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SUMMARY

Jonathan Majors was fired from the Kang role, leaving the MCU without a main villain.
An alternative villain could be Galactus, who devours entire universes in a dark The Fantastic Four theory.
The Fantastic Four may face Galactus in their first movie and then team up with the Avengers to defeat him using the Ultimate Nullifier.

Kang the Conqueror’s future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is up in the air, but a theory from Marvel’s The Fantastic Four presents the perfect replacement for Kang in the Multiverse Saga. Jonathan Majors debuted as Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Both before and after the movie, as well as in its mid-credits scene, the actor played Kang variants from all over the multiverse. While he did a fantastic job of making each Kang variant feel unique, leading to a thrilling buildup to the next Avengers movies, Majors was fired from the Kang role by Marvel.

The reason for Marvel’s decision is that Majors was found guilty on two charges in a domestic assault trial. With Majors out, the MCU is currently without a main villain for the ongoing Multiverse Saga, which only adds to the criticism that the MCU has felt aimless since the end of the Infinity Saga. Marvel’s slate of projects could choose one of two ways: recasting Kang the Conqueror or pivoting to a new villain. The latter connects to a dark The Fantastic Four theory that teases a new multiversal threat to the MCU.

The MCU is bringing a new version of the Fantastic Four as part of its Multiverse Saga, and here’s what you need to know about this reboot.

MCU Theory: Galactus Eats The Fantastic Four’s Universe

The Team Is Rumored To Come From Another Universe

For some time now, The Fantastic Four has been rumored to take place in a different universe. First, the movie was thought to be set in the past, which still seems to be the case, as the official concept art used by Marvel to unveil the cast of The Fantastic Four included teases that the team will be active in the 1960s. However, a character poster for the Human Torch showed the skyline of a retro-futuristic city, making it very hard for the movie to be set in the past of the main MCU timeline.

This is where Kang the Conqueror’s replacement comes in. According to the dark The Fantastic Four ending theory, the team would leave its universe as Galactus eats it, going to the main MCU — Earth-616. Galactus has been confirmed as the main villain of The Fantastic Four, with actor Ralph Ineson cast as the MCU’s Galactus. The Fantastic Four could then almost entirely take place in another universe while the team of heroes rushes against time to stop Galactus, jumping universes when the task becomes impossible. Galactus would then follow the Fantastic Four to the main MCU, becoming an existential threat.

Galactus Eating Entire Universes Makes Him A Bigger Threat Than Kang

A Different Kind Of Multiverse Villain

In Marvel Comics, Galactus is famously known as the “Devourer of Worlds.” However, The Fantastic Four theory claims he could get a power boost in the MCU, traversing the multiverse and devouring entire universes instead of just planets. While the character is extremely different from Kang the Conqueror and thus would not be able to follow the same general plans Marvel had for the Multiverse Saga if Galactus was chosen as Kang’s MCU replacement, the character eating entire universes and coming to the main MCU would create a more immediate threat to the franchise than Kang.

While Majors tried his best to make Kang the Conqueror and some of his variants menacing, his only MCU film as Kang ended up doing the character a disservice by the time it was over. Kang was being touted as the new Thanos of the MCU, a threat not only to the new Avengers and other MCU heroes but to the entire multiverse; however, he was more or less easily defeated by the Ant-Man family. Galactus as a universe-devouring villain would be a much more harrowing threat for the next Avengers movie, bringing major stakes to the MCU.

How The Fantastic Four & Avengers Can Defeat Galactus

Marvel Comics Shows How

Custom Image by Nicolas Ayala

According to the MCU theory, the Fantastic Four would not be able to defeat Galactus in their first movie, hence them going to Earth-616 and him following them. However, Avengers 5 — currently The Kang Dynasty — could have the Fantastic Four get the help of the new Avengers team to stop Galactus. With the combined might of the two teams and Marvel Comics showing a way, the MCU’s heroes should resolve the Galactus threat. Instead of properly beating Galactus as they would another threat, the MCU’s heroes could handle the character by managing to turn him away.

The Avengers and the Fantastic Four could battle Galactus throughout the movie while Reed Richards, the new Black Panther Shuri, and other genius MCU characters assemble a task force to create the MCU’s version of the comics’ Ultimate Nullifier, a weapon of mass destruction that was used to make Galactus cower in fear and run away in his first Marvel Comics appearance. The Fantastic Four would then set up the first joint threat the team would face alongside the Avengers, replacing Kang the Conqueror.