Well, folks, we're almost there. Avengers: Doomsday comes out December 18th (the same day as Dune: Part 3, making it “Dunesday” for many), and I'm pretty excited.
I mean, how could I not be? My favorite Marvel “hero” is Moon Knight, but when it comes to villains, it has to be Doctor Doom. And yet…I kind of wish we weren't getting Doomsday. At least not so soon.
You see, I'm still very much of the opinion that Marvel should have stayed the course with their plans for Kang the Conqueror. Yes, Kevin Feige said to The Hollywood Reporter that Kang “wasn’t big enough” after Thanos, and yes, I know Jonathan Majors was dropped by Marvel after being found guilty of reckless assault and harassment. I still think Marvel should have kept with Kang rather than pivoting to Doctor Doom.
Kang COULD Have Been Big Enough With The Right Push
This might not seem like the right time to bring this up, but I want to talk about the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Now, when it was first announced that we were getting a Guardians film, my initial thought was, Are you kidding me? Because look, I grew up in the ‘90s, and I can tell you this: If Spider-Man and the X-Men were considered A-tier Marvel back then, then Guardians of the Galaxy was considered F-tier.
It’s not that Guardians of the Galaxy was a bad series back then, but all of the cosmic stuff (sans Silver Surfer, who was pretty popular even back then) felt pretty obscure in the ‘90s. Nova, ROM, and yes, GotG all felt like SUPER niche characters, and only for the nerdiest of the nerds. So, when we got F-tier Marvel comics as a film… and it was SUPER SUCCESSFUL, well, that just told me any Marvel character was fair game for the MCU… as long as they were handled properly.
Granted, following Avengers: Endgame, the MCU kind of felt like they dropped the ball when it came to introducing new characters (Like my beloved Eternals). That said, Marvel had it in its capabilities to really do something special with Kang the Conqueror if they just did it right!
Which, I understand, they DIDN’T get Kang right when he appeared in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. However, Kang was so great at the end of Season 1 of Loki, and I feel like Marvel should have kept at it with his character, as he just needed that extra something to push him over the top, even without Jonathan Majors, which I’ll get into next.
If Jonathan Majors Was Also A Factor At The Time, They Could Have Just Written Him Off And Made Him A Variant
Going back to that Kevin Feige Hollywood Reporter session and how he said they were already pivoting away from Kang before the Jonathan Majors incident, fine. I’ll take him for his word, as these things definitely take time, and filling the Russo brothers in that the MCU wanted to integrate Doctor Doom couldn’t have just been some spur-of-the-moment decision. That said, I’m also going to believe that Jonathan Majors' conviction of assaulting his ex-girlfriend had to have at least been a contributing factor to Marvel dropping Kang at the time.
I mean, just look at how fast Marvel dropped James Gunn from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after his controversy, only to bring him back once the internet had cooled off. So, there's definitely a precedent for Marvel getting squeamish when one of their major players gets a negative spotlight drawn on them. However, the thing about the multiverse is that Marvel could have just written off Majors and put somebody else as a variant of Kang, and I don’t think anybody would have minded.
For example, we got Victor Timely in Season 2 of Loki, and he was a variant of Kang, as well as He Who Remains. And, while sure, these are just different versions of Jonathan Majors, there really wasn’t anything saying that Marvel couldn’t have just gotten another charismatic actor to play a DIFFERENT variant of Kang. Like, instead of David Jonsson playing the next Black Panther (which, you know, cool), perhaps he could have been a variant of Kang. He certainly has the acting chops for it.
Or, I don’t know, anybody besides Jonathan Majors. It could have been done. Because without Kang’s time travel shenanigans, the whole TVA thing kind of feels pointless. Speaking of which…
Plus, Kang's Departure From The MCU Cheapens Loki's Return In Doomsday
If there was ever a time to cry watching anything MCU-related, I can think of two instances: One was when Spider-Man turned to dust at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, and number two was Loki’s sacrifice in becoming the living embodiment of all of the timelines in Season 2 of Loki, which showed true growth in Hiddleston’s character.
All of this timeline stuff ultimately connects to Kang the Conqueror, who is known for his many variants and time-traveling capabilities. In fact, he’s what made the whole TVA thing feel interesting and alive, and Loki being a part of that really felt like something special. In a lot of ways, Loki and Kang felt intertwined in their destinies.
By just dropping Kang, it kind of weakens Loki’s story and the great finality to his role in the MCU. Now, Loki’s coming back in Doomsday, which is kind of weird. Yes, I know Hiddleston has said to The Hollywood Reporter that his role in Doomsday picks up after his sacrifice in Season 2, but I still can’t vibe with the idea of Kang just being poof, gone, forgotten.
Kang felt so instrumental to everything involving the multiverses and the timeline, and now none of that seems to matter with Kang gone. And this is all just to move on to Doctor Doom, who I really need to talk about now.
Doctor Doom Really Did Need More Time To Cook
Kevin Feige has recently shared his thoughts on Doctor Doom’s lack of build-up, and he’s compared it with Thanos, saying that the big purple dude really didn’t have all that much build-up, either. However, I’d say that was a hell of a lot more than what we got at the end of Fantastic Four: First Steps with Doctor Doom (IF that was even him).
Honestly, one post-credit scene is nothing, and it feels like it really should be something given the existential threat that Doctor Doom should present. I mean, this is Doctor FREAKING Doom we’re talking about here, and we’re really just going to get him introduced to us in this movie…which is also going to bring the X-Men into the fray?
For real? I mean, I do have faith in the Russo brothers, but Doctor Doom is a TOP TIER Marvel villain (I’d say even more so than Thanos), and I think he needed to be built up A LOT more before just throwing him against the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men.
Plus, where do we go from Doctor Doom? He’s like THE big bad guy in Marvel along with Thanos. Kang could have been that nice in-between if done right.
