X-Men '97 creator Beau DeMayo revealed what Marvel Studios' next Kang the Conqueror project would have been, and who would have replaced Jonathan Majors in it, had Marvel Studios not moved away from Kang altogether.
In a discussion of Variety's wide-ranging interview with Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, DeMayo disclosed that Jonathan Majors was intended to voice Kang in X-Men '97 Season 2. When news of Majors' pending trial broke, DeMayo cast a Star Trek: The Next Generation legend as a Kang back-up: famed Q actor John de Lancie. DeMayo went on to detail how Kang may have figured into a widely rumored upcoming MCU storyline.
Time-spanning Marvel heavy Kang the Conqueror was initially slated as the MCU's next arch-villain, until Jonathan Majors was found guilty of harassment and assault in the third degree. Marvel subsequently announced they'd be moving away from Kang altogether and towards Fantastic Four mainstay, Doctor Doom, marking Robert Downey Jr.'s MCU return.
In the recent, internet-breaking interview, Feige made the bold claim that Marvel Studios was preparing to move away from former MCU arch-villain Kang the Conqueror even before the verdict was announced. "We had started to realize that Kang wasn’t big enough" to be a Thanos-level villain, he explained, clarifying that they "started talking about Doctor Doom even before we officially pivoted from Kang."
In a series of tweets, Beau DeMayo contradicted Feige's official explanation, giving a slew of details explaining what Kang's immediate future was intended to be before Marvel Studios' fateful pivot.
Kang the Conqueror Was Intended For X-Men '97 Season 2
X-Men '97's groundbreaking first season was widely lauded as a top-shelf MCU series that captures the animation style and tone of X-Men: The Animated Series well. The series was greenlit for Season 2, though DeMayo was removed from the series following reported instances of sexual misconduct.
Season 2 otherwise proceeded apace, with Magneto confirmed to return as a villain alongside Danger, Lady Deathstrike, Sabertooth, and Apocalypse. According to DeMayo (via X), Kang was clearly intended for a Season 2 appearance.
DeMayo explained that his plan for Season 2 included Kang, and Majors was explicitly slated to voice the character. On claims that Marvel Studios heads had independently intended to move away from Kang, DeMayo claimed that Feige "is straight up lying."
"I remember seeing John Wick 4 in March 2023 with a top exec at Marvel at the Americana movie theater in Glendale the weekend the news broke about Majors' legal trouble," DeMayo detailed, "discussing how Kang was def the gameplan and the studio was afraid."
It's worth noting that Majors voicing Kang would have been an MCU novelty, given that X-Men '97 characters had a distinct voice cast, with no live-action character performers voicing their characters' animated equivalents. In this regard, the series is quite unlike What If...?, which regularly saw live-action actors voice their animated character counterparts.
DeMayo continued to explain that, after the news of Majors' pending trial broke, Marvel Studios heads noted that another actor may need to be cast for the role, depending on the verdict:
"After the Majors news broke, Marvel Studios told me Majors would likely be off the table for my plans with Kang in X Men '97 S2 as they awaited the verdict which would determine if he’d be recast in the MCU," he said, explaining, "I then casted John de Lancie as Kang as I felt Q would be a great template for him in animated form."
Kang May Have Figured Into Marvel's Initial Fantastic Four Plans
DeMayo's comments are revealing, and not just for directly contradicting recent claims that moving on from Kang was always in the cards. Jonathan Majors was intended to bring Kang to X-Men '97's sophomore season, with a Star Trek legend as a backup plan should Marvel have to move on from Majors.
DeMayo's comments also suggest that Kang may have been intended for a major role in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. He explained:
"Also, and this should be obvious, Kang has massive connections to the Fantastic Four . It actually makes far more sense both logically and emotionally for KANG to come back to kidnap Franklin Richard’s (his ancestor) than it does Doom."
This, of course, comments on rumors that Avengers: Doomsday will see Doctor Doom kidnap the infant Franklin Richards, sparking the team's pivot to Earth 616. In comic canon, Kang was born as Nathanial Richards, a descendant of Reed Richards' father Nathanial.
His ancestry has been treated as ambiguous in different arcs, but Kang's history has always been closely tied to the Richards' lineage.
These claims should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt, given that DeMayo has been very public in his criticisms of Marvel Studios' decisions since his ouster. Still, the comments speak to a very different trajectory for Kang that would have had huge implications beyond the MCU's villain pivot in the forthcoming Avengers films.
