The Marvel Cinematic Universe (commonly referred to as MCU) was once one of the biggest entertainment franchises ever. But following its recent downfall in the entertainment industry, what with its epic failures from this year, fans are worried and confused about the uncertain future of the master-universe. Adding to these worries was Jonathan Majors, who played Kang the Conqueror, getting recently fired from Marvel earlier today.
Thus, arose one of the most important questions: who will be the main villain of the Multiverse Saga now that Majors is out of the game? Among all the villains getting speculated, one was a rather unexpected one: Pedro Pascal as Doctor Doom!
Will Pedro Pascal be the next villain of the Multiverse Saga?
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According to the earlier plans, Kang the Conqueror was supposed to be the main antagonist of the Multiverse Saga of the MCU as infinite variations of the same character from across numerous different universes.
However, as Jonathan Majors bid farewell to the character earlier today following his proven guilty in a lawsuit filed by his ex-girlfriend on charges of assault and harassment, Marvel is rumored to be exploring other options for the next big bad, especially for the next Avengers installment.
Among these, one major alternative was Doctor Doom. After Majors got arrested in March earlier this year following the massive underperformance of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Marvel Studios execs were reportedly considering bringing in Doom to replace Kang.
That brings in Pedro Pascal: though it hasn’t been officially confirmed by Marvel yet, however, sources close to Deadline reported that The Last of Us star is being eyed for the next Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four, which could eventually connect to Doctor Doom, considering how Marvel is currently in the Multiverse Saga.
So if he does get confirmed to play Richards by Marvel, there lies the chance of Pedro Pascal playing the part of Doom, i.e., a variant of Reed Richards from Earth-111347 who becomes Doctor Doom instead of taking on the mantle of Mister Fantastic (as was seen in Fantastic Four Vol. 3 #47), as well.
Furthermore, Marvel could decide to adopt the fan-favorite Secret Wars comic story arc from the 2010s by Jonathan Hickman where Doom pulls parts of the Multiverse together into a world where he is the ultimate king and Richards is the one to stop him, with the end resulting in a reboot of the Marvel Universe.
This would not only help the MCU completely shift the focus from Kang and his multiverse variants to focus more on the intimate conflict between Reed Richards and Doctor Doom, but it could also bring about the perfect shocking yet promising twist they could give in the next Avengers installment, i.e. Avengers 5, and the ones following.
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Kang the Conqueror’s future in the MCU lies in danger
Kang the Conqueror may have failed to please fans with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, but it is worth noting that his variants were much admired by fans in the recently ended blockbuster Loki series.
Nonetheless, Marvel Studios has officially confirmed the firing of Jonathan Majors from the franchise, who played the initial main antagonist of the Multiverse-Saga, after he got convicted and proven guilty on charges of assaulting and harassing his ex-girlfriend.
While he was only in speculation of being fired, now this official confirmation by Marvel has further deteriorated Majors’ chance of ever returning to the MCU, with the only hope being the massive fan support he received following his spectacular performance in Loki.
Although Avengers 5 is indeed titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and was initially reportedly supposed to deal with Kang’s backstory and his conquest across the multiverse, if Marvel truly wishes to steer completely away from the character after Majors’ exit, then it won’t be long before the movie’s name changes as well.
Thus, for now, until the MCU decides what to do with him—bring in someone to replace Majors to play the character or just bring back Majors (which seems unlikely)—Kang the Conqueror’s future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe seems as uncertain as the MCU’s future in the industry.
