The MCU Just Cast Its Best Kang Replacement

generalize

• Marvel may recast Kang due to doubts about his viability as a villain, and Galactus would be a strong replacement for Phase 6 of the MCU.
• Galactus is a huge and well-known Marvel villain, and unlike Kang, he has the potential to become a recurring threat, ensuring a bigger impact.
• Marvel may turn to making Galactus a major multiverse villain, raising the level of catastrophic threat he poses to future Marvel Cinematic Universe events.

With Jonathan Majors gone, Kang’s future in the MCU remains in question, but thankfully, Marvel just found the best replacement for the villain.Theories and rumors paint a bleak picture Avengers: Kang Dynasty and whether Marvel will move forward with the project as originally planned. It’s one thing for a major star to leave the project (there are plenty of possibilities for Kang to be recast to make the character more appealing), but Kang’s reception in his film debut was lackluster, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantummania There were some doubts about his viability as a villain.

If Marvel decides not to recast Kang and move forward without him as the main villain, then Fantastic Four A suitable alternative may be available. Fantastic Four After MCU Phase 5 ends, MCU Phase 6 will begin Thunder*. The movie is expected to be released in July 2025, and details are just starting to take shape. This includes confirmed cast members, with the most recently announced being John Malkovich in a yet-to-be-revealed role and Ralph Ineson as the giant Astro-Eater.

RELATED Every Upcoming Marvel Movie: Complete MCU Phase 5 & 6 List (and Beyond)

Between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures Entertainment, here are the release dates for each upcoming Marvel movie and what we know about the projects so far.

Galactus is a huge Marvel villain, more famous than Kang

Galactus is one of Marvel’s most iconic villains, and his film career was marred by Marvel’s ill-advised depiction of the villain as a giant space cloud. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. As a result, expectations for Marvel’s undeniably more comic-book depictions are at an all-time high. Kang doesn’t seem to inspire this enthusiasm. Now, more than halfway through the MCU’s multiverse saga, there’s not a single variant of Kang that hasn’t been defeated, which lowers his threat level before he stars in the MCU. Avengers: Kang Dynasty.

Loki
Season 2 established the idea that TVA was dealing with the Kang variant on its own, allowing the Marvel Cinematic Universe to get rid of the villain in this way.

This is not the case for the Devourer, whose threat level is actually self-evident. This is largely due to the villain’s popularity compared to Kang, with Galactus’ size and power making a greater impact than the relatively smaller Kang. With that in mind, the Marvel Cinematic Universe should at least ensure that Galactus isn’t defeated as easily as Kang and survives his debut. Fantastic Four.

Marvel shouldn’t have made Galactus a villain in a movie

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is all too familiar with one-and-done villains. In most cases, this just weakens characters who should be stronger and more memorable than the Marvel Cinematic Universe allows for. Villains like Malekith and Ultron are notable examples, but the same fate won’t befall Galactus. Aside from being a near-omnipotent Goliath with a penchant for planets, Galactus is more of a force of nature than an outright villain whose planet-devouring MO aims to maintain “balanceIn fact, the Fantastic Four were even interested in keeping him in the Marvel comics.

While the same goes for Ultron, Galactus isn’t the kind of villain who should be discarded after appearing once. He’s at least as important to the Marvel Universe as someone like Thanos, who appeared in several of the Infinity Saga movies. Of course, he’s more important than Kang, who was – and probably still is – set to appear in several Legends of the Multiverse movies. With so much controversy surrounding the character now, Marvel could benefit from making Galactus a recurring villain in the multiverse saga, giving the Avengers their biggest challenge yet.

How Marvel made Galactus the multiverse’s main villain

When he appears in Marvel’s upcoming Fantastic Four movie, it’s easy to predict what Galactus’ goal will be – namely to devour a planet that the Fantastic Four don’t want to be eaten (most likely theirs). The world-devourer has behaved in ways that could have disastrous consequences, and Kang has so far failed to inspire a level of fear, but the MCU may be raising his threat level to better fit the multiverse saga.While Devouring Worlds in the same universe is a threat enough, the Marvel Universe is destined to trigger a multiverse event that results in Avengers: Secret Wars.

With that in mind, making Galactus responsible for devouring or destroying entire universes is one way for the Marvel Universe to achieve this goal.Based on this theory Fantastic Four The story could take place in an alternate universe of Earth-616 in the mainline Marvel Cinematic Universe, which could also help move Galactus from the Fantastic Four’s universe to other universes, with the team potentially following a journey into Earth-616 itself. Regardless, the MCU is under intense pressure to do justice to Marvel’s iconic villains, and turning him into a bigger threat than Kang is a sufficient path forward.

• Fantastic Four(2025)

  Marvel’s Fantastic Four is the first Marvel Cinematic Universe film to feature Marvel’s First Family in the same live-action universe as the Avengers. It introduces the Marvel Cinematic Universe versions of Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm, ahead of Phase 6’s Avengers: Reign of Kang and Revenge League of Legends: Secret Wars.

  Director Matt Shakman

  Release date July 25, 2025

  Screenwriters Josh Friedman, Jeff Kaplan, Ian Springer Actors Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn

• Avengers: Kang Dynasty

  “Avengers: The Reign of Kang” is the fifth Avengers movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and will bring together old and new heroes to fight against the all-powerful Kang the Conqueror. “Kang” will also mark the beginning of the sixth phase of the Marvel Universe.

  Director Destin Daniel Cretton

  Release date May 1, 2026

  Screenwriter Michael Waldron Actors Kathryn Newton, Iman Villani, Mark Ruffalo, Hailee Steinfeld, Anthony Mackie, Benedict Wong, Simu Liu, Benedict ·Cumberbatch, Dominic Thorne, Xochitl Gomez, Chris Hemsworth, Brie Larson