The Marvel Cinematic Universe started with the first Iron Man film featuring Robert Downey Jr., something that even Disney had little hope for. But today, it stands as one of the biggest cinematic franchises in history. Despite its exceptional reputation, though, there are still many uncontrollable factors that may make or break the smoothness of its continuity.

Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man in the MCU

The latest addition to that factor has been the legal case that was filed against Jonathan Majors, who plays Kang The Conquerer in the franchise, for domestic abuse with his ex-girlfriend. And since he’s declared guilty in the case, Marvel Studios has decided to drop him as the face of the main antagonist of Phases 5 and 6.

But with this news, there has also been a development in the title of the upcoming Avengers film, which might hint at RDJ’s return to the franchise as Doctor Doom.

Robert Downey Jr. Or Cillian Murphy May Be Introduced As Doctor Doom In The MCUCillian Murphy

As the legal dispute between Jonathan Majors, who is accused of being the culprit in the domestic abuse allegations made by the accuser, and his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari comes to a close, Marvel Studios was ready to take any necessary action ASAP. With the verdict shifting in favor of Jabbari and Majors being declared guilty, the company dropped the star as their franchise’s main antagonist.

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Naturally, removing the big baddie’s face from the franchise going forward will cause ripples across the entire narrative of the MCU’s future. One of the major changes that has already been initiated is the change of names that the projects in the cinematic universe. And not just a minor project, but the name of the upcoming fifth Avengers film, which was titled The Kang Dynasty, is now being changed to just Avengers 5.

This development has caused many speculations to surface, one of which is related to the complete elimination of the character Kang The Conquerer, which was Majors’ role in the past, from the narrative of the franchise. Some have also speculated that we may see a replacement for the star as the face of Kang in the future.

But this has also resurfaced previous theories from the Multiverse, which suggest that Robert Downey Jr. may make his return to the MCU as a Doctor Doom variant. Along with that, many rumors also suggest that Cillian Murphy, popular for portraying Thomas Shelby on Peaky Blinders, may make his MCU debut as the aforementioned villain, possibly the main villain, of the cinematic universe after Kang’s alleged elimination.

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What’s Next For The MCU?Jonathan Majors as He Who Remains in a still from Loki

As the MCU now faces unforeseen circumstances, it has a lot of predictable ways to handle the situation or take a high-risk gamble for the future.

The first and easiest way to handle this situation will be to just replace the face of Kang with a new star for the rest of Phases 5 and 6 of the MCU. Since it was already established that variants do not necessarily have to look the same across the Multiverse, it’s a relatively simple fix.

The other, more risky method would be to remove the character entirely from the MCU and replace him with Doctor Doom, which may deconstruct everything that happened up until this point in the new phase and make the preceding films potentially irrelevant in the process.