Ever since Jonathan Majors was arrested for (allegedly) assaulting his girlfriend, rumors have done the rounds that Marvel Studios may be planning to pivot away from the Kang-focused saga that began in Loki and continued in Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania (before possibly concluding in Loki season 2?), and the recent news that director Destin Daniel Cretton had parted ways with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty added more fuel to the fire.
While Kevin Feige will likely make some changes, it sounds like the overarching story will still revolve around Kang the Conqueror.
According to insider Daniel Richtman, the studio is "still committed" to the Kang storyline, but there's a chance Majors may be recast. They will almost certainly wait for the outcome of his trial to make any kind of official announcement, but even if the actor is found innocent, it may be a case of "damage done."
During this week's episode of The Hot Mic podcast, Jeff Sneider said he believes Kang will ultimately be recast, and the decision may be out of Marvel's hands. Disney's Bob Iger has been keeping a very close eye on the situation, and may feel keeping Majors on after so much negative press would be too damaging to the Disney brand.
A lot of this seems like speculation, but we'd be very surprised if Kevin Feige hasn't at least started making tentative plans to take The Kang Dynasty - and the ongoing Phases 5 and 6 of the MCU - in another direction.
Plot details for the next Avengers movie are still under wraps, but we may have some ides of what to expect.
Though this is obviously subject to change (no more than ever), persistent rumors and several plot "leaks" have indicated that we will see heroes from every MCU franchise - as well as the 20th Century Fox X-Men and Fantastic Four movies - band together in an attempt to defeat Kang the Conqueror and his Variants.
Jeff Lovenes, who is now said to be "off" the project, previously name-dropped a couple of characters he was looking forward to writing.
“I can’t say specifically," he told Phase Zero earlier this year. "I think I’d get in trouble. I gotta get better at talking to the Internet. But just, characters that we like, I mean, I think we’re excited for the actors more than even the characters right now. Because, we have this really good crop of performers. We got Florence Pugh, and Jonathan Majors, and Letitia Wright. We’ve got such a deep bench of really good actors. Everyone’s gonna get their chance to shine. I can’t say who. I can’t say when they will shine. But I think we’ve got a deep bench, and it’s fun to finally put everybody into the game.”
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty is currently scheduled to arrive in theaters on May 1, 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars to follow on May 7, 2027.