Kevin Feige: Doctor Doom Was Always Planned to Replace Kang Before Jonathan Majors’ Drama – “Kang wasn’t Thanos”

Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios, has revealed that the decision to replace Kang the Conqueror with Doctor Doom as the main villain in the next Avengers movies was already in the works before Jonathan Majors’ legal troubles became public.

Originally, Marvel planned for Kang to be the big bad guy, as announced at Comic-Con back in 2019. Majors first appeared as He Who Remains in Loki Season 1 and then as Kang in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, set up to be the main villain for the Multiverse Saga.

But when Majors was arrested in early 2023 on assault charges involving his then-girlfriend, his future in the MCU suddenly became uncertain.

Feige explained, “Even before what had happened to the actor, we had started to realize that Kang wasn’t Thanos.” The studio boss went on to say that only one villain in the comics could fill the role of a massive threat like Thanos, and that was Dr. Doom. Thanks to Marvel’s acquisition of Fox, the studio finally had the rights to use Doom.

“We had started talking about Dr. Doom even before we officially pivoted from Kang,” Feige said. “In fact, I had started talking with Robert [Downey Jr.] about this audacious idea before Ant-Man 3 even came out.”

Majors’ troubles began right after Quantumania was released. His arrest led to him being dropped from various projects, losing his management and PR teams, and commercials featuring him being pulled.

Though Majors insisted he was innocent and tried to clear his name by releasing text messages with the alleged victim, public opinion turned against him. In December, after a guilty verdict, Disney officially fired him.

This forced Marvel to change course. Majors’ Kang was removed as the main villain and replaced by Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom, who will now play a central role in the upcoming Avengers movies.

Some insiders had already been saying that Marvel planned to drop Kang, but they thought it was because Quantumania didn’t connect well with fans. Feige’s comments show that Marvel’s move away from Kang was planned earlier, and Majors’ controversy just accelerated the change.

Feige’s statement makes it clear that Doctor Doom’s arrival was part of Marvel’s bigger plan, not just a response to drama.

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