Avengers: Doomsday needs to address a massive MCU elephant in the room, and if it doesn’t, it’ll be even harder for fans to buy into the sequel. As Avengers movies go, Doomsday is already facing challenges approaching its December 18 release. The Doomsday trailer might place Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Chris Hemsworth back in the spotlight, but it also reminds us that the new generation of heroes is not used to working together. The Multiverse Saga’s lack of crossover threatens to make this new MCU adventure feel unearned. And with Infinity War and Endgame making up the last two-part Avengers event, this one has exceptionally big shoes to fill.
It will need to account for the many heroes and universes present in its story if it hopes to succeed, and that’s already a massive undertaking. Avengers: Doomsday must also make Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom feel like a worthy threat, despite the fact that he only appears a single post-credits scene beforehand. And with Avengers: Secret Wars aiming to “reset” the MCU, the franchise must wrap up any other loose ends before this two-part story is finished. That includes one elephant in the room that changed the course of the Multiverse Saga and resulted in the shift to RDJ’s villain: the MCU’s departure from Kang the Conqueror as its next threat.
Kang the Conqueror was originally supposed to be the Multiverse Saga’s next Big Bad, and the film preceding Avengers: Secret Wars was meant to be Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. After introducing Jonathan Majors’ character in Loki Season 1, the franchise seemed to be taking a similar approach to his villain as it did with Thanos. Kang appeared as an antagonist in both Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Loki Season 2. Both further laid the foundation for Kang to gradually become a massive multiversal threat, and the franchise hyped the character up as such.
However, Majors was arrested on assault and harassment charges in March 2023, and he was later found guilty on two counts: reckless assault and harassment (via CBS News). Disney parted ways with the actor right after. And instead of recasting Kang, it chose to pivot away from the villain completely. The MCU moved on to Doctor Doom as the looming multiversal threat instead, setting him up for the coming Avengers movies. The circumstances surrounding this shift were largely outside of Marvel Studios’ control, yet they did create structural issues within the Multiverse Saga. And they necessitated an explanation for Kang’s disappearance, which Loki Season 2 sort of covered.
The ending of the Disney+ show saw Loki taking control of the timelines, and the TVA even mentioned eliminating Kang variants. This served as a proper enough conclusion for those who saw the series. Of course, not every MCU fan has watched every season of every Disney+ show. For that reason, Avengers: Doomsday will need to address the situation one last time. Even if it’s just through a passing comment, it’s worth telling viewers what happened to the Multiverse Saga’s original villain. Those who expected a return will then get some closure, and they won’t be left questioning what happened. Doing this will also allow the MCU to tighten up its continuity in whatever way it can.
While the MCU doesn’t need to — and probably shouldn’t — harp on its Kang pivot, it should tie up loose ends on-screen. Just repeating what happened in Loki Season 2 would be sufficient, getting everyone on the same page ahead of Secret Wars. (And as Hiddleston promised the film wouldn’t undo Loki’s growth, that sort of recap will be needed anyway.) With Kevin Feige claiming that the follow-up to Doomsday will serve as a reset of sorts (via the Happy Sad Confused podcast), it makes sense for the sequel to tie everything from Phases 4-6 together. Even if they don’t add up perfectly, it’s worth fitting as many pieces together as possible…and getting fans to see the last three phases as a whole before diving headfirst into the next chapter.
Do you think Avengers: Doomsday should address Kang’s absence? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
