Kang the Conqueror is considered the central villain of the MCU Multiverse Saga. However, actor Jonathan Majors's personal life troubles forced Marvel Studios to change its plans, removing Kang's name from future plans.
Although the void left by Kang is huge, Marvel immediately brought a solution by bringing 4 super villains into the MCU. Besides the return of Robert Downey Jr. in the role of Doctor Doom – the “final boss” of the Multiverse Saga; The audience also gets to meet Ultron – the defeated general of the Avengers, Kingpin – the new boss of New York City, and the planet-eater Galactus. These are all the most famous villains in the original Marvel comics, and are big enough to be on par with Thanos or Kang the Conqueror.
Decode the 4 new super villains of the MCU
In recent months, Marvel Studios has confirmed that there will be at least four major villains appearing in phase 6 (starting in 2026) of the MCU. Fans have already met two of these four characters through previous projects, including Kingpin (played by Vincent D'Onofrio) and Ultron (James Spader).
Kingpin is considered Marvel's “street Thanos”, with vision and ambition not inferior to the crazy Titan, but operates on a smaller scale, usually in New York City. He is a great enemy of superheroes like Spider-Man, Daredevil or the Defenders, and has appeared in projects such as the Hawkeye series, Echo or the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again. Meanwhile, Ultron, the main villain in the blockbuster Avengers: Age of Ultron, will return to the screen in Marvel Studios' VisionQuest series.
Galactus, played by Ralph Ineson, will make his MCU debut in the blockbuster The Fantastic Four: First Steps – a film that will be set in an alternate reality of the Marvel multiverse. There have been theories that Galactus will destroy the Fantastic Four's homeworld, forcing them to “migrate” to Earth-616, the main MCU timeline.
Finally, Victor von Doom/Doctor Doom will take on the role left by Kang the Conqueror, and will be played by Marvel Studios' “acquaintance” – Robert Downey Jr. Some sources said that Doom will have a cameo in the blockbuster The Fantastic Four: First Steps, before becoming the central villain in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Other potential MCU villains
It seems that just exploiting 4 super villains is not enough, Marvel Studios' list of future projects shows that they still have many other surprises for the audience. Among them are names such as the devil Mephisto – who was recently mentioned in the Agatha All Along series; or Norman Osborn, another version of Green Goblin, will debut in the animated project Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, played by Colman Domingo.
Looking a little broader, the MCU can also “borrow” a villain from Sony Pictures' SpiderVerse cinematic universe. That is Knull, the father of all cosmic parasites, and will officially step onto the silver screen in the blockbuster Venom: The Last Dance. Sony has confirmed that this project is just the beginning of Knull, and if they continue to cooperate with Marvel Studios in exploiting the image of Spider-Man, the prospect of Knull traveling to the MCU in the future is complete. It's all possible.
Finally, recently, Josh Brolin, the actor who played Thanos, also opened up about his return as the crazy Titan. Avengers: Secret Wars is the largest-scale blockbuster that Marvel Studios has ever made, and is also an opportunity for them to exploit more versions of familiar characters from the past. Marvel's two most familiar faces, Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr., are both back in different roles.
Why does the MCU need many different villains after Kang's departure?
Exploiting a series of different villains simultaneously, while the Multiverse Saga will end in about 3 years, seems to be a somewhat greedy decision by Marvel Studios. However, if you look at the overall picture of the MCU, this may be one of Marvel's most correct and ambitious decisions ever.
First of all, they need a large number of villains to replace the many other variations of Kang the Conqueror. According to the original plan, the fifth Avengers movie was titled The Kang Dynasty, and would revolve around the battle between the Avengers and many versions of Kang – which was “teased” in Ant's credits. -Man & the Wasp: Quantumania. Therefore, removing Kang's name from future Marvel projects is not simply eliminating a single villain, but a whole council of many villains. That is why this studio needs to exploit many different villains at the same time.
Second, based on the original work, Secret Wars will be a battle between many variations of both superheroes and supervillains in the Marvel multiverse. Therefore, they need a large number of characters, on both the positive and negative sides, to be able to bring about the largest, most epic battle. And balancing the screen time and roles of each character will be assigned to the directors Russo brothers, the duo behind the success of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
Finally, there has been information that the MCU will be rebooted after the Secret Wars event, reducing all timelines in the multiverse to a single reality. All the big villains coming to the screen could be preparation for the future of the MCU, allowing Marvel Studios to explore many different story lines. More than anyone else, they understand the pressure they will face after a big project like Secret Wars. That's why Marvel is “hesitating”, preparing for the further future, when the Multiverse Saga is about to come to an end.
Source: ScreenRant