Seriously, Why Can’t The MCU Just Drop Kang Now?

Forget recasting Kang; the Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn’t need the infamous villain to properly conclude the ongoing Multiverse Saga. Marvel has officially dropped Jonathan Majors from the MCU after he was found guilty of reckless assault in the third degree and harassment. The MCU timeline has been setting up Majors’ Kang the Conqueror as the primary antagonist for phases 4-6, known as The Multiverse Saga. This was due to culminate in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, though the status of this has now been thrown into question. The MCU could, however, simply resolve the Kang narrative almost immediately.

​​​Marvel announced it will continue with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty without Jonathan Majors, though it has reportedly started referring to the project as Avengers 5. Regardless, many have noted several potential actors whom Marvel could recast Kang with, noting the nature of multiverse variants and the precedent set in Loki and Spider-Man: No Way Home for different actors playing variants of the same character. This would certainly satisfy the current plan for the MCU’s future phases and would allow The Kang Dynasty to continue with a new actor as the eponymous Conqueror. On the other hand, the MCU doesn’t need Kang anymore.

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Does The MCU Really Need Kang?

Many Kang Stories Are Already Resolved

Despite being teased on numerous occasions, Kang hasn’t actually been involved in many storylines. Of course, The Kang Dynasty was intended to center on the villain – which the MCU has been building up to like Thanos was woven throughout The Infinity Saga. Regardless, Kang has only actually appeared in two projects, Loki and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Both of these depicted Kang variants who were subsequently defeated. Two Kang variants appeared in Loki; the first, He Who Remains, was killed by Sylvie; and the second, Victor Timely, had his association with the Temporal Loom undone by the Loki season 2 finale.

Kang, in his Conqueror form, featured more heavily in Quantumania but was defeated by Ant-Man during the movie’s climax, with only the post-credits sequence left to suggest his continued threat. The MCU would thus only need to address this post-credit scene and a few lines of dialogue in Loki to simply remove Kang from future projects and establish other, equally famed Marvel villains instead – such as Doctor Doom. Kang’s role in the MCU could, therefore, be considered complete, with only a few loose ends left to tie up. Handily, Loki season 2 has proffered the perfect way for Marvel to achieve this.

Loki Season 2 Gave Marvel A Chance To End Kang’s Story Off-Screen

God Loki Can Resolve The Threat Posed By Kang

The dramatic conclusion to Loki season 2 saw Tom Hiddleston’s Loki assume a new role as the God of Stories, holding together multiple timelines himself and saving the multiverse. This could be used to conclude the current Kang narrative, using God Loki as a handy loophole. As Loki has saved multiple timelines, he has preserved the integrity of the multiverse. This would make it more difficult for Kang to continue his rampage and recruitment of his variants. The MCU could suggest that Loki’s sacrifice was sufficient to halt Kang’s plans. Alternatively, the MCU could suggest that God Loki used his newfound powers to simply defeat Kang’s plans.

Furthermore, as depicted in Loki, the TVA is already working to track Kang’s remaining variants throughout the multiverse, noting that one was defeated during Quantumania. The TVA could complete this mission off-screen, rounding up the remaining variants depicted in the Quantumania post-credits sequence and returning them to their original timelines. If the MCU wanted to, then, they have already set up a route out of the overarching Kang narrative, which could occur off-screen entirely off-screen.

Secret Wars Is Set Up Way Better Than A Kang War

A Multiversal War Has Been Teased Independently of Kang

It is still unclear what form the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars will take, but it has been set up far more effectively than a Kang War. In Marvel Comics, Secret Wars brought together multiple universes, with different superhero variants battling together to save the multiverse. Several MCU projects have already explored similar themes and introduced the concept of incursions in the MCU, yet haven’t explored the consequences properly. The post-credits scene in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness established a major incursion in the primary MCU universe (Earth-616) by depicting a collision with another universe.

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The Marvels reintroduced the idea of incursions, seeding them perfectly for Marvel to jump straight to Secret Wars and explore their repercussions. As a result, a far more satisfying conclusion to The Multiverse Saga can be explored by tying together the notion of variants explored already in Multiverse of Madness, No Way Home, The Marvels, and even Deadpool 3 – which itself has the potential to drastically alter the MCU’s future. Kang is largely superfluous to this story, and while it would have been entertaining to see the villain’s famed comic book story adapted to cinema, the MCU could easily abandon it in light of Majors’ exit from the franchise.