ character stand in keeping the MCU afloat? Not that high.
While Marvel attempted to build its newest Avengers installment around Majors—the working title for the film is succinctly titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty—its new ownership of IPs like DeadpoolandX-Men could mean that it might do a hard U-turn. There’s also the small fact that Major’s intended blockbuster breakthrough, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, failed to deliver on all ends. The film was one of the rare MCU projects that failed to break even during its theatrical run and received mostly negative reviews across the board.
Marvel Studios has officially dropped Jonathan Majors following guilty verdict. pic.twitter.com/kxvgl1Bpr8
— Complex Pop Culture (@ComplexPop) December 18, 2023
X/Twitter: @ComplexPop
Pair the box office tank with the (so far) stable ground of its newer IPs, and Marvel just might find a near-perfect solution for its future if it decides to pivot into a new direction. The highly anticipated new and improved Fantastic Four film could also help save the MCU from its Majors problem, with the possibility of bringing in a new villain like Doctor Doom standing as something both fans and critics want to see. Considering that Marvel has recently been comfortable with scrapping, benching, and rewriting existing projects, one needs to look no further than the studio’s recent handling of its upcoming Blade film, the studio may revisit its slated Avengers films and work them around Majors absence.
3. Keeping Kang
Marvel
The least likely option involves Marvel keeping Majors’ Kang as a character but sidelining him into an off-screen role. Future characters could refer to Kang or insinuate that he’s done something off-screen that the Avengers are dealing with, but that all seems incredibly unlikely. In order to move forward, they will most likely attempt to distance themselves from the actor altogether.
