The Multiverse Saga has had its fair share of ups and downs. That's a fair statement to make and it honestly doesn't sound that bad when you take into account the fact that all things tend have a healthy balance of both. However, considering that the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Infinity Saga had a pretty flawless run for 23 movies, it is rather troubling that the franchise has suffered a number of blows in recent years.
But those blows weren't just in the form of underperforming films and a poorly-received Disney Plus show. The studio parted ways with actor Jonathan Majors in 2023 after he was charged with assault and harassment. The actor had portrayed the MCU franchise's new overarching villain Kang the Conqueror and was supposed to play a major role in future films as the Multiverse Saga's Big Bad, so his ousting threw plans into chaos, as the studio had to rework its big Avengers plan.
Even so, rumors have persisted that the studio would have to recast the character at some point, with one major name emerging as the frontrunner. It turns out, however, that this one won't be happening.
Colman Domingo confirms he won't play recast Kang the Conqueror in the MCU
Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning actor Colman Domingo has opened up about those long-standing Kang the Conqueror rumors. Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused Podcast with Josh Horowitz, the Fear The Walking Dead star revealed that those rumors "were never a conversation from my point of view", adding that he almost believed them when he read them online and had to call his team to double check there weren't conversations going on that he wasn't aware of.
He also confirmed that he has no plans of replacing Jonathan Majors in the role, revealing that he did meet with Marvel and talked about those rumors but that he ultimately wanted a role that could be his own.
"I want a role to be mine, whatever I develop. Something didn’t feel right to me about replacing someone. I want to build something from the ground up that is my own."
It's hard to argue with that point-of-view. Domingo is such a charismatic actor and there is no doubt that he would have been a wonderful Kang if he and Marvel had opted to take that route, but he is more than capable of defining his own role in the MCU. Honestly, given what we've seen from the franchise in the past and how actors have personified characters in their own way (Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man, Kathryn Hahn's Agatha Harkness etc.), any character played by Domingo could very well experience the same level of success.
Meanwhile, it seems that Marvel has successfully pivoted from Kang altogether, drafting in MCU veteran Robert Downey Jr. to play new villain Doctor Doom, headlining Avengers: Doomsday (which was initially titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty) and sequel Avengers: Secret Wars. But the question remains as to what happens to the Kang character - or should that be characters - himself.
Majors portrayed the original Kang variant, He Who Remains, in Loki season 1, before going on to play a more linear version of him in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. He then played another variant of him, Victor Timely, in Loki season 2. All three of those characters died in their respective properties, so in a way, there is no Kang problem to ignore, right? Wrong. The post-credits scene of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania teased the Council of Kangs, showcasing thousands of different variants of the character from across the multiverse. If the character is that, well, timeless, how do they explain Doctor Doom showing up and taking over the reins as the next Big Bad?
It's an opportunity to cement Doom as the real threat of the Multiverse Saga, as he could somehow wipe out all of the versions of Kang that exist. Given that RDJ is only expected in two (maybe three) movies, that would fast track the aura needed for a supervillain like that while also solving the Kang problem.
We'll have to wait and see how it plays out, but it does sound like Colman Domingo could be a part of the MCU franchise in the future if he wishes. In a way he already is, as he now voiced Norman Osborn in MCU-adjacent animated series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, so could we see him join the live-action arm of it in the future to reprise that role? One thing is for sure: Domingo sharing the screen with Tom Holland's Spider-Man would make for an incredible idea.