Kang Actor Jonathan Majors Fired by Marvel

Majors had played He Who Remains/Kang the Conqueror in several Marvel projects and had been penciled in to appear in future movies for the company.

He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) in Marvel Studios' 'Loki,' exclusively on Disney+.

Preview:

Jonathan Majors has been found guilty of Misdemeanor Assault.
Marvel has announced that the actor is no longer working on its projects.
The trial even before the verdict has had a negative impact on his career.

There was a time when Jonathan Majors was a rising star who looked to be the Next Big Thing. He had been praised for his work in movies such as 2019’s ‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco’, 2020’s ‘Da 5 Bloods’ and had serious buzz off indie movie ‘Magazine Dreams’, which scored praise at Sundance this year.

And then there was the tag-team kudos from his role as Kang (and variants) in Marvel shows and movies such as ‘Loki’ Season 1 and ‘Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania’, with the studio betting big on his character for future projects, and his performance in ‘Creed III’.

Now? All seems to have gone very wrong for the actor.

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Jonathan Majors: Trial and Verdict

Jonathan Majors stars as Damian Anderson in 'Creed III,' A Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film.
Photo credit: Eli Ade. © 2023 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved
Creed is a trademark of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Majors was arrested back in March on several assault and harassment charges. In the complaint, his accuser claims the defendant “struck her about the face with an open hand, causing substantial pain and a laceration behind her ear.” She also claims he “put his hand on her neck, causing bruising and substantial pain.”

He was charged with several counts of assault in the third degree, three counts of attempted assault in the third degree, one count of aggravated harassment in the second degree, and one count harassment in the second degree.

Neither he nor his accuser testified during the nearly two-week trial, and he was today convicted of assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari. A Manhattan jury found the actor guilty of two misdemeanor counts of harassment and assault but acquitted him on two other counts.

The six-person jury found Majors not guilty on one count of intentional assault in the third degree and one count of aggravated harassment in the second degree. He’ll be sentenced on February 6th, with the potential of up to a year in jail, which could be reduced to probation.

Jonathan Majors Dropped by Marvel

Jonathan Majors as Kang The Conqueror in Marvel Studios' 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.'

Marvel, via a spokesperson has announced that it is severing ties with the actor following the verdict, which means plans for him to feature in ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’ have been scrubbed.

What exactly Marvel will do about the movie remains to be seen, though it’s worth noting that it’s in need of a director after ‘Shang-Chi’ filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton stepped away to focus on other projects.

As for Kang, whether the character will simply disappear, or the company plans to re-cast the role remains to be seen for now.

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Jonathan Majors: Other Career Impacts

Jonathan Majors stars as Damian Anderson in 'Creed III,' a Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film. Photo credit: Ser Baffo. © 2022 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved
Creed is a trademark of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Disney’s Searchlight arm had picked up ‘Magazine Dreams’ at Sundance for a sizeable (though not officially disclosed) sum and was planning to release it this month. But the movie is now off the schedule for the foreseeable future.

As the trial continued, Majors was fired by his manager 360 Entertainment and publicist The Lede Company. The actor was also let go from myriad projects including Protagonist Pictures‘ feature adaptation of the Walter Mosley novel, ‘The Man in My Basement’, ad campaigns for the Texas Rangers MLB team and the U.S. Army. Several other projects involving Majors — including Spike Lee’s ‘Da Understudy’ for Amazon and the Dennis Rodman film ‘48 Hours in Vegas’ for Lionsgate — remain in limbo.