Replacing Kang in the MCU Would’ve Repeated WB’s Justice League Mistake

The Marvel Cinematic Universe isn’t the well-oiled machine that it once was in terms of production and quality. Reception to recent projects has been fairly middling compared to previous entries, and the general hype is a lot lower than the excitement for the brand at its strongest. Likewise, overarching villain Kang the Conqueror hasn’t been able to fill the shoes of previous antagonist Thanos, and that’s without mentioning the legal troubles of actor Jonathan Majors, who portrays him. Marvel Studios supposedly had plans to fix this situation, though it’s now far too late for this idea to be implemented.

According to reports, the movie studio at one point wanted to switch the focus from Kang the Conqueror to the yet-to-be introduced Doctor Doom. While this sounds like a good idea given where the MCU currently is as a brand, it’s a better idea to instead finish the current plans as intended. Not only would pivoting to Doctor Doom be incredibly rushed, but it would also repeat another problem experienced by another shared cinematic superhero universe. In fact, given the supposed plans for the MCU, it might be best just to wait things out.

Switching Out Kang for Doctor Doom Actually Makes Sense

These X-Men Villains Could Be The Next MCU Threat

There is a lot of sound logic in making Doctor Doom the true villain of the sprawling “Multiverse Saga” in the Marvel Cinematic Universe instead of Kang the Conqueror. For one, Doom has a much bigger presence in the universe of Marvel Comics, not to mention far more iconic stories. Considered one of the premiere Marvel villains, he’s constantly put at the same level of Magneto, Green Goblin, Apocalypse, Kingpin and The Red Skull.

Now that Disney has acquired 20th Century Fox, the company has regained the cinematic rights to the Marvel characters that Fox owned. This includes the many mutants of the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, not to mention the latter’s arch rival Doctor Doom. This acquisition happened before the release of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, with many hoping that the next major phase in the MCU might focus on these iconic characters that were now under the Marvel banner. Thematically, having Doom as the “new Thanos” works on several levels, and not just due to his prominence in the comics. For one, he’d be something of a reverse Iron Man, even wearing a suit of armor and having vast resources.

With Iron Man now dead, someone with similar technology — not to mention arcane magic — poses an immense threat to those who stand in his way. Likewise, Doctor Doom is the main villain of the Fantastic Four, and Phase 4 of the MCU (which began the Multiverse Saga) was the perfect time to introduce those heroes. The Fantastic Four should have replaced the Avengers as focus of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the also rebooted X-Men perhaps joining them in this prominence. Sadly, none of this has happened, and it’s far too late for it to do so

At this point, Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is well underway, with the phase beginning with the largely disliked Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Kang has appeared in multiple projects, and the saga as a whole has reflected its mutiversal aims. Thus, despite how non-threatening he is and the many legal entanglements of Majors himself, Kang the Conqueror is the current villainous face of the MCU. Many have bemoaned that, despite Phase 5 already being far along, there’s been little development in the same way as there was by this point in the Infinity Saga.

There are no Avengers, yet Kang is still supposed to be some great threat. It’s an unfortunate narrative development, but adding Doctor Doom won’t fix things. Instead, this will only compound existing problems, as Doom will come entirely out of nowhere. This will be an extension of the problems with Kang, which is the fact he hasn’t been properly built up into a looming threat. Doing the same thing again won’t be made any better by simply using a villain that fans want. Instead, Doctor Doom needs to be properly hyped up and given time for audiences to bask in his glory. After all, a major criticism of the Fox Fantastic Four movies was how poorly Doom was handled.

The existing Fantastic Four movies didn’t truly adapt Doom’s characterization from the comics, and his power level and resourcefulness were also absent. Fans are hopeful that the MCU will finally do him justice and give moviegoers a Doctor Doom worthy of his comic book legacy. Rushing him to fill the vacuum of an unrelated villain, however, will merely Band-Aid the narrative wound of Kang while again mishandling Doom. The course-correction will cause Marvel Studios to repeat the same mistake Warner Bros. made with the DCEU when it attempted to fix the tone Zack Snyder setup in an effort to improve the movies’ reception with critics and at the box office.

The MCU’s Course-Correction Plans Evoke the Biggest Mistake of the DCEU
Zack Snyder’s Justice League: Superman, Cyborg, Wonder Woman, Flash, Batman and Aquaman.
The Snyderverse Doesn’t Need To Be Retconned – Here’s How It Can Exist In The DCU

The DC Extended Universe was a rival shared universe that sought to bring DC Comics characters to the big screen in a brand similar to the MCU. It began in 2013 with the controversial Man of Steel from Zack Snyder, which was a notably darker take on Superman than most people were used to. This cynical, dour tone continued in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which was even more disliked and is seen by many as the point of no return for the DCEU among casual audiences. Warner Bros. tried to course-correct by emulating the lighter tone of the MCU, though it didn’t yield the desired results.

David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, for example, was made into a movie more in line with Guardians of the Galaxy, while the theatrical version of Justice League attempted to copy the success of The Avengers. Though the fairly lighthearted Aquaman was a massive and unprecedented success, it was the only DCEU movie after Justice League to see such financial positivity. Needless to say, the brand’s image was demolished. Given how even those who liked the Snyderverse disliked the jarring tonal changes, it’s clear that trying to abruptly change course is only a sign of brand insecurity to consumers.

Given the past mistakes that were already done with the DCEU, the best thing that Marvel Studios can do is to simply stay the course for the Multiverse Saga, even if that involves recasting Jonathan Majors but keeping the focus on Kang. This will prevent any haphazard new directions that themselves will only come off as half-baked. Likewise, it seems that the MCU as fans know it may even reboot after Avengers: Secret Wars. Thus, simply riding things out until this end is probably the only sound choice to make.