The trailer for Loki season two just dropped, and lo and behold, Jonathan Majors is still in the show. Loki is one of the very few Marvel properties that I’ve truly enjoyed, and the new season does look pretty appealing, especially with the addition of Everything Everywhere All at Once star Ke Huy Quan as the Time Variance Authority’s repair guy (I am an easily baited Asian). However, to nobody’s surprise, Majors is reprising his role as who-knows-how-many Kang variants in Loki season two, and that’s putting me off in a big way.
If you missed the news, Majors was arrested in March over charges of strangulation, assault and harassment, and later dropped by his PR agency and talent manager. His trial is set for August 3, just days after the Loki trailer was released. It seems Disney was keenly aware of this when cutting together the trailer, since we only see Majors in a single shot, saying a single line. Quan, in comparison, features heavily, since he’s a beloved star with cultural clout who has never been arrested for assault. It’s almost like it’s mitigating risk, saying to viewers that yes, there’s still an antagonist whose actor has been accused of beating women, but the show isn’t about him, so please don’t worry!
Majors was always going to be in Loki. His return was teased in the first season’s finale and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania’s post-credits scene, and it’s likely that season two had already been filmed when the allegations came out. Majors’ character Kang was set to be the next Thanos of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the role would likely have propelled him to superstardom the way it did his predecessors. Marvel has yet to make any comment on whether he’ll be recast, and I suspect it’s waiting for his trial to end before it decides. If he’s convicted, he faces jail time, which would throw Disney’s plans for Marvel in disarray. If he’s not, well, they’ll probably just hope everybody forgets about it.
It wouldn’t be the first time Disney swept abuse allegations under the rug. Just look at the most boring Avenger, Hawkeye, AKA Jeremy Renner. In 2019, Renner’s ex-wife accused him of physical abuse, threatening to kill her, and abusing their daughter physically, emotionally, and sexually. Renner, of course, denied the allegations and continued to be part of the MCU until 2021 and even got his own Disney+ show. You’ll find a paragraph on his Wikipedia page detailing his snowplow accident earlier this year, but nothing about the accusations his wife made against him. Disney has the power to shape the narratives around its stars, and trust me when I say it’s not using its power for good.
I don’t care if Majors is recast, because I don’t care about Marvel’s success – I care only in the sense that I think abusers shouldn’t be given stardom and money by one of the world’s biggest media franchises. If Majors is convicted, I hope this is the last nail in the coffin for Marvel, which has already begun stuttering in the wake of audience burnout over less-than-good superhero movies. It’s just another deeply depressing reminder that Disney’s number one priority will forever be money. It doesn’t care how many people in Hollywood are abusive, as long as it continues to rake in the big bucks.