Loki Writer Reveals Pitch That Would Have Seen The Young Avengers Defeat an Inexperienced Kang Variant in Scrapped Avengers: The Kang Dynasty

Michael Waldron, creator of the MCU show Loki and writer of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, has revealed a pitch he came up with alongside Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania writer Jeff Loveness for a battle that would have taken place in the scrapped Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.

Marvel Studios’ plans for its overarching Avengers-based storyline included Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, but the movie was retooled and renamed amid Kang actor Jonathan Majors’ conviction for assaulting his ex-girlfriend and subsequent firing in 2023.

But the initial idea — indeed the setup from previous MCU movies and shows such as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Loki — was that Kang would be the next big bad after Thanos, and that superheroes would have to battle variants of the character as part of an all-encompassing war.

The plan is very different now. Kang is seemingly forgotten, destined to go down as one of many MCU loose ends, with Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr., drafted in to play Doctor Doom in next year’s Avengers: Doomsday and 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars.

Waldron was one of the writers on Avengers: The Kang Dynasty before moving on to work on Doomsday, and in a recent Reddit AMA, he was asked if there was anything he learnt from those initial drafts of the script that moved over to help him write for the new version, Avengers: Doomsday.

In his response, Waldron revealed a pitch for the Young Avengers to defeat a variant of Kang who would turn out to be… less of a scalp than they’d hoped.

“Jeff Loveness and I spent an afternoon pitching on the Young Avengers defeating a version of Kang and being so stoked about it… only to discover that that particular Kang carried a little card that said to Be Patient with him, it was his first day as a Kang,” he said.

“And then they were so bummed. I think he was gonna be the Lizard Kang from the end of Kang Dynasty? I don’t know. Anyway we had fun.”

The revelation offers a tantalizing glimpse at what might have been, had Avengers: The Kang Dynasty come to fruition. Of course, there’s no guarantee that this fight would have actually made it into the movie — it was a pitch after all — and we don’t know if it was accepted. But the idea to form the Young Avengers and have them fight an inexperienced Kang shows the level of humor Avengers: The Kang Dynasty might have brought to the table.

In July, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige discussed Marvel’s decision to replace Kang as the main villain of Avengers: Doomsday, and said talks with MCU legend Robert Downey Jr. to play Doctor Doom had begun before the departure of Jonathan Majors.

Speaking during a roundtable interview attended by The Hollywood Reporter, Feige said Marvel’s pivot away from Kang had started before “what had happened to the actor happened” — referencing Majors’ legal troubles that ultimately saw him convicted of assault in December 2023, and dropped by Marvel.

Without referencing Majors by name, Feige said that the actor’s departure had not been the sole catalyst for the series’ creative changes. Instead, conversations to bring back Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom had begun before the public release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania — a disappointing entry in the franchise that was largely Kang-focused.

“We had started even before what had happened to the actor happened,” Feige said. “We had started to realize that Kang wasn’t big enough, wasn’t Thanos, and that there was only one character that could be that, because he was that in the comics for decades and decades.

“Because of the Fox acquisition, we finally had it, and it was Dr. Doom. So we had started talking about Dr. Doom even before we officially pivoted from Kang,” Feige continued.

“And in fact, I had started talking with Robert [Downey Jr.] about this audacious idea before Ant-Man 3 even came out. It was a long plan that we had, to take one of our greatest characters and utilize one of our greatest actors.”

It wasn’t until July 2024, at San Diego Comic-Con, that Marvel publicly announced its new plans, with Kang Dynasty retitled Avengers: Doomsday, Downey Jr. revealed as Doctor Doom, and the Russo brothers confirmed as directing both Doomsday and Secret Wars.

It’s still unclear how Kang’s absence in the MCU will be addressed going forward — if at all. The character was last seen in the finale of Disney+ series Loki, in an appearance that brought some closure to one incarnation of the character, while leaving the threat of many other multiversal Kangs (as seen in Quantumania) something of a loose thread. Kang will simply never be mentioned again.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].