Amid the turbulence that’s followed the March arrest of Jonathan Majors, one of the biggest questions that’s followed the fast-rising actor’s case is what exactly its impact will have on the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Since he was cast as “He Who Remains” in Season 1 of Disney+’s Loki, the 34-year-old Majors has been primed by the studio to be the MCU’s next Big Bad. That was emphatically made clear at San Diego Comic-Con in July, 2022, when Marvel chief announced 2026’s Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and 2027’s The Secret Wars, which would both pit Majors’ potent Kang the Conqueror against their most high-profile superheroes.
Majors officially became Kang (and his many variants) in February’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, just weeks before he was arrested on assault, strangulation and harassment charges that stemmed from a dispute from a 30-year-old woman in New York City. He was subsequently dropped by his management and PR companies and cut from the upcoming film The Man in My Basement, the U.S. Army pulled ads in which he was featured, the Met Gala rescinded his invitation and Rolling Stone published a damning exposé alleging a decade-long pattern of abusive behavior. An April report from Variety noted multiple alleged victims of the actor have come forward since his arrest and are cooperating with the Manhattan D.A.’s office.
Marvel has remained mum on the situation as his criminal case has taken a series of turns, with the trial delayed three times and the actor now due in court Oct. 25.
But with a second season of Loki premiering this week, we asked executive producer Kevin Wright if the developments around Majors — set to play Victor Timely, a divergent of Kang — impacted his role in the series.
“No,” he told Yahoo Entertainment during a virtual interview Monday.
“This is maybe the only show or movie in the history of Marvel that had zero additional photography. So Victor Timely, that character, that story, was something we had been wanting to tell for a while and we were excited to tell it this season when we went to shoot it, we shot it and it’s all there on screen. But that’s the story we wanted to tell. And that’s what’s onscreen.”
Reading between the lines: Marvel appears to be letting the Majors case play out until they dramatically alter their own timeline.
Though Majors is largely absent from the series’ first two episodes, Timely does become a major presence beginning in the new season’s third episode, as Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Mobius (Owen Wilson) travel back in time to find the rogue TSA hunter Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha Raw).
Wright previously discussed the role of Timely in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, indicating he would remain a vital character.
“Victor Timely is somebody that we are very, very excited about,” he said. “When you look at Kang, he has a very funny comic backstory. He has all these iterations. Timely was one that we’ve always wanted to do in Loki. And I think we’re really excited about how that integrates into the season. It’s a big part of the show.”
Majors has maintained his innocence since his arrest, while his attorney has claimed the woman involved has recanted the allegations.
Loki Season 2 premieres Oct. 5 on Disney+.
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