This article briefly references legal proceedings around assault. Readers who may find this subject triggering should proceed carefully.

Summary

• Avengers 5 undergoing total overhaul after firing of Jonathan Majors as Kang.
• MCU considering new direction for Avengers 5, with a new team behind the project.
• Loki Season 2 provides easy out for Marvel on Kang's storyline, potential new villains for the Avengers.

Despite the Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Having started in 2008, the MCU has been a modern miracle in cinema with more than 30 films in a single shared universe, with connected and often sequential stories. And no where is this incredible feat more impressively on display than the event films that bring the heroes together, the Avengers movies.

However, after Thanos was defeated and the Infinity Saga concluded, the new direction of the Multiverse Saga has had some ups and downs. Despite finding the new big bad for the MCU's second saga, complications have led to the film, which was first announced back in 2022 at SDCC, having now gone into a total overhaul. Whatever happens, Avengers 5 will be a different story to what was originally promised when Jonathan Majors was set to star as Kang in the title role.

Avengers 5 Is Reportedly Changing Direction From Kang

New Directors, New Writers, New Movie

Along with the announcement that the Russo brothers are in talks to potentially direct Avengers 5 and 6, the change in direction for the fifth entry was also confirmed. The Kang Dynasty was initially set to be the climactic moment for Majors' Kang arc, but due to the circumstances, Disney and Majors have parted ways. This means that at the halfway point of the Multiverse Saga, several films deep into Phase 5, Marvel needs to change course and settle on a new direction for Avengers 5.

Despite previously having director Destin Daniel Cretton and writer Jeff Loveness initially confirmed to write and direct respectively, Marvel is now looking elsewhere to take the movie in a new direction. With a new team behind the project, it is clear that the film will look very different to what was promised. But, the MCU has provided numerous threads throughout the nearly 20 years that it has been in operation, so it is possible to adjust the focus, without losing much momentum.

Jonathan Majors' MCU Firing Explained

Disney And Majors Were Incompatible

Despite Jonathan Majors' rise in Hollywood echoing the rapid growth of the MCU in its early days, the actor has taken steps away from the limelight since allegations about the actor were made public in March 2023. For the rest of 2023, legal proceedings occurred around Majors' case, alongside the release of Loki season 2, which featured Majors prominently as a Kang variant, Victor Timely. However, in December 2023, Majors was found guilty of a misdemeanor assault in the third degree, while he was found not guilty on two other counts of assault.

Following the verdict, Majors was officially dropped from Marvel, and his future in the MCU came to a swift end. Of course, Marvel being a branch of Disney, and Majors' actions and subsequent charges did not align. Fortunately for the MCU, Kang was not shaping up to be the Thanos level threat that they may have hoped for.

Kang's Rocky MCU Start Explained

Kang's Bark Was Worse Than His Bite

Kang is a character whose presence was heavily felt throughout Phase 4 of the Multiverse Saga. With the character's introduction in Loki, where a variant called He Who Remains was introduced and swiftly killed, the idea of this villain with several variants threatening the peace of the Multiverse was established. However, the first variant was no major threat, as they willingly embraced death, and appeared to be fighting to hold back the other Kang variants throughout the Multiverse.

Kang was next seen in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and once again, despite being built up as a grandiose villain who could destroy all of reality, but again, he is quickly disposed of by Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne. In both appearances, the characters presented a menacing threat, but they were quickly eliminated. The post-credits scene in Quantumania did present many other faces of the villain at the Council of Kangs, but even there, the villain felt like a self-inflated rival rather than a terrifying threat.

How Loki Already Sets Up An Easy Out For Marvel On Kang

Kang's Story Has Already Ended In Loki

The most prominent role for Majors was in Loki season 2, however, when he played Victor Timely, another variant of Kang. Timely was a mild-mannered and soft-spoken scientist from the 1860s. With a genuine love for science, Timely was a brilliant inventor, but he wasn't a monster. Over the course of Loki season 2, the truth about Timely's numerous variants is unveiled, but this appears to push Timely to a path of being good, rather than becoming a villain.

In fact, the relationship between Timely and the TVA's O.B. was one of the most endearing parts of the show. Timely was willing to sacrifice himself to help Loki and the TVA repair the timeline, and with Loki's careful guidance, he did just that hundreds of times. As Loki season 2 came to it's end, the problem of the Kang variants across all time and space was handed over to the TVA, who were now under new management, and aware of the role Kang played in their inception and organization. This means that the MCU could literally leave Kang's story there, with no further developments.

Who Could Replace Kang?

The Big Bad Of The Multiverse Saga

Fortunately, even with the MCU opting to move in a different direction away from Kang, there is a vast array of other villains for the Avengers to fight. At the beginning of Phase 4, the Celestials were introduced in Eternals. With a monumental Celestial statue sitting in the Earth's ocean, the rest of the Celestials could return to face off with Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Also, early in Phase 4, WandaVision appeared to drop several hints to a character well known for his power and villainy in the comics, Mephisto.

The MCU has provided numerous threads throughout the nearly 20 years that it has been in operation, so it is possible to adjust the focus, without losing much momentum.

With almost 100 years worth of comic history, thousands of characters, and now hundreds of hours of film and TV, Marvel has laid the foundation for countless stories to be told. There are also major villains who are closely associated with The Fantastic Four, who would create an equal or greater threat to the heroes of the MCU. Dr. Doom and Galactus are just two of the many potential replacements for the big villain in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, now Marvel just needs to take its pick and move forward.