MOVIE NEWS – American actor Jonathan Majors was found guilty of assaulting his then-girlfriend at a trial in New York.

It looks like Jonathan Majors’ career at Marvel Studios is over. The news comes today after the Emmy-nominated actor was found guilty by a six-person jury in New York City on charges of negligent assault and harassment in his domestic violence trial.

A representative for the studio confirmed the news of their decision not to move forward with Majors in the MCU.

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 4-6, Majors was set to play the role of the main villain, “He Who Remains”, i.e. “Kang the Conqueror”. He debuted as the character in season 1 of Loki in 2021. Later this year, he appeared in Season 2, and in February, he appeared in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which brought in more than $476 million worldwide. Majors also had a back-to-back hit with Amazon’s MGM Creed III in March, which grossed more than $275M.

After standing by the actor in the months since his March 25 arrest, WME continues to represent Majors. His longtime agent, Elan Ruspoli, testified briefly last week in Majors’ defence, the final witness in the nearly two-week trial.

The character was prepared to be one of the big villains of MCU Phases 5 and 6 and was even slated for his own movie in Avengers: Kang Dynasty, which is set for release on May 1, 2026.

The director Destin Daniel Cretton, who also wrote Shang Chi, recently left that film. He is said to be working on other Marvel projects. It is unknown whether Marvel will keep the Kang character with another actor in the role or not. Michael Waldron was recently signed on to write Avengers: Kang Dynasty. Given the situation with Majors, the Loki season 1 showrunner was brought on board to rewrite the upcoming Avengers movies.

The Loki season 2 finale seemed to leave the fate of Kang the Conqueror and his variant up in the air. This isn’t the first time the studio has had to replace actors in a particular role. Terrence Howard was cast as Rhodey in Iron Man very early in the MCU.

Negotiations broke down with Howard about the sequel, and Don Cheadle, who played Rhodey in this year’s Disney+ series Secret Invasion, stepped in to fill the role in the MCU.

Before his arrest in March, Majors was looking forward to a great 2023. Before Ant-Man and Creed III, Majors received rave reviews for the Sundance drama Magazine Dreams. In it, he played a confused amateur bodybuilder. Searchlight has slated the film for a December 8 theatrical release and awards season. But the Disney-owned label pulled it from theatres in October. The film’s fate and whether Hulu will stream it have yet to be revealed.

Shortly after his arrest, Majors was fired by his manager, 360 Entertainment, and The Lede Company as well. The actor, who is nominated for a 2021 Primetime Emmy Award for HBO’s Lovecraft Country, has also been fired from numerous projects. Among them is the feature film adaptation of Walter Mosley’s novel The Man in My Basement by Protagonist Pictures. From the advertising campaign of the Texas Rangers MLB team. As well as the yet-to-be-announced Otis Redding biopic, which the actor received from Fifth Season.

Source: BBC