Marvel Studios dropped their Kang the Conqueror-based Avengers films not only due to Jonathan Majors‘ allegations and his following termination, but also because of low fan interest in the Kang character. They hope to generate hype similar to that seen in Marvel Comics, which faltered in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Instead of a recast, they made a bold choice: bringing back Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom to boost excitement for the Avengers films.
Why Did Marvel Studios Decide to Cancel Their Plans for Kang the Conqueror?
On X, insider Daniel Richtman wrote about why Marvel dropped Kang: “The reason they decided to drop Kang wasn’t just because of Majors. When they were looking to recast the role, they realized there wasn’t much hype around the character, so they went with a gimmick casting of RDJ as Doom to get people excited for the Avengers films. To be fair, I think it worked. The RDJ announcement is the most viewed video on Instagram.”
According to scrapped plot details for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, Kang the Conqueror would have created a Battleworld. The TVA began gathering Anchor Beings from across the Multiverse, believing they were the only ones powerful enough to defeat the Council of Kangs. Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were the Anchors for their respective realities, while Tom Holland’s Spider-Man served as the Anchor for Earth-616.
The movie was intended to be smaller in scope compared to Avengers: Secret Wars, focusing more on Holland’s Peter Parker, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, and other Anchors like Nic Cage’s Ghost Rider. The plan was for all of them to ultimately fail, leading to the collapse of the Multiverse and Kang’s creation of Battleworld. This would set the stage for Secret Wars, where other MCU characters and additional Multiverse figures would converge on Battleworld.
While scrapping Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, Marvel Studios announced at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con the upcoming Avengers movie titled Avengers: Doomsday, featuring Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, with the Russo Brothers returning to direct from a screenplay by Stephen McFeely.
According to an insider report, in Avengers: Doomsday, Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom isn’t truly evil; he believes he is trying to save the Multiverse from incursions. In his twisted logic, the only way for the Multiverse to survive is to unify all universes in one place (Battleworld) under his rule. He sees this as the sole path to ensuring survival for everyone.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on May 1, 2026, and Avengers: Secret Wars will be released on May 7, 2027.
