Following the firing of one of its lead actors, Marvel has made a major change to the latest film in the Avengers series.
The fifth movie in the Avengers franchise hasn't even started filming yet and it's already been faced with a load of behind-the-scenes changes.
First, director Destin Daniel Cretton left the movie in November of last year.
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Then, Michael Waldron – who is also writing Avengers: Secret Wars – joined the movie as a writer, taking over from Jeff Loveness.
But, the biggest change happened when Jonathan Majors was dropped by Marvel on December 18.
The actor, who was set to reprise his role of Kang the Conqueror, was fired after he was found guilty of two misdemeanor counts of assault and harassment against his ex-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari.
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Majors played the character in both seasons of Loki and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.
His firing left Marvel in a bit of a pickle. As well as Kang being set up as the new big bad supervillain of the Marvel Comic Universe, the fifth Avengers movie, that was known officially as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, had lost its Kang.
It has since been confirmed that the Marvel team are rewriting the movie accordingly, which will either greatly minimize or completely get rid of the character.
On top of this, it has been announced that Avengers 5 will no longer feature Kang's name, although a new title is yet to be released.
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The film, which will be the first in a two-part finale to the Avengers franchise, is set to hit US theaters on May 1, 2026, a one-year move from its initial release date of May 2, 2025. Although, given the major behind-the-scenes issues it's faced, the delay is understandable.
The second part, Avengers: Secret Wars, will be released in 2027.
While little is known about the synopsis post-Majors' firing, it sounds like Chris Hemsworth will be making an appearance as Thor, at least if his 2022 interview with Wired is anything to go by.
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Discussing the early days of the franchise, the Australian actor said: "I didn't really know, none of us did, if it was gonna work, or if there was gonna be an extension beyond that first film into Thor 2, 3, 4 or Avengers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
"It was all just an idea and a dream. And one that I was on board with."
Topics: Film and TV, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avengers
Bec Oakes