Written By Anthony D’Alessandro
Jonathan Majors is out of the Marvel Studios kingdom.
The news comes today in the wake of the Emmy-nominated actor being found guilty of reckless assault and harassment in his domestic violence trial by a six-person NYC jury.
A studio rep confirmed the news about their decision to not move forward with Majors in the MCU.
Majors played megavillain He Who Remains aka Kang the Conqueror in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phases 4 through 6. He debuted as the character during Season 1 of Loki in 2021, then continued on in Season 2 this year, as well as the February movie Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which made more than $476M worldwide. Majors also had back-to-back hit in Amazon MGM’s Creed III in March, which grossed over $275M.
Having stuck with the actor over the months since his arrest on March 25, WME continue to represent Majors. His longtime agent Elan Ruspoli testified briefly in Majors’ defense last week as the last witness in the nearly two-week trial.
He Who Remains was plotted to be a big baddie during the MCU’s Phase 5 and 6, with the character getting his own movie, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, scheduled for May 1, 2026. That movie recently saw its director, Shang Chi‘s Destin Daniel Cretton, exit due to his busy dance card on other Marvel projects. It’s TBD in regards to whether Marvel keeps the Kang character intact while recasting the part with another actor. Michael Waldron recently was tapped to write Avengers: Kang Dynasty; this was after being set on the Phase 6 finale Avengers: Secret Wars. The Loki Season 1 showrunner was brought aboard to give these Avengers movies a fresh take given the situation here with Majors.
The Season 2 finale of Loki seemed to leave the fate of Kang the Conqueror and his variant up in the air. It’s not the first time that the studio has had to swap actors out on a specific role. Very early on in the MCU, Terrence Howard was cast as Rhodey in Iron Man. Talks broke down for Howard on the sequel, and Don Cheadle stepped in take over the role in the MCU, playing Rhodey as recently as this year’s Disney+ series Secret Invasion.
Before his March arrest, Majors was shaping up to have an excellent 2023. Prior to the tentpole Ant-Man and Creed threequels, Majors won rave reviews for the Sundance drama Magazine Dreams in which he played a disturbed amateur bodybuilder. The movie was snapped up by Searchlight for a December 8 theatrical release and awards-season run, but it was pulled from the theatrical schedule by the Disney-owned label in October. The pic’s fate and whether it streams on Hulu remains TBD.
Soon after his March arrest, Majors was fired by his manager 360 Entertainment and publicist The Lede Company. The actor, who received a Primetime Emmy actor drama nomination for HBO’s Lovecraft Country back in 2021, also was let go from myriad projects including Protagonist Pictures‘ feature adaptation of the Walter Mosley novel The Man in My Basement, an ad campaign for the Texas Rangers MLB team, as well as the unannounced Otis Redding biopic that the actor was circling from Fifth Season.