4 Years Ago Today, Marvel Studios Made An Unfortunate Announcement That Cost Millions & 2 Years to Fix
With Avengers: Endgame, Marvel somehow pulled off the unthinkable. After 21 films released over the course of 11 years, they stuck the landing by giving the Infinity Saga the satisfying conclusion it deserved. Though Endgame was underscored by a strong sense of finality, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was at the peak of its popularity, and there was no way Disney was going to let such a lucrative franchise sit on the shelf. The COVID-19 pandemic led to an unintentional one-year hiatus with no new MCU releases, but the next saga kicked off in 2021, and fans couldn’t wait to see what came next. In 2022, Marvel made its grand return to Hall H to unveil its future plans.
Four years ago today, July 23, 2022, Marvel announced to the excited San Diego Comic-Con crowd the slates for Phases 5 and 6 of the MCU. The Multiverse Saga was set to end with a two-part Avengers event. Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars would bring the story to a close. The original plan, as hard as this might be to believe now, was for these two movies to release in 2025, just a handful of months apart. While there was much buzz surrounding the reveal, things obviously didn’t go according to plan.
Marvel Had to Pivot Away from Avengers: The Kang Dynasty
Thanos was one of the MCU’s most memorable villains, successfully wiping out half of the universe before he was ultimately defeated in Avengers: Endgame. He was always going to be a tough act to follow, but Marvel thought they had the right idea in mind with Kang the Conqueror. Kang was originally intended to be the Multiverse Saga’s big bad, with then rising star Jonathan Majors cast in the role. Majors had a well-received franchise debut in Loki Season 1 as the Kang variant He Who Remains and had future appearances planned. It seemed that the idea was to gradually build the character up leading to Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, similar to how Marvel handled Thanos in the Infinity Saga. But before the Kang dynasty could ever truly begin, it was over.
In March 2023, shortly after Majors appeared in Creed III and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the actor was arrested on charges of assault, harassment, and strangulation. Majors was found guilty in December 2023, and was subsequently dropped from Marvel Studios. Marvel’s decision to move on from Majors was understandable, but it put the studio in a tight spot. They had essentially built the Multiverse Saga around Kang, so they were forced to come up with a solution. Of course, that solution was bringing back MCU poster boy Robert Downey Jr. to play Doctor Doom, making him the main antagonist of the next two Avengers movies. It was a surprising pivot that illustrated how much things had changed behind the scenes since that initial announcement.
A case can be made that Marvel would have looked to move away from Kang regardless of whether or not Majors had legal issues. Even before Majors’ arrest, Kang was not resonating with general audiences in the way Thanos had. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania became one of the worst-received MCU movies, netting a 46% score on Rotten Tomatoes. That poor word of mouth impacted the box office, as Quantumania earned $476 million worldwide against a net budget of $330.1 million. What was intended to be Kang’s grand coming out party turned into a disappointment, dampening viewers’ enthusiasm for Kang to become a greater threat in the MCU. The fact that Kang was defeated by the Ant-Man family in his big-screen debut made the villain less impressive in some fans’ eyes. Continuing on with his arc could have been a hard sell, but we’ll never know what Marvel had in mind.
The other thing Marvel could have done in the wake of the Majors verdict was recast Kang so they could continue with what had already been set up. The MCU has recast characters in the past, and it’s not as if Majors had been in the role long enough to become synonymous with the villain. In fact, Marvel did discuss the possibility of playing Kang with Oscar nominee Colman Domingo, but he wasn’t interested in replacing another actor. If Domingo were to join the MCU, he wanted to “build something from the ground up that’s my own.” It’s possible Marvel had similar conversations with other actors and came to the conclusion that they weren’t going to find a new Kang in time, so they opted instead for the Doctor Doom Hail Mary.
Will Marvel’s Late Pivot Pay Off In Avengers: Doomsday?
Casting Downey as Doctor Doom drew a wide range of responses. There were plenty of people excited to see the actor back in the Marvel family, but others saw the move as a case of Marvel hitting the panic button in a desperate attempt to get the band back together. Not only was Dowey returning, Marvel brought back directors Joe and Anthony Russo, Infinity War and Endgame filmmakers, to bring another superhero saga to a close. When you also factor in Chris Evans reprising Steve Rogers after seemingly retiring from the role after Endgame, it’s hard to shake the feeling that Marvel is relying a bit too heavily on nostalgia to generate buzz for the next Avengers movie.
A very cynical way to look at Doomsday is it’s an admission on Marvel’s part that they failed post-Endgame to pave a compelling way forward for the franchise to grow. Rather than coming across as a thrilling culminating event that wraps up years of interconnected storytelling, Doomsday is instead trying to operate as a sequel to Endgame. Obviously, characters from previous Multiverse Saga projects are appearing in Doomsday, but the Russos themselves described Doomsday as “Phase Zero,” downplaying what’s come before. Following up Endgame in this manner is inherently risky because that film served as such a perfect finale to that period of Marvel history. The concept of the surviving Avengers dealing with the repercussions of the Time Heist could be captivating, but there’s also the potential for undermining what made Endgame so great.
The sheer number of trailer views (500 million) and ticket pre-sales ($16.5 million) in the first day would indicate that any concerns about Doomsday are overblown. Despite Marvel’s ups and downs, people remain excited to see Earth’s Mightiest Heroes reunite on the big screen. However, the trailer hasn’t won everyone over. There have been critiques, with people criticizing the film’s overall visual aesthetic and the lack of proper build up to the threat of Doctor Doom. The odds of Doomsday being a massive box office draw and one of the year’s top earners are high. But large box office grosses do not equal quality. It remains to be seen how Doomsday turns out from a storytelling perspective, and if the Russos are truly able to balance all of the superhero teams while also introducing Doom. Our poll results show there’s still work to be done to convince some fans that Doomsday will be worthwhile.
It’s no secret that the Multiverse Saga did not go very smoothly. The COVID-19 pandemic, Disney’s mandate to produce shows for streaming, and the Majors situation threw things out of whack for a while, and Marvel is attempting to get back on track. Hopefully, it works out. Marvel doesn’t have plans to slow down any time soon, with Kevin Feige recently saying they have ideas planned through 2042. In order for all of those to come to fruition, Doomsday and Secret Wars need to be successful and get everyone excited about the MCU and its future again. It’s a big swing to pivot in such a drastic way, so fingers crossed it pays off.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
