Kang Is Likely Out, but Adapting a Controversial Marvel Story Can Save the MCU

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is currently in a bit of disarray, as the planned “Multiverse Saga” has most definitely not panned out as planned. The general reception of the shared universe has seen a major downturn compared to its heyday, and the planned overarching villain, Kang the Conqueror, has been both a thematic dud and a legal entanglement. Now, actor Jonathan Majors is done in the role, which itself may be wrapped up in the grand scheme of the MCU. This means that Marvel Studios will need a new overarching theme, and adapting one story from the comics in particular can provide this.

House of M was a storyline that envisioned a topsy-turvy Marvel Universe, one in which mutants ruled while normal humans were the oppressed class. This reality was inadvertently created by Wanda Maximoff aka the Scarlet Witch. Using a version of the story in the MCU can bring that character back, all the while finally integrating a version of the X-Men while using the multiverse concept in a more organic way.

Kang Is Likely Done In the MCU

Introduced properly in 2023’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Kang the Conqueror was meant to be the Multiverse Saga’s equivalent to Thanos, the main villain of the Infinity Saga. Unfortunately, he was the exact opposite of Thanos, in all the worst ways. The threat of Thanos was built up across several movies from Phases 1 through 3, and it only reached its climax at the end of Phase 3 with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. On the other hand, Kang had none of this build-up, with a true version of the villain completely absent in Phase 4. Kang debuted in the theatrical start of Phase 5, but this only set him up for failure.

Quantumania as a whole was seen as a major disappointment, and it was the first post-COVID MCU movie to truly flop at the box office. Kang’s presence was namely criticized, with the threat he reportedly posed not matching up with his actual portrayal. He lost to essentially the weakest of the Avengers, barely even getting away unscathed from a fist fight against him. Conversely, he was defeated by giant ants, giving the new major foe in the MCU a rather laughable loss. Some even found issue with the movie’s post-credits scene, which had several Kang variants behaving in an outright buffoonish manner.

This less-than fearsome take on Kang is only matched by the real-world issues of the actor portraying him. Jonathan Majors was charged with domestic abuse in the middle of 2023, and he’s now been found guilty of those same charges. This came after the release of Loki Season 2, where the overarching narrative was seemingly established to pivot away from Kang. Now, Majors has been fired by Disney and Marvel Studios, and with him gone, Kang’s future is questionable. A potential recast is an option, but given the poor reception to the character so far, it might be better to drop him entirely. This leaves the door open for a much different direction for the MCU.

House of M Can Bring Back a Fan-Favorite MCU Heroine

As mentioned, the comic book storyline House of M was a major event which eventually rocked the foundation of the X-Men corner of the Marvel Universe. It begins with the psychologically unstable Wanda Maximoff activating her out of control powers on a massive scale. This saw reality warped to the nth degree, as mutants were now the prevailing form of humanoid life, while regular humans were treated as second-class citizens. The exceptions were Carol Danvers, who existed as the major hero Captain Marvel (at the time, she was only known as Ms. Marvel), as well as Spider-Man, who was married to Gwen Stacy and believed by many to be a mutant. The story ends with a traumatized Scarlet Witch changing reality once more, with her wish of “no more mutants” rendering the majority of mutants in the restored Marvel Universe powerless.

Currently, Scarlet Witch is dead in the Marvel Universe following the events of Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness. That movie already cast her as a villain, and it might be explained that her questionable actions go back much further. After all, mutants are only now becoming something of a thing in the MCU, and the X-Men are nowhere around yet. Conversely, crossovers with the Fox X-Men movies are only happening now, with some fans hoping that a variation of the Avengers vs. X-Men storyline will be adapted. That could happen if Wanda comes back and enacts her powers on a grand scale, uniting the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the cinematic Marvel heroes who first hit the big screen in 2000.

House of M Can Give the Fox X-Men a True Grand Finale

The best way to handle the House of M storyline on the big screen is to draw from the cast of the Fox X-Men movies. This can include not only the Hugh Jackman version of Wolverine, but also others such as James Marsden’s Cyclops. It can even be a way to bring back other MCU icons, including Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man and Chris Evans’ Captain America. Most importantly, however, the Fox movie characters need to be given one epic final adventure, especially for those who never got a major push in those movies. This can include Cyclops, Colossus and even Jean Grey, whose persona as the Phoenix is eerily similar to Wanda’s more villainous incarnation.

In a way, it can preview what the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe might look like. Mutant characters will be the priority, whereas heroes associated with the Avengers or other groups will have their roles diminished somewhat. In a way, it can both open a potential narrative door for a likely rebooted MCU while also acting as a goodbye to the original movie incarnation of the X-Men. Long before Iron Man and Avengers came out, the Fox X-Men movies — along with the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies from Sony — revived the superhero movie genre. Thus, a fitting farewell to the former series is only appropriate, especially if it leads to some sort of multiversal war between the Avengers and the X-Men. Regardless of whether that happens, adapting House of M and utilizing the Fox movie cast can also pay off the Multiverse Saga’s potential in an organic way.

House of M Can Redeem the Muddled Multiverse Saga

One big issue with the Multiverse Saga is its very premise. While multiverses work in comic books, the idea might not be great for long-form storytelling across multiple movies with disparate characters and concepts. For one, it removes stakes and tension, namely because characters can now be pulled from the multiverse if they’ve previously died. Likewise, it’s such a grandiose concept that it’s simply not relatable, especially when tied to such lackluster villains as Kang the Conqueror. On the other hand, the one truly successful use of the idea on the big screen within the Marvel Cinematic Universe was Spider-Man: No Way Home.

It’s inarguable that a lot of the movie’s success was due to nostalgia generated by the presence of Spider-Men and villains from previous, non-MCU Spider-Man movies. At the end of the day, these connections made the movie’s central turmoil more relatable. It was far more grounded than a miasma of alternate universes and stuck to one single world, albeit with recognizable variants. House of M can do the same thing, and it’s honestly a much stronger narrative idea than even Avengers: Secret Wars or the now renamed Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. One major change can be that, instead of wishing away mutants, Scarlet Witch’s powers do away with the multiverse. This would provide for fitting fanservice and redemption, all the while doing away with a concept that simply isn’t working in the MCU.