Kang the Conquerer

Jonathan Majors Reportedly Being Recast In MCU

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Jonathan Majors is in the midst of a legal battle following his March 27 arrest for misdemeanor strangulation, assault, and harassment. Majors allegedly struck his girlfriend while the pair were out in New York City. However, Majors denies the allegations and claims he was the victim. A recent hearing in the case concluded with the charges against Majors being upheld.

Since the news of his arrest, Majors has seen multiple ties to Hollywood cut. First, he was dropped by his management agency and PR firm. Then, he was removed from consideration for several projects in pre-production. However, the one major link he had left was with Disney. Majors recently premiered as Kang, who is set to be a major villain in the MCU in the coming years. However, it appears that might not be the case for much longer.

Disney Preparing To Re-Cast Kang

So far, Majors has appeared in two MCU properties. He first appeared as He Who Remains in the Disney+ series Loki. He then transitioned into He Who Remains’ better-known alias, Kang, for Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania. Furthermore, Majors is set to reprise the role in Loki Season 2, due out later this year. While Kang is not set to be a major presence in Phase Five of the MCU, he will be a central figure in Phase Six, which begins in 2024. However, Phase Five is serving as an introduction to the character.

However, Loki might be the last time that we see Majors in the role. According to alleged reports, Disney is preparing to re-cast the role ahead of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and other MCU projects that would require the character in some form. These rumors are largely unconfirmed and appear to point to a “worst-case scenario” for Disney. As we’ve seen, major studios have been unwilling to scrap or re-cast roles for an actor’s legal troubles. Marvel’s major rival DC is currently heavily promoting The Flash, despite reports that lead Ezra Miller was filming reshoots while actively on the run from the police. Any updates in Majors’ future in the MCU will be right here on HotNewHipHop.

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Jonathan Majors’ Kang Is Marvel’s “Highest-Testing Villain” Ever

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From Tom Hiddleston (Loki) to Josh Brolin (Thanos), the Marvel Cinematic Universe has had numerous memorable villain performances. However, according to the president of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conquerer has the highest test screening score of them all. Kang was initially introduced in the Disney+ series Loki, and is now debuting as a villain in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. In Loki, Kang was playing a variant of Kang, not the version that fans will see in the highly-anticipated Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

The film sets him up to be the new Thanos of the MCU. He’s Marvel’s new big bad, and he does it well. Feige told Entertainment Weekly, “For years, we’ve always had the inkling that Kang would be an amazing follow-up to Thanos. He’s got that equal stature in the comics, but he’s a completely different villain. Mainly, that’s because he’s multiple villains. He’s so unique from Thanos, which we really liked.”

Jonathan Majors Succeeds

Jonathan Majors attends Marvel Studios’ “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania” at Regency Village Theatre on February 06, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

The Marvel Studios president went on to tell Entertainment Weekly that, “In the early days of ‘Quantumania’ [test screenings], Jonathan started to pop in a big way. He’s the highest-testing villain we’ve ever had in any of our friends and families [screenings]. That’s really saying something with a movie like this. Even early on without the effects, Jonathan is his own effect. He was working from the start.” Characters like Thanos have significantly higher amounts of CGI and effects needed than Kang to make them work. It’s impressive that Majors was able to wow audiences with his performance of Kang the Conquerer even prior to the assistance of visual effects.

Feige said, “It’s always one of the fun rolls of the dice that we do at Marvel, which is to say: ‘Hey, we’re going to make multiple movies around this character, and we’re going to start before the audience has even had a chance to meet him. We really go all in on these ideas and this casting. It was a big relief when the season ender of ‘Loki’ season 1 happened. People really seem to be on board for Kang. People are chanting, ‘Kang!’ when Jonathan goes on talk shows, and they haven’t even seen him in the movie yet!” Watch Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conquerer in Disney and Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which premieres in theaters on February 17, 2023.

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