Does The Loki Season 2 Finale Make It Easier To Replace Jonathan Majors As Marvel’s Kang?
This first one’s as straightforward as it gets. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has already established the idea of different actors playing the same role — not just through the recasting of Edward Norton’s Bruce Banner after “The Incredible Hulk” or Terrence Howard after “Iron Man 2,” but also through the multiverse itself. After John Krasinski’s cameo as an alternate-universe Reed Richards in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” and the, uh, bloody way that appearance ultimately went down, Marvel now has a built-in excuse to recast any character as they see fit. This includes getting out from under the looming specter of Majors’ Kang. Just pin it on the multiverse!
Now that He Who Remains is officially dead, the “Loki” finale depicts the remaining members of the Time Variance Authority as shockingly unconcerned about the leftover threat of Kang’s variants. Near the end, Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) and Mobius (Owen Wilson) almost nonchalantly discuss the events of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” casually alluding to the fact that Kang the Conqueror was “dealt with” and not even worth the TVA lifting a pinky to intervene. This almost feels like a tacit admission that having the franchise’s pint-sized heroes thoroughly kick Kang’s butt in his very first big-screen appearance didn’t exactly establish him as much of a threat. In that case, debuting a completely different Kang who replaces these weaker variants with superior ones of his own feels like a no-brainer.
Sure, there’s the pesky issue of that “Quantumania” post-credits stinger, which established the Council of Kangs and thousands of variants who look exactly like Majors … but that’s one MCU continuity error I have zero issue overlooking.
