Source: Marvel / Disney
After years of churning out successful box office films and raking in billions of dollars, Marvel Studios is in allegedly crisis mode and not only because some of their recent films and TV shows have been struggle, but because Jonathan Major’s legal woes don’t seem to be going away anytime soon.
According to Variety, the higher-ups at Marvel Studios are panicking about where their future is going to be headed as their hardcore fanbase have begun to lose interest in their film content and the legal consequences that the star of their next few Avengers films, Jonathan Major, remains murky as he’s still set to stand trial for domestic violence later this month. After being anointed the next big Marvel villain as Kang The Conqueror for Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Majors found himself in major trouble after his girlfriend accused him of putting hands on her earlier this year.
After the incident became public, other people who’ve worked with Majors and/or dated him came out with their own negative stories about the ascending Hollywood star which led to rumors that Marvel was going to recast the role of Kang The Conqueror to avoid negative publicity. Still, Majors remains a part of the MCU but with the recent disappointing films releases and Disney+ shows, it seems like some drastic measures are going to be taken to revamp the struggling franchise and Majors might actually be out of a job sooner or later.
Variety reports:
“Marvel is truly fucked with the whole Kang angle,” says one top dealmaker who has seen the final “Loki” episode. “And they haven’t had an opportunity to rewrite until very recently [because of the WGA strike]. But I don’t see a path to how they move forward with him.”
Beyond the bad press for Majors, the brain trust at Marvel is also grappling with the November release of “The Marvels,” a sequel to 2019’s blockbuster “Captain Marvel” that has been plagued with lengthy reshoots and now appears likely to underwhelm at the box office.
Yeah, The Marvels looks like it’s going to bomb at the box office but you never know.
Because of how dire things are looking at the current moment, ideas have been thrown around to revive interest in the MCU including cutting Kang out of the MCU and bringing in Dr. Doom for the next few Avengers films and even actually bringing back the OG Avengers to life including Iron Man, Black Widow and Captain America (who’s still alive, but in another time).
With Iger publicly acknowledging the downside of a Marvel TV glut that “diluted focus and attention,” the keepers of the comic book empire are considering some dramatic moves. Sources say there have been talks to bring back the original gang for an “Avengers” movie. This would include reviving Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, both of whom were killed off in “Endgame.” (That shouldn’t be a stumbling block — in comic books, beloved characters are often killed off, only to be resurrected thanks to the power of things like the multiverse.) But the studio hasn’t yet committed to the idea — if it were able to bring those actors back, it wouldn’t come cheap. Sources say Downey Jr.’s upfront salary for “Iron Man 3” was around $25 million.
Yeah, we’d definitely sign up for the return of the OG Avengers. It was all downhill for the MCU after Iron Man bit the dust and Captain America dipped to find love and happiness in the 1940’s.
Still, how this all unfolds is anyone’s guess as their has been talks of the MCU getting a reboot at the end of The Avengers: Secret Wars which will lead to a new MCU which will feature The Avengers along with The X-Men, Fantastic Four and Spider-Man all in the same reality. Should be interesting to see what Marvel Studios does going forward though as they have their work cutout for them to once again reign at the box office as they did in their heyday.
What do y’all think Marvel should do with their struggling franchises? Let us know in the comments section below.
