Marvel Executive Claims the MCU Is 'Truly F*cked' After Loki
With Kang being the new primary antagonist, Marvel is stuck in a precarious position: the studio can’t change its focus now, but it also can’t proceed as planned.
Summary:
- Kang was supposed to become the “new Thanos” of the MCU: the ultimate villain of the new Phase.
- The Kang actor Jonathan Majors is now accused of domestic violence and is stuck in the courtroom.
- Sources from Marvel claim that the situation is dire with no clear path to proceed without Majors.
As we’ve always said, the main issue for the MCU after Endgame is the scale. Coming up with an antagonist to rival Thanos and not doing something ridiculously disproportionate is quite a task, but just as the studio finally settled on Kang, another problem arose, and it has nothing to do with the lore of the cinematic universe.
What’s the Problem with Kang?
In the new Phase of the MCU, Kang was supposed to be the new Thanos: an antagonist who would carry most of its duration on his shoulders. The idea was solid, and everything was set in stone — until suddenly, it wasn’t anymore.
Jonathan Majors, the Kang actor, became entangled in legal lawsuits after accusations of domestic violence, assault, and abuse. The actor is now buried in trials that don’t seem to end any time soon, and his name is tarnished. Proceeding to work with him would be a terrible look for Marvel…but he is Kang, the main villain!
At this point, it’s really late to change anything. The plotlines of numerous TV shows and movies are already set in stone, and a ton of content is already filmed. Everything in this Phase revolves around Kang, and the Kang actor is now too toxic and controversial. This whole situation is one gigantic dead-end for the MCU.
What Do Marvel Execs Say About the Kang Situation?
With Jonathan Majors on trial, the Kang plotline began to stink. For some time, there was hope that the MCU could quickly rewire this Phase, but amid the Writer’s Strike and the already-released titles, there was no chance for that. Now, with Loki Season 2 confirming Kang’s central role in the plot, things got even uglier for the studio.
A top-branch Marvel executive who’d already watched the final episode of Loki Season 2 confirmed to Variety that the situation was quite dire for the MCU.
“Marvel is truly f*cked with the whole Kang angle. And they haven’t had an opportunity to rewrite until very recently [because of the WGA strike]. But I don’t see a path to how they move forward with him,” the executive shared.
Admittedly, the Kang situation is just the cherry on top of Marvel’s recent troubles.
MCU Has Non-Kang Issues, Too
Even without the Jonathan Majors trial, things were not exactly looking up for the MCU lately. Since 2019, the studio’s projects have lost significant traction, earning way less at the box office and producing less hype than they used to before Endgame. The audience has been growing tired for years now, and it shows.
The notorious “superhero exhaustion” is not just a thought model: it distinctly reveals itself in the box office reports and the ever-dropping popularity of recent superhero titles. This issue affects both Marvel and DC, but admittedly, the MCU is a more clear indicator since the DCEU has never been performing exactly stellarly.
But while the superhero fatigue admittedly has a way more obvious solution — the “soft reboot” Marvel plans to do after Avengers: Secret Wars — the Kang situation is way closer and less intuitive. We’ll have to wait and see how the MCU proceeds with its plans for this Phase…but honestly, things don’t look pretty either way.
Source: Variety