Marvel Studios had huge plans for Kang the Conqueror prior to actor Jonathan Majors being dropped from the role after being convicted of assault, and while the character is still expected to feature in the MCU in some capacity going forward, we still don't know exactly what Kevin Feige and co. have in store for the powerful villain.
Though Avengers 5 is no longer titled "Avengers: The Kang Dynasty," previous reports have claimed that the character will still appear in a greatly reduced role.
Back in January, Deadline's Justin Kroll responded to the rumor that Coleman Domingo was being eyed to replace Majors.
"See a lot 'who will play Kang next' and 'here is a top contender for Kang' comments this week, and all I’ll say is this, don’t expect that news anytime soon," Kroll wrote in an X post. "There will be plenty of Marvel breaks in coming weeks on various fronts but don’t hold your breath on that one."
"This isn’t dismissing any rumor this week about potential contenders for the role," he added. "I don’t have any intel on those being true or not true it’s just letting you know, if I were betting what gets announced first, Kang or the field, I’d put money on the field."
The Cosmic Circus' Alex Perez has now weighed in, and he's heard that Marvel intends "to focus on other Multiversal villains before dealing with Kang again." Which bad guys he's referring to is unclear, but he did update with the following post.
He may simply be referring to Cassandra Nova here, but we have heard that Deadpool and Wolverine will feature quite a few surprises, and possibly an even bigger threat than Emma Corrin's Professor X Variant.
Another villain that's reportedly set to play a major role in the MCU going forward is Doctor Doom, but it might be quite a while before he makes a significant impact.
Doom is not expected to appear in The Fantastic Four (unless it's in a post-credits scene), and while he could factor into Avengers 5 and Secret Wars, he may not be the main antagonist.
Perez has "heard they’re treating Doom similar to how they’ve handled Loki in the Infinity Saga."
Loki was introduced as a villain in the first Thor movie before gradually redeeming himself and meeting his end at the hand of Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. Tom Hiddleston then reprised the role as a God of Mischief from another timeline for his solo Disney+ series.
That's a very specific arc, of course, so we'd say this is more likely to mean that Doom will be used sparingly at first.
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