Colman Domingo revealed on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast that he met with Marvel executives to discuss the onslaught of rumors claiming the studio wanted him to replace Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conquerer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Majors’ villain was supposed to be the next Thanos-like villain of the MCU. The actor appeared as Kang in 2023’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” and Marvel had a major story arc mapped out for the villain that was supposed to include 2026’s “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.” But Majors got dropped by Marvel in December 2023 after he was convicted of assaulting his ex-girlfriend. Before Marvel revealed that it would scrap Kang and introduce Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom, rumors circulated online that Domingo was being discussed as a replacement for Majors so that the Kang storyline could be salvaged.
“When it was constantly in the press and on places like Twitter, I was like, ‘Wait a minute. Is this true? Am I being talked about for Kang?’” Domingo told “Happy Sad Confused” host Josh Horowitz. “I literally called up my team and said, ‘Are you guys having conversations that I have no idea about?’ And they said no. ‘Are you guys being cagey or what?’ They weren’t.”
“There had been conversations of me coming into Marvel in some way, so we did follow-up with a sit-down meeting with the heads of Marvel. I did do that,” the actor continued. “We talked openly about the landscape of Marvel and the Kang rumors. I am all about energy. I want to do things that make sense and bring gentle energy. I want a role to be mine, whatever I develop. Something didn’t feel right to me about replacing someone. I want to build something from the ground up that is my own.”
Domingo stressed that the Kang rumors were “never a conversation from my point of view,” adding, “I want to build something from the ground up, so there still are talks.”
Marvel ultimately decided not to recast Kang but to overhaul its story plans and introduce Doctor Doom as the new Thanos-like villain for the Avengers to face off against. Majors told TMZ shortly after Downey’s casting as Doom was announced that he was “heartbroken” over the decision.”
Watch Domingo’s full interview on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast in the video below.
