Marvel drops Kang actor Jonathan Majors after guilty verdict in assault case

Marvel Studios has dropped actor Jonathan Majors, a source close to the studio has confirmed to Polygon, after he was found guilty on Monday of assault and harassment charges.

Majors appeared in various Marvel Studios projects as multiple characters, including in the role of Kang, the time-traveling multiversal supervillain intended to be the heart of its Phase 5 and Phase 6 Marvel Cinematic Universe plans. A replacement for Majors has not been announced.

Majors made his MCU debut in the first season of Loki, appearing as the Kang variant He Who Remains. He returned as Kang the Conqueror (and in a post-credits sequence, as thousands of other Kang variants) in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. As Victor Timely, Majors was also a key component of Loki season 2 and was expected to appear in two upcoming Avengers movies, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.

In addition to his Marvel Studios projects, Majors appeared in Michael B. Jordan’s Creed III earlier this year and stars in the upcoming Magazine Dreams, which no longer has a release date. Disney and Searchlight Pictures pulled Magazine Dreams from its schedule back in October, ahead of Majors’ appearances in court.

Majors was arrested in March for alleged domestic violence following a dispute with his then-girlfriend. Following his arrest, Majors was dropped by his talent management company and public relations firm, and was reportedly removed from a handful of projects: an adaptation of the book The Man in My Basement, an Otis Redding biopic, and an ad campaign for Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers.

The actor’s two-week trial ended last Thursday, and a jury found Majors guilty on two charges: intentional assault in the third degree and aggravated harassment in the second degree. Majors is scheduled to be sentenced in February.

Marvel Studios has recast numerous roles in its cinematic universe. In 2010, the studio replaced actor Terrence Howard with Don Cheadle for the role of James Rhodes (aka War Machine). Mark Ruffalo stepped into the role of Bruce Banner (aka the Hulk) in 2012’s The Avengers, replacing Edward Norton. For 2025’s Thunderbolts, Harrison Ford will take over the role of General Thaddeus Ross for William Hurt, who died in 2022.