A Kang or Kang variant could still appear, that is something they could keep under wraps... I also wonder if enough time has passed in PR terms and Majors could come back - not advocating for that, but I'm not sure it would swamp the marketing like it would have a couple of years ago.
Marvel Cinematic Universe Movies and Streaming Series Discussion
- Thread starter Ru1977
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I was just typing the same idea - the swerve (like the end of Infinity War) would be Doom either backstabbing the heroes (in universe maybe he isn't terrible yet) or Kang or taking advantage of the chaos as he tried to do in the comics from the Beyonder.
I will be very interested if Doom is portrayed as the leader of a country that he oppresses. I still like the idea that he took over the ruins of Sokovia after Age of Ultron and renamed it Latveria....
Fletch
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Very true. I'm only thinking in terms of anticipation. For Thanos, he makes a cameo in Avengers, then the occasional appearance or mention for the next six years before showing up for the finale. I remember how guessing where the remaining stones were was a part of fandom during that time.
For Doom, the casting announcement is made in 2024, and we get two years for a single post-credit scene before he shows up for the finale.
I'm not sure I can explain this right, but I feel like Doom's going too big too soon. I like that Doom always punches above his weight, that when introduced to unknowable forces from the universe he just says "I can take 'im." But having him start as a cosmos-shaking character skips the scrappiness of that.
I'd much rather see him in one or two terrestrial schemes before having to admit that he's, sadly, the best Earth has to offer.
I like building on the history of the MCU. I don't even know if I'd be mad if he just kept it as Sokovia (although returning it to its original name from before the US and USSR broke it up and renamed it following the war is fine too.)
My personal fanfic version was a post-credit scene showing he's the one who manipulated Wakanda and Talocan into war.
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Oh I absolutely agree. One of the most unfortunate weaknesses of the MCU is the fact that it has to backfill characters as they get the rights to them. Doom of course should have been in the background the entire time and should have been incrementally introduced long LONG before now. Doom should, in a perfect world, have a Loki-level of development at this point, BEFORE making him an omniversal Big Bad.
Given they haven't done the buildup for Doom they did with Loki, Thanos and Kang, I would lean towards reverse engineering the plot that he was the Power Broker Sharon was dealing with, and behind the Wakandan war, and maybe helping the Leader, and a few other things - while totally under the radar as the head of this small, backwater country.
Ru1977
The Irishman
Maybe, but he'd be doing it from a small, backwater country in a different universe.
TENIME
Considerate
It sucks that he's such a shitty person, because as opposed to race swapping as I am, Majors was SOOOOO GOOD. God, I loved him in every iteration. Fuck, he was amazing. And I still say the best way to recast Kang & make people like me have even less issue with Pascal as Reed than making him still not the 616 version, is by having Majors turn into Pascal (I guarantee they have something in JM's contract that says they could at least pull a Part II George McFly/IW-EG Red Skull to do something with a CG Majors heavily in shadow or reflected in a dirty mirror as he then morphs into real life Pedro or manipulate some of the existing Council of Kangs footage from Quantumania).
That would be more comic-faithful, too, being a descendant of Reed (still not my Reed - Krasinski better come back as 616, I swear to god, Feige)...
Also, people criticizing for lack of plans always choose to forget when better franchises did it without any plans & just good leadership. Everyone whines that that's why the Star Wars sequels sucked, "because the OT." George Lucas factually had ZERO fucking plans for 4-6, I don't care what story he's going with now, he never fucking did, and there is a lot of proof that he hasn't erased yet still out there. Same with the DCEU. Marvel didn't have a plan for Phase 1, and it's evident, because they were more concentrated on making good movies with a tiny tie-in, as opposed to making everything connected from the start. I feel like that's why Thunderbolts* is so good, because it's that old formula.
Also, touching on the Gauntlet, Eitri never says when Thanos assaulted Nidavellir. Everyone's been assuming it was immediately before the movie like his decimation of Xandar (which they DO place in time right before the end of Ragnarok). Loki was masquerading as Odin since Dark World. Before Guardians Vol. 1. And they say in Ragnarok, "Odin" has not been keeping an eye on the Realms since Loki has been pretending to be him. That's why no one knows what happened on Nidavellir until Thor physically goes there.
I have said since seeing IW for the first time, Thanos did all that shit before AoU. Maybe even before Vol. 1. He already had Eitri's Gauntlet when he was sending lackeys out to get the Stones for him. So when we see the AoU stinger, he's gotten so sick of losing them to Asgard or The Collector or Vision's forehead, that he's now like "Fine. I'll do it myself."
And, Christ, we don't know what that scene takes place. Just because it's AoU-adjacent while watching, doesn't mean it's AoU-adjacent chronologically. That scene itself could be right before he goes to take down Xandar, then go after the Asgardians on the Grandmaster ship.
Until or unless there is an onscreen confirmation of timelines, we just don't know.
Unlike that darn date on Strange's watch, goshdarnit, lol. I still watch it before Winter Soldier, because wha'eva! I do what I want!
That would be more comic-faithful, too, being a descendant of Reed (still not my Reed - Krasinski better come back as 616, I swear to god, Feige)...
Also, people criticizing for lack of plans always choose to forget when better franchises did it without any plans & just good leadership. Everyone whines that that's why the Star Wars sequels sucked, "because the OT." George Lucas factually had ZERO fucking plans for 4-6, I don't care what story he's going with now, he never fucking did, and there is a lot of proof that he hasn't erased yet still out there. Same with the DCEU. Marvel didn't have a plan for Phase 1, and it's evident, because they were more concentrated on making good movies with a tiny tie-in, as opposed to making everything connected from the start. I feel like that's why Thunderbolts* is so good, because it's that old formula.
Also, touching on the Gauntlet, Eitri never says when Thanos assaulted Nidavellir. Everyone's been assuming it was immediately before the movie like his decimation of Xandar (which they DO place in time right before the end of Ragnarok). Loki was masquerading as Odin since Dark World. Before Guardians Vol. 1. And they say in Ragnarok, "Odin" has not been keeping an eye on the Realms since Loki has been pretending to be him. That's why no one knows what happened on Nidavellir until Thor physically goes there.
I have said since seeing IW for the first time, Thanos did all that shit before AoU. Maybe even before Vol. 1. He already had Eitri's Gauntlet when he was sending lackeys out to get the Stones for him. So when we see the AoU stinger, he's gotten so sick of losing them to Asgard or The Collector or Vision's forehead, that he's now like "Fine. I'll do it myself."
And, Christ, we don't know what that scene takes place. Just because it's AoU-adjacent while watching, doesn't mean it's AoU-adjacent chronologically. That scene itself could be right before he goes to take down Xandar, then go after the Asgardians on the Grandmaster ship.
Until or unless there is an onscreen confirmation of timelines, we just don't know.
Unlike that darn date on Strange's watch, goshdarnit, lol. I still watch it before Winter Soldier, because wha'eva! I do what I want!
Fletch
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I could go line-by-line, but that's all really spot on, including Dr. Strange using the wrong date.
I'm not as sold on the Pascal-Kang, though. I'd just find an equally good actor to take his place and move on with no need to explain. Just Rhodey him.
Major's stand-out performance as Kang did make me want to fancast a Black actor as Reed Richards, though, to lean into some old hints that he was related to Reed's father.
joshsquash729
Born on the cob
I admittedly did love Majors as Kang too. Shitty person or not, the man can act. I know the whole hullabaloo around him probably soured the character in Marvel's eyes, but I don't think the right thing to do was to just erase him. There are so many talented actors of color working in Hollywood, some established, some not, so why not give someone else a stab at the character? They may not have had Majors' intensity, but that's okay- play a different side of Kang. We know they're not opposed to recastings, so it just felt a little odd that this was the one they decided not to when the whole point is that there are basically infinite versions of him, so if an explanation is necessary, just make it like a mutation somewhere along the way.
Or, though it would've undoubtedly caused a huge kerfuffle with a certain crowd, have Ravonna take over the mantle. I know there was a female Kang in the comics- a variant of Kamala Khan, if I'm not mistaken- but it stands to reason that in the entire council of Kangs, there'd be at least one female variant. I know Ravonna was a variant of someone else, but she was also the closest non-Kang person to also on his side; just make it so that He Who Remains brainwashed a failsafe into her somehow to take up the mantle and keep the mission alive or something. I dunno- I'd just really have liked some payoff to the build-up. Loki season 2 felt a little "Rise of Skywalker" to me in that a good chunk of its runtime was spent essentially rushing to undo what had already been set up. But that's a can of worms I don't want to open.
Or, though it would've undoubtedly caused a huge kerfuffle with a certain crowd, have Ravonna take over the mantle. I know there was a female Kang in the comics- a variant of Kamala Khan, if I'm not mistaken- but it stands to reason that in the entire council of Kangs, there'd be at least one female variant. I know Ravonna was a variant of someone else, but she was also the closest non-Kang person to also on his side; just make it so that He Who Remains brainwashed a failsafe into her somehow to take up the mantle and keep the mission alive or something. I dunno- I'd just really have liked some payoff to the build-up. Loki season 2 felt a little "Rise of Skywalker" to me in that a good chunk of its runtime was spent essentially rushing to undo what had already been set up. But that's a can of worms I don't want to open.
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Yeah Jonathan Majors is a wonderful actor, and I *liked* Quantumania. Like actually enjoyed it.
The whole situation is a big bummer, but I’d rather they not do backflips trying to “write around” it. Just let it go. Not everything needs to be aggressively beaten into “making sense” in continuity.
The whole situation is a big bummer, but I’d rather they not do backflips trying to “write around” it. Just let it go. Not everything needs to be aggressively beaten into “making sense” in continuity.
Ru1977
The Irishman
Agree he is an incredible performer and I liked all his versions of the character, even the brief apeshit ones at the end there. But I REALLY enjoyed Loki season 2, and I have no real idea how it was impacted by Majors' fiasco, like I really can't remember the timeline, but the ending, from what I recall, really felt like it could go either way. It was sorta setting up for "alright, let's deal with all these Kangs in the next installment" but also could have been "alright, they're gonna deal with all these Kangs off camera"
TENIME
Considerate
It's not my best work, but given the original image had a green dress with built-in gloves, it was too perfect to NOT mess with lol
This is the FIRST fan-casting for MCU X-Men that I have actually not only not hated, but outright LOVED:
Now someone ask Jason Isaacs to shave his head for MY ideal non-Stewart Xavier...
EDIT: (I think they're just long sleeves, rather than actual gloves, but her keeping her hands covered is still just too great)
This is the FIRST fan-casting for MCU X-Men that I have actually not only not hated, but outright LOVED:
Now someone ask Jason Isaacs to shave his head for MY ideal non-Stewart Xavier...
EDIT: (I think they're just long sleeves, rather than actual gloves, but her keeping her hands covered is still just too great)
Ru1977
The Irishman
Ridley Scott got him to for Black Hawk Down.
TENIME
Considerate
Well, then get him to sit in a wheelchair for a franchise!