Kang’s not chopping it. After one film because the antagonist and most of Loki season 2 as a supporting character, he simply hasn’t felt like a villain than can carry a complete section of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on his again the way in which Thanos did. And in keeping with a report from Selection, Marvel has not too long ago had related issues.
At a retreat in Palm Springs, Marvel management reportedly thought of swapping Kang out for arguably Marvel Comics’ best villain: Physician Doom. In response to Selection, Doom is one in every of many backup plans Marvel president Kevin Feige and his crew thought of earlier this 12 months throughout their annual retreat this September.
The explanations for questioning Kang, and the necessity for backup plans, goes deeper than poor field workplace efficiency and lackluster motion pictures. MCU Kang is at the moment performed by Jonathan Majors, an actor whose star was as soon as on the rise, however who has been accused of assault and sexual misconduct by numerous totally different ladies, together with legal fees filed towards him. Majors is ready to seem in court docket in late November, which might make Marvel’s determination on whether or not or to not transfer ahead with the actor extra easy. However it stays to be seen whether or not or not the Disney-owned studio will wish to proceed working with an actor who’s a part of a lot public controversy, irrespective of the decision.
No studio needs to endure a high-profile recasting, significantly not round an actor so integral to its plans over the subsequent half-decade. Marvel’s recast secondary roles earlier than, swapping in Don Cheadle for Terrence Howard in Iron Man 2. However even the same resolution wouldn’t remedy the issue that Kang, as offered thus far, is simply not a compelling determine. Which is precisely the place Physician Doom might slot in.
Doom is the Marvel Universe’s final chess participant on the worldwide (and common) stage, about as basic a Machievellian supervillain as exists within the comics world. He’d be the right character for an elaborate bait-and-switch about who the true puppeteer behind the MCU’s multiversal chaos has been, pretend film titles and all. It might even be a enjoyable little meta-commentary for the viewers: You thought Kang was dangerous? So did Doom, and that’s why he killed him and anointed himself as the true villain of the story. On high of that, Doom was the final word villain of Marvel’s 2015 Secret Wars occasion, so it will be excellent now that Marvel’s really gotten round to utilizing that identify for a film.
The MCU is in want of a large shake up, and whereas it appeared apparent that was going to come back from the Fox properties Disney purchased, like Implausible 4 or X-Males, we should always have all the time identified the duty of saving the universe would fall to Victor von Doom. Who else might presumably be up for the duty?
