Warning: Spoilers ahead for Loki Season 2 finale!
If you haven’t watched “Glorious Purpose” yet, stop reading now!
Fine, you’ve been warned.
The moment Avengers: Endgame closed the book on the MCU’s Infinity Saga, fans were asking “What’s next?” The Loki Season 1 finale revealed that Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror was next. As He Who Remains, the character explained that he was the last man standing from a brutal multiversal war. His death would cause the timelines to branch out, and his variants would restart the war. This laid the foundation for the Multiverse Saga, the franchise’s next arc.
In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Kang was introduced as the unapologetic villain he is, and we got a quick glimpse of his countless variants in a post-credits scene meant to fully set up the character as the next big bad. Quantumania wasn’t a huge success, but there was a consensus that Majors made Kang an extremely compelling villain. However, all of that was quickly overshadowed by the actor’s legal issues.
As previously reported by The Root, the Creed III star was arrested in March in what the NYPD described as a “domestic dispute.” His trial for “two counts of assault in the third degree, attempted assault in the third degree, aggravated harassment in the second degree, and harassment in the second degree” is currently scheduled to begin in November. Marvel Studios has been quiet on the issue, but various behind the scenes reports have speculated on the chaos Majors’ arrest has caused for the company.
In the wake of the Loki Season 2 finale, reports are now swirling that the studio is planning to move on from Majors with a recast or Kang as the new big bad. The second season of the Disney+ drama found Loki and the TVA trying to protect the timelines from exploding and destroying everything. In the episode, Loki endlessly time slips to stop the explosion, before finally having a difficult conversation with Sylvie. She tells him that people deserve free will and even if it results in a multiversal war, maybe it’s for the best that things get destroyed, because it could lead to something better. Loki finally discovers his “glorious purpose” in destroying the timeline and rebuilding it as the Asgardian Tree of Life with himself sitting on a throne at the center of it.
The TVA is handling the threat of Kang variants across the timelines. There’s a lot that’s still unknown about Kang, but the way the season ends, it definitely feels like this could be it for the character.
What’s Next For Kang?
Recent reports that Quantumania screenwriter Jeff Loveness has been dropped from Avengers: The Kang Dynasty has MCU fans wondering if the film is being reworked to suit a new villain or a new actor. There are also rumors circulating that Loki writer Michael Waldron is now writing both The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars. Obviously, all these unconfirmed reports should be taken with a grain of salt. However, if even part of this is true, removing the writer who helped craft Kang’s introduction and backstory does not bode well for the character. Waldron also wrote Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, so it appears the multiverse is still the overall plan.
Do We Still Need Kang?
Honestly, the idea of Jonathan Majors bringing multiple variants to life was exciting when we first met He Who Remains. But the troubling aspects of his assault case have made it uncomfortable and distracting to get captivated by the villain. It was also very validating to know that an on the rise Black star would be a central part of the biggest franchise in the world, and he would do it as an essential Marvel character.
In a perfect world, the studio would recast Kang and keep the train moving. But has Majors’ presence already tainted him too much? With fans and insiders wondering if Marvel has hit a wall, maybe the bosses think a reset is the only way to right the ship? Either way, there at least has to be some on-screen mention of him in a future project. You can’t set up a guy as the big bad then move like nothing happened.