Marvel drops Jonathan Majors from Avengers 5
David Farnor | On 20, Dec 2023
Marvel has dropped Jonathan Majors after he was convicted this week on charges of assault.
The actor, who has become an A-list star following performances in Creed III, The Harder They Fall, Da 5 Bloods and Lovecraft Country, seemed like a safe bet for an antagonist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – he was most recently seen on screen in Loki Season 2, reprising his role as He Who Remains, aka Kang the Conqueror. The series tied in with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which is where Majors met choreographer Grace Jabbari on set. The movie was released this year just a month before Major was arrested, after a row took place between the former couple.
Loki and Quantumania were both hoping to pave the way for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, the climactic pay-off for the current arc of Marvel movies and TV series. Now, though, Marvel’s future is up in the air and Majors is definitely out of the frame.
Earlier this year, Marvel was reportedly brainstorming backup plans for the franchise. Multiple options are open to the comics giant, including pivoting to a different villain, such as Fantastic Four’ Doctor Doom, or simply recasting the role of Kang, in a similar vein to Terrence Howard being replaced by Don Cheadle as James Rhodes or Mark Ruffalo replacing Edward Norton as The Incredible Hulk.
Last month, Marvel hired Loki creator Michael Waldron to work on the script for Avenger 5, which may well indicate a rewrite is happening for a film that hasn’t begun filming and is currently slated for a May 2026 release. Last month, Shang-Chi helmer Destin Daniel Cretton stepped away from directing the project, with no director currently attached.
However it pans out, it adds to woes currently facing Marvel, as it also undergoes a major overhaul of how it makes TV for Disney+.