The Marvel Cinematic Universe is moving away from Jonathan Majors and his role as Kang the Conqueror with the news that Robert Downey Jr. will now be playing Doctor Doom. The new role for Robert Downey Jr., who previously played Iron Man in the massive shared universe, was announced at 2024’s San Diego Comic-Con. He’s set to play the role in both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
It’s important to note, that prior to his legal troubles, Jonathan Majors was supposed to be Marvel’s next big bad with his role as Kang the Conqueror. It’s a character we’ve already seen glimpses of, with the overall plan for Kang to culminate with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. However, after Majors faced his legal debacle, Marvel’s plans for his character changed and Kang Dynasty was reshaped into the newly-announced Avengers: Doomsday.
Jonathan Majors discussed his feelings towards this new announcement in an interview. According to Majors, he is “heartbroken,” though he has shown some support for the decision to include Doctor Doom as his replacement. Here’s what Jonathan Majors shared with TMZ about his reaction to the Doctor Doom news:
“Yeah, heartbroken. Of course,” Majors said. “I love Kang. Doctor Doom is wicked, though.”
The decision to replace Jonathan Majors as Kang with Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom has been a topic of discussion for several other reasons as well. For starters, fans know that Downey has had his own legal troubles prior to joining the MCU. He even served 15 months in prison back in 1999. In response to this, Majors had this to say:
“I think it’s fair that Mr. Downey is being and has been greeted with patience and curiosity and love.”
While discussing his openness towards Downey and another controversial actor -Ezra Miller – being able to act in spite of their legal troubles, Majors adds that he himself would be willing to return to the MCU as Kang if given the chance.
“Hell yeah! Hell yeah! I love him. I love Kang,” he said. “If that’s what the fans want, and that’s what Marvel wants then let’s roll. Hell yeah.”
Of course, it looks like Marvel Studios is currently steering clear of Kang. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional MCU updates as we have them. For now, while Jonathan Majors will no longer portray Kang the Conqueror in the massive cinematic universe, fans will get to see Robert Downey Jr. take the role as the franchise’s next overarching villain in the upcoming two Avengers movies.