Actor Jonathan Majors, who has portrayed Kang the Conqueror in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has been fired by Marvel Studios after being found guilty of assault against his former girlfriend by a jury in New York City. The Manhattan jury found Majors guilty of one misdemeanor assault charge and one harassment violation. Shortly after, Marvel Studios dropped the actor from any future projects.
This development stops what had been a meteoric rise for Majors in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He had tapped to become the major big bad for this phase of the MCU. He already had appeared in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania along with both seasons of Loki. He also was expected to lead Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, which is slated to be released on May 1, 2026. The film is still in development and had not begun filming. There also is no director currently attached to it. It isn’t known how the firing of Majors will impact the film.
There are a couple of different possibilities for Marvel to take now that it has dropped Majors. It could simply recast the role of Kang the Conqueror. This is something that it has done before with characters like The Hulk and Rhodey. The other possibility is that there could be a new villain and storyline introduced that moves away from Kang the Conqueror. At this point, it is quite possible that this is the path that is being taken by Marvel. In November, a new scribe was hired to write the next iteration of the script for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Since then, the film has become known instead as Avengers 5 sources are telling the Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news of Majors’ firing.
This path to the fall of Jonathan Majors in the Marvel Cinematic Universe began when he was arrested on March 25, 2023 saying he found his ex-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, in their New York apartment unconscious. When the police arrived, they say they found injuries on Jabbari that included a bruised and fractured finger alonger with a cut behind her ear. While Majors pled not guilty to all charges, a jury saw things differently. He is scheduled to be sentenced on February 6, 2024. He could be facing up to a year in prison.
Since the arrest last spring, Majors has been dropped by multiple projects and endorsements. He was also fired by manager 360 Entertainment and publicist The Lede Company. Currently, he is still being repped by WME, however, that could change after the developments of today.
