Marvel’s Riskiest Multiverse Saga Reveal Can Make Kang’s Replacement The MCU’s Next Thanos

Marvel Studios’ bold risk with Kang the Conqueror’s introduction in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania could go very wrong due to Jonathan Majors’ firing, but Kang’s villain replacement can turn the situation around in the MCU’s Avengers 5. Josh Brolin’s Thanos left the bar high for MCU villains after Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and the Multiverse Saga faces a challenge now that it has lost its main villain. However, there’s still enough time for Marvel to turn the tide in its favor before the yet-to-be-renamed Avengers 5 and Avengers: Secret Wars arrive.

Kang’s threat to the Marvel multiverse may have ended as quickly as it began. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania featured Kang the Conqueror’s official debut and apparent defeat. Immediately afterward, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s post credits scene revealed the thousands of variants that make up the Council of Kangs. But soon after, Marvel fired Jonathan Majors due to his arrest and conviction. Given how clear the set-up for future Kang-centered storylines was, the villain’s sudden absence could leave a huge narrative hole in the Multiverse Saga. Fortunately, it could also become the foundation for the next MCU villain’s introduction.

Quantumania’s Post-Credits Scene Is The Ideal Set-Up For Kang’s Villain Replacement

Instead of sweeping Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s post-credits scene under the rug, Avengers 5 can fully acknowledge the Council of Kangs’ absence. Whether it be Doctor Doom, the Beyonder, or any other major antagonist, the Multiverse Saga’s new big bad could kill the whole Council of Kangs off-screen before the events of Avengers 5. Such a feat would immediately prove that Kang’s replacement is so powerful that he can singlehandedly eliminate Kang the Conqueror’s thousands of variants, including ones as dangerous as Immortus, Rama-Tut, and the Centurion.

This sequence of events mirrors Thanos’ arrival in Avengers: Infinity War, where the Mad Titan destroys Titan and the Nova Corps, as well as most of the Asgardian rescue ship’s survivors, before the movie even begins. Avengers: Infinity War’s unseen destruction raises the stakes right from the get-go, especially because Thanos’ victims are known characters who had already showcased their power before. If the victims are all the members of the Council of Kangs in Avengers 5, the MCU’s true next Thanos-level villain will have raised the bar the moment they first appear onscreen.

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Loki Season 2 Suggests The Council Of Kangs Has Been Dealt With

In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s post-credits scene, Immortus and his variants peek at the Sacred Timeline, which still has its original, rope-like shape. This means that the Council of Kangs reunites before Loki creates the multiversal Yggdrasil in the Loki season 2 finale. The reason the Council doesn’t intervene in the Sacred Timeline’s transformation may be that Kang’s replacement killed them before they could try. Otherwise, Loki’s actions could have destabilized the Council and left it vulnerable to the new villain. Either way, the Council of Kangs has become the perfect cannon fodder for the MCU’s next Thanos.