Tired of seeing Jonathan Majors hamming it up in the MCU? Those days may be over sooner than his critics might have hoped, as Variety has shared a new cover story about what is apparently a “crisis at Marvel,” and in one section, there’s talk about how studio executives have already discussed backup plans for dropping Kang the Conquerer, Majors’ time-traveling villain, for another one of Marvel’s big bads: the one-and-only Dr. Doom, previously played by Julian McMahon in the older Fantastic Four films. It’s unclear whether this plan will actually come to pass, as Marvel could simply recast the character, but one top dealmaker has already opined that “Marvel is truly fucked with the whole Kang angle,” what with Majors continuing to draw bad press following his assault charges and arrest earlier this year, among other reasons, including the poor reception to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Variety’s article goes on to suggest that Marvel’s problems are only set to grow with The Marvels, a new Captain Marvel film that is expected to “underwhelm” at the box office, although there’s some potentially positive news at the very end, in that “Marvel has started talking to writers about bringing the X-Men into the MCU fold.” Hugh Jackman, who claimed he would never play Wolverine again, will return in Deadpool 3 as the character.
On Oct. 25, a New York judge denied Majors’ motion to dismiss the case, which ensures that the actor will stand trial in late November. His legal team is attempting to keep some material in the case sealed.
A studio source notes that regardless of the actor’s legal issues, Marvel already had considered moving away from a Majors-led phase because of the box office performance of “Quantumania,” which will struggle to make a profit. “It gave people pause given that ‘Quantumania’ didn’t exactly land,” the source says. (On Oct. 27, Disney removed another Majors film, Searchlight’s “Magazine Dreams,” from the release calendar.)
Recasting Majors is also an option, as Feige did when he replaced Terrence Howard in “Iron Man 2” with Don Cheadle.
This week’s Variety cover story:
— Variety (@Variety) November 1, 2023
Crisis at Marvel: Jonathan Majors Back-Up Plans, 'The Marvels' Reshoots, Reviving Original Avengers and More Issues Revealed https://t.co/9by5jJNncZ pic.twitter.com/e7UuvXFDpr