MCU Fans All Have The Same Big Avengers 5 Theory After Release Date Changes

Following the announced Marvel Cinematic Universe delays for Phase 5 and 6 movies, fans have a theory regarding what might be changed about Avengers: The Kang Dynasty in that time. Marvel Studios announced that six upcoming projects would be getting their MCU release dates pushed back and with the extra production time, some fans are hoping that it will encourage an Avengers 5 recast from Marvel. Actor Jonathan Majors first debuted in the MCU as He Who Remains in Loki, then made his film debut earlier this year as the main villain of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Majors was praised overall for his portrayal of Kang the Conqueror, setting up the Multiverse Saga’s big bad.

However, just one month after Ant-Man 3’s release, Majors was arrested on assault, strangulation, and harassment charges following an alleged domestic dispute with his girlfriend. With his case still ongoing, it puts his MCU fate up in the air. Marvel is no stranger to recasting characters as is, and the studio actually fired James Gunn in 2018 for his past offensive tweets. Marvel may be holding off on making any big decisions regarding Majors’ future considering how the situation with Gunn turned out, but some fans are wondering if the extra time that the MCU delays bring will give the studio a chance to recast if need be.

Why Was Avengers 5 Delayed A Full Year?

The upcoming Marvel slate delays are likely because of the Writers Guild of America strike. With all the delayed MCU Phase 5 and 6 movies likely still in the early stages of development, losing writers at this point of production would be a huge blow. What makes the MCU so special is how intertwined all of its projects are, so without writers on set, it would be hard to maintain quality continuity and cohesiveness. However, whereas most of the upcoming MCU delays are only for a few months, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty got pushed back a full year, taking Avengers: Secret Wars’ original 2026 release date.

The Kang Dynasty will be the first part of the culmination of the Multiverse Saga, as well as the first Avengers movie since the huge success of Infinity War and Endgame. The expectations for the film are high, so it’d make sense that Marvel would give themselves a bit more extra time to perfect things. It was always a hard ask to top the widely anticipated Infinity Saga, putting MCU Phase 4 on the receiving end of criticism. With it being the phase that the studio introduced canon Disney+ shows into the MCU, Phase 4 ended up being a mash-up of individual projects that carried into the beginning of Phase 5.

Marvel has arguably hit a high again with the quality of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, so the studio will want to make sure they can maintain this quality going forward. Marvel will definitely make the most of the extra time on the delayed MCU movies, especially with the huge Multiverse Saga culmination of The Kang Dynasty. Whether the improvements will involve a recast of Majors as Kang the Conqueror in the MCU remains to be seen, but it’s not out of the question with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’s whole extra year of production.

Source: Various (see above)