Jonathan Majors, the MCU's Kang the Conqueror actor, has been at the center of an extended trial for alleged assault, and as such has instigated several conversations about the franchise's future.
In March, Majors was arrested in Chelsea, New York for allegedly physically assaulting his girlfriend. Since the original arrest, Majors has been accused of other alleged instances of abuse, as well as instances of alleged toxicity within the industry.
Marvel has not spoken much about the arrest, with Marvel exec Kevin Wright calling the situation "complicated," though Disney did remove his upcoming movie Magazine Dreams from its slate recently, with its release date now being "unset."
Jonathan Majors' Trial — Most Recent Updates
Jonathan Majors' trial regarding his March arrest for alleged assault has been delayed at least three times, with the most recent attempt having been dismissed by the court on Oct. 25. As a result, Majors will now face trial on Nov. 29.
Since the initial arrest, Majors has continued to insist he is not guilty. He has presented evidence corroborating this, but it is certainly not conclusive. Ultimately, a judge will have to make the final call. Under U.S. law, Majors is innocent until proven guilty. However, it is worth noting again that Majors and his team have on multiple occasions pushed to extend how long they have until a judge makes that decision.
Regardless, the actor's reputation will possibly never recover from this incident, even if he is proven not guilty. In the months following his arrest, there has been scathing backlash from fans, calling him, among other descriptors "a vicious, cruel, abusive human being."
Furthermore, both a Rolling Stone report and stories from several other women, including those he previously dated, revealed other possible instances of alleged assault.
If Majors is found guilty, he could theoretically face up to a year in prison.
The Case of Majors and the MCU
The controversy surrounding Majors came immediately after the actor earned high praise for his performance as Kang in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania — a movie that was otherwise fairly poorly received.
His character was being set up to be the next big bad of the entire MCU, seemingly impacting or being impacted by the events of nearly every subsequent Marvel project (and even some prior ones).
As such, following the initial arrest, fans began wondering what Marvel Studios would choose to do and if this meant a re-casting of Kang, or a dropping of the character entirely, was imminent.
Despite many expecting a change of some kind ahead of the second season of Loki, which Majors had been set to star in, Marvel seemed to stick to its guns, leaving Majors in and, according to execs, not changing the intended story.
Warning: The rest of this article contains spoilers for the Season 2 finale of Loki.
Where Is Kang At the End of Loki?
The not-so-simple answer to this question is, who knows? Loki is quite literally holding the threads of the multiverse together with his bare hands now, almost taking the role of He Who Remains, but in a much more active manner.
Fans saw at the very end of the episode that young Kang never received the TVA book from Ravonna Renslayer — the event that, had it happened, would have led to him becoming Victor Timely.
As such, with both He Who Remains and Victor Timely out of the way, this could be an easy way to tie up the Kang bow and move on, if Marvel wanted to go in that direction given the controversy surrounding Majors.
In fact, Mobius and Hunter B-15 even briefly mention the Kang from Ant-Man 3, saying that it is all handled. Granted, they seemingly don't know about the Council of Kangs introduced in the movie's post-credit scene, but regardless, this could be a good spot to just leave Kang behind.
What Are Marvel's Options with Majors?
At this point, Marvel has several options for action to take moving forward, in the aftermath of Majors' alleged assault.
Again, Loki left things in a manner that would make abandoning Kang plans not too difficult story-wise. However, behind the scenes is an entirely different story. The fifth Avengers movie is called Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. If Kang is cut off now, it is very possible Marvel will need to rethink plans for that entire movie, and likely Avengers: Secret Wars, its follow-up, as well.
This brings in the second option, which is to re-cast Kang. Countless reports have surfaced since the original arrest about Marvel possibly considering this route, and with Majors being removed from some non-MCU projects, this decision would not necessarily come as a major shock to everyone.
However, there is always the third option, wherein there would be little-to-no story changes made to future plans with Majors in the MCU. However, the chances of this being chosen will likely depend on the outcome of the trial.
Both Season 1 and Season 2 of Loki are now streaming on Disney+.
Gillian Blum has been a writer at The Direct since 2022, reporting primarily from New York City. Though she covers news from across the entertainment industry, Gillian has a particular focus on Marvel and DC, including comics, movies, and television shows. She also commonly reports on Percy Jackson, Invincible, and other similar franchises.
