In the wake of Jonathan Majors’ guilty verdict in the assault of his ex-girlfriend, he was fired by Marvel Studios. While fans have been speculating on his future with the franchise since his arrest in March, the confirmation of his exit from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, led to new questions about his character, Kang the Conqueror. One of the most common questions surrounds who would take over the role. We’ve already made it clear that we think “Rustin” star Colman Domingo is the best choice, but the internet offered some other fascinating suggestions.
Who Should Be the New Kang?
Almost immediately after the verdict was handed down, John Boyega’s name began trending on X f.k.a. Twitter. If it were up to us, we’d cast the “They Cloned Tyrone” star in everything. He definitely has the perfect balance of charm and menace to make Kang a compelling villain. He also has the wide range necessary to portray multiple variants of the character. However, he’s made it clear that he has no plans to join the MCU. He’s also spoken out about his issues navigating the “Star Wars” universe, making it seem unlikely that he would jump back into a giant franchise.
Another popular name making the rounds is Damson Idris. During his six seasons as “Snowfall’s” Franklin, he showed us that he can definitely be an unapologetic bad guy. In his scenes with Franklin’s mother Cissy, he displayed a compassion that is needed to make a big bad like Kang more than a one villain. It would be interesting to see how he handles the many different versions of Kang.
John David Washington; Yahya Abdul-Mateen II; Aldis Hodge; and Trevante Rhodes were also mentioned by several MCU fans. All would be great in the role, but there’s one major question still hanging over Kang: Do we need to continue his story?
Are We Done With Kang?
While “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” introduced him, and even featured a glimpse at the Council of Kangs, it was “Loki” that fleshed out the heart of his origin story.
We first met the character as He Who Remains in “Loki’s” Season 1 finale. He explained to the God of Mischief and his variant, Sylvie, that he was the only thing keeping his more dangerous variants from starting a multiversal war. If Sylvie killed him, the timelines would branch out and things would devolve into chaos. Ultimately, she killed him and there was chaos. The events of “Quantumania” followed that, with the Council making plans now that their powerful variant was dead,
In “Loki” Season 2, the heroes at the Time Variance Agency try to stop the endlessly branching timelines from destroying everything in all the universes. After a deep discussion about time and choices with He Who Remains, Loki decides to remake the Time Loom into a tree, replacing He Who Remains as overseer, and is stuck, alone at the End of Time. We aren’t given a definitive ending for Kang, but it very much feels like the finale of his story.
When you combine the lackluster reaction to “Quantumania” with the beautiful finality of “Loki,” it feels like we can move on from Kang. We can still have a Multiverse Saga with another big bad. In anticipation of the Fantastic Four’s debut, a lot of fans have been clamoring for Doctor Doom to be the next big bad. Honestly, I’m not mad at it. Plus, any of the actors mentioned above would make an unforgettable Doom.
At this point, it feels like Kang is tainted by Majors’ legal troubles. Since you’ve already given the character a pretty perfect send off, don’t overthink it, just move on from the controversy.