UPDATE! Jonathan Majors Convicted on Charges of Assault and Harassment; Fired From Upcoming ‘Avengers’ Movies
The verdict has come in for Jonathan Majors following reports of violent earlier this year, and he has been found guilty on multiple charges.
The Hollywood Reporter has broken the news that Jonathan Majors has been convicted on charges of reckless assault in the third degree and harassment, but cleared on charges of intentional assault in the third degree and not guilty of aggravated harassment in second degree. He will be sentenced on February 6, 2024, facing potentially up to a year behind bars, assuming that he does not make an appeal. The charges are the culmination of an incident where Majors was accused of injuring a woman, and was then arrested on March 25, 2023, before previously-concealed allegations about the actor’s behavior came to light.
Prior to allegations of abuse that led to his arrest and subsequent conviction, Jonathan Majors was a rising star in the business. Making his television debut with a recurring role in When We Rise and making a theatrical debut with a supporting role in Hostiles – both released in 2017 – Majors got continued roles in projects such as The Last Black Man in San Francisco and Da 5 Bloods before receiving a true breakout role as the lead of HBO’s Lovecraft Country. He continued to get work in the high-profile Creed III, working alongside friend Michael B. Jordan, who intended to work with him on multiple collaborations afterward. Those plans are now out the window, just as it seems that the Searchlight Pictures-acquired independent film Magazine Dreams, which starred Majors as a committed but mentally-disturbed bodybuilder, has its release left in limbo.
The most high-profile part for Jonathan Majors was Kang the Conqueror, a multiversal warlord introduced in Loki and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. There have been indications that, aside from the next two Avengers movies – The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars – Majors was set to have multiple appearances as Kang’s other variants (or alternate universe counterparts) in an abundance of other projects, with some – including “He Who Remains”, Victor Timely, Immortus, the Scarlet Centurion, Rama-Tut, Mister Gryphon, and more who have yet to be introduced. While there have been indications that Marvel may pivot toward giving the yet-to-appear Doctor Doom a larger role in the story as a result of Majors’s legal battle, the story being told right now is too heavily invested in Kang to simply write the character out, likely warranting a recast (or potentially multiple recasts, as it’s entirely possible that they will not have all versions of Kang played by the same actor).
UPDATE!
Deadline adds that Disney has officially split with Jonathan Majors, according to their contacts with a studio rep. As such, he will not be appearing in future Avengers movies or any Marvel spin-off films, with the fate of the Kang character being unclear. As it stands, the second season finale for Loki has seemingly wrapped up the Kang plotline for the time being, though the post-credits scene for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hyped up a return at some point in the future which it appears will remain unresolved for quite a while.
The upcoming Avengers movies have seen upheaval following the exit of Destin Daniel Cretton, director of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, who has opted to focus on the Wonder Man Disney Plus series and the sequel to Shang-Chi, as well as the exit of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania writer Jeff Loveness on the first of two planned movies. Michael Waldron has taken over on writer of the first film after previously committing to the second. As it stands, neither one of the announced Avengers films has a director.
There is no word on whether or not the Kang roles will be recast at this time, nor word on whether or not Magazine Dreams will see the light of day (most likely via quietly dumping the film on Hulu if it were to happen). One thing is clear, though: the meteoric rise of Jonathan Majors as an actor has come to an end.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
