The first Avengers film of the Multiverse Saga could be in peril.

It has been roughly 9 months since news broke that Jonathan Majors was arrested with assault charges against his at the time girlfriend. The situation left Majors unemployed in several of his current or upcoming movies, except for his current role as Kang in Marvel. Currently, the actor’s trial is ongoing, with a decision that will either allegedly clear his name or leave him essentially blacklisted. As Kang is no minor villain for the Multiverse Saga, the off-screen drama could be just another nail in the coffin for what many already considered an out-of-place movie. So could we see Kang Dynasty be replaced? Let’s smash this theory.

Beyond the off-screen legal situation, it’s important to note that Kang Dynasty already stuck out like a sore thumb. If fans are to consider Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars similar to the Infinity War and Endgame events, then one is meant to lead directly into the other. Yet, many fans continue to question how our lead-up to Kang would enter us into a Secret Wars type of situation, as Kang is not a major player in that plot at all. Of course, the solution to this could be that the MCU does away with the Doctor Doom part of the storyline and replace it instead with Kang, allowing the fallout of Kang Dynasty to lead directly into Battleworld. Going in this direction wouldn’t be inherently difficult, but it would be a complete turnaround from how Battleworld is created and ruled in the comics. In the end, fans excited for this iconic storyline might not love the new direction, although the MCU is known to pick and choose parts of storylines.

On the other hand, there is also the possibility that Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars don’t go hand in hand, which may only help lead to the collapse of Kang Dynasty. If the movies don’t connect as directly as the Infinity Saga culmination films did, then shifting focus away from Kang doesn’t have to be difficult. Considering we are moving into Battleworld, Doctor Doom could slot into the Avengers 5 movie villain and play the throughline into Secret Wars, sticking closer to the original comic book story. With a standalone Fantastic Four movie coming before the final two Avengers films in Phase 6, the focus would be on Doctor Doom regardless, as anxious fans wait for either his arrival or his big moment in Secret Wars. Replacing Kang Dynasty which would be sandwiched between two Fantastic Four storylines would be likely doing everyone a favor.

Another important factor to consider when discussing whether Kang Dynasty could be replaced is that both the director and writer (rumored) of Kang Dynasty have stepped away from the project. A critical thing to note here is that the writer is Jeff Loveness, the same writer who wrote for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which tanked both at the box office and in the eyes of the fans. Besides that point, Kang the Conquerors’ first major appearance was met overall with a ‘meh’ feeling. It is also rumored that Loveness was too connected to the Kang storyline, which could be a creative difference if Marvel no longer wants to focus on Kang.

One final thing to mention is that Kang Dynasty, along with the follow-up Secret Wars, has been pushed back a year from its initial release date. Some of this can be chalked up to Marvel trying to focus more on quality over quantity, although some can also easily be blamed on the need to have more time to pivot away from Kang Dynasty. Where we stand now, many of our upcoming shows and movies don’t on the surface appear to be likely tied to any Kang storyline. If Marvel needs time to pivot, it may also be to make sure all the storylines line up as we get to the team-up movie and that the villain works as a whole. As Marvel did with Thanos and the Infinity Stones, stones appeared in quite a few movies before we even saw Thanos, making his eventual appearance make sense across the board. The same can’t quite be said about Kang regarding both what has already come out and what is still expected to premiere before Avengers 5.

To wrap up, between the loss of a director and Kang-inspired writer, the strange positioning of the movie itself, and the off-screen legal issues with the leading man, Kang Dynasty seems to be less and less likely to happen. While it will continue to remain a rumor until Marvel confirms or denies the change, all eyes continue to watch as our first big team-up movie of the Multiverse Saga struggles to even get off the ground. As there was also a rumor that the Loki Season 2 team was asked to pivot from a different Kang variant storyline than what we saw with Victor Timely, it does seem this theory only gains traction as time goes on. We will continue to look for news regarding this topic to see if we can get any real confirmation. In the meantime, we are prepped and ready for the final piece of MCU content for 2023, which is What If? Make sure you’re ready by listening to our predictions, out this Saturday, and as always, stay up to date with Marvel and our show as Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “Kang Dynasty”, Moviefeed, Medium