Marvel may have dipped its toes into the water by dropping the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania special on Disney Plus a couple of weeks back without bothering to let anyone know, but a coincidental series of events have transformed this week into a massive one for both Jonathan Majors and his future as the franchise’s incumbent big bad.
The trailer for Loki‘s second season did what the home video marketing campaign and Disney Plus synopsis for Quantumania failed to do by acknowledging the fact the actor is still there and playing variants of Kang the Conqueror, which came right before the rumored working titles for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars potentially offered an insight into where the story could be heading.
Majors’ trial begins tomorrow when he appears in court, and if he’s found guilty he could end up being imprisoned for up to a year. That’s the worst case scenario, but the question of what it all means for Marvel in the short and long-term is a situation the studio could never have planned to find itself in.
If he’s found guilty, then he’s done and his career is effectively over, no questions asked. On the other side of the coin, he’s already been dropped by agents, representatives, brands, and projects on the back of the initial allegations, and there’s a lot of people out there who’ll struggle to reconcile with his return as the Multiverse Saga’s end-of-level boss.
If he ends up being dropped by Marvel anyway, then Phases Five and Six have a dark cloud hanging over them when Majors is available to watch at the push of a button on Disney Plus, never mind the fact it was established in canon that every single Kang variant looks like him. Of course, a string of superhero blockbusters is the least important aspect of the trial, but the after-effects will be fascinating nonetheless.