Marvel Studios fired Jonathan Majors after a guilty verdict for harassment, assault
Marvel Studios fired Jonathan Majors after a guilty verdict for harassment, assault- Since his arrest, Majors has lost several contracts, in addition to projects already in development, and his public relations team dropped him from The Man in My Basement.
By Megan Sauer
Following the verdict against the actor Jonathan Majors, it seems that Marvel Studios has parted ways with the actor.
Majors was arrested on March 25 on charges of assault and harassment, after his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari accused him of assaulting her in the back seat of a private car after she took his phone to read a text message she had received from another woman.
Jabbari alleged that Majors forcibly took her phone from her, causing a painful injury to her right middle finger, as well as injuries to her right ear.
The end of Majors as Kang The Conqueror
According to information from Variety, Marvel Studios has put an end to the contract of Jonathan Majors, the actor chosen to play Kang, the antagonist central of the Multiverse saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, after he was found guilty on December 18 of two minor crimes of harassment and assault against Jabbari.
In the verdict, Majors was also found not guilty of one count of third-degree intentional assault and one count of second-degree aggravated harassment. The 34-year-old actor denied assaulting Jabbari. His defense team has alleged that she was the aggressor when she took his phone.
During the nearly two-week trial, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office released a series of disturbing text messages between Majors and Jabbari. It also released an audio recording that was used as evidence, including messages in which Majors apparently tried to persuade Jabbari to not go to the hospital after a head injury and a message in which Majors threatened to commit suicide.
In the audio recording, Majors tells Jabbari that he needs to act like Corretta Scott King and Michelle Obama, because he is “a great man” and that he is “doing great things, not just for me, but for my culture and the world.”
Since his arrest, Majors lost several contracts, in addition to projects that were already in development, and his public relations team dropped him from the film The Man in My BasementThe Man in My Basement also stood out in two popular films of 2023, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Lovecraft Country.
Majors’ career in Hollywood was on the rise before this scandal. The Emmy-nominated actor for Creed III, in addition to the independent film Magazine Dreams, acquired by Searchlight Pictures at the Sundance Film Festival this year, but after the scandal, the studio removed the project from its release schedule.
The US Army also ran a major advertising campaign featuring Majors, as did the Texas Rangers baseball team, both of which have since been canceled.
Several other projects involving Majors, including Da Understudy by Spike Lee for Amazon and the Dennis Rodman movie 48 Hours in Vegas for Lionsgate, remain in limbo. The actor’s sentencing is scheduled for February 6, 2024, and Majors could face up to a year in prison on these charges.
Marvel Studios’ decision
Charges related to this case were filed by the state of New York, and according to reports in April, several additional alleged victims of abuse by Majors came forward to cooperate with the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
Manhattan District Attorney Michael Perez argued during opening statements at the trial that Majors displayed a “pattern of cruel and manipulative abuse” in his relationship with Grace Jabbari, whom he met on the set of Quantumania. Majors pleaded not guilty to all charges.
According to reliable and exclusive sources from Variety, Marvel’s decision to cut ties with the actor comes as a result of his arrest in March and today’s verdict.
He first played a version of the villain Kang in the season one finale of Loki, an episode that established the main narrative engine for the advancement of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the character of Majors as the fundamental figure in the future of the franchise.
It’s unclear at this time whether Majors’ role as Kang the Conqueror, as well as his later variants from across the Marvel multiverse, will be recast, or if Marvel will move away from the character entirely.
In the wake of the arrest, previous reports indicate that the studio is looking to move away from the character and toward another Marvel Comics villain like Doctor Doom. Prior to the controversy, Majors was expected to reprise his role in the fifth Avengers film (initially titled Avengers: Kang Dynasty), as well as 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars.
The actor appeared twice this year in the MCU as Kang The Conqueror, first in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and as Victor Timely and He Who Remains in the second season of Loki, both filmed before his arrest.
Marvel Studios’ decision comes after several entertainment companies parted ways with Majors shortly after news of the arrest. Majors was also cut from two upcoming films:
The Man in My Basement and an as-yet-untitled Otis Redding biopic, as well as from advertising campaigns involving the Texas Rangers of the MLB and the United States Army. The boxing drama starring Majors, Magazine Dreams, was originally scheduled to be released in theaters on December 8, but Disney delayed it indefinitely.
