Loki Season 2 Already Has What It Needs To Fix Marvel's Jonathan Majors Problem
Marvel has a big Kang-sized problem. The franchise, which turned 15 years old this year, has presented Kang as its next big villain, the successor to Thanos as the guy that will reshape the entire Marvel Universe. Ever since he was introduced in "Loki," Marvel has been slowly building Kang up as a force to be reckoned with in anticipation of being a rare Marvel villain to have a whole movie named after him in "Avengers: Kang Dynasty."
But as exciting as that might have been just a few months ago, things have changed ever since allegations of domestic violence raised questions and concerns about Major's career, with Rolling Stone reporting a pattern of alleged physical and emotional abuse that dates back a decade. This has cast doubts and concerns over the huge role Kang is playing in the future of the MCU.
Now that "Loki," the show that first introduced Kang, is returning for season 2, we may see the seeds planted for a possible solution that still gives audiences a formidable villain, while giving Marvel an out if they want to stop their work with Majors — and it is all based on the comics.
Look to the source
As we wrote back when season 1 first aired, Ravonna's place in the comics starts out with her being a princess from the 40th century whose empire is conquered by Kang, before she eventually falls in love with her conqueror. Due to comic book shenanigans, she is temporarily killed and while she is dead, Kang looks for a way to save her. Eventually, the conqueror is made to choose between saving Ravonna's life or getting powers to kill the Avengers, choosing the latter.
Of course, Ravonna is magically revived, and when she finds out Kang betrayed her for power, she sets out to fight both the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, amassing enough power to defeat Kang and take over his whole empire.
While the Ravonna we meet in "Loki" season 1 is not the same Ravonna from the comics, there is still a way forward. Granted, season 2 already finished filming and there was probably not a lot of time to change course between the recent allegations and now. But there is still time before phase six brings the "Kang Dynasty" and "Secret Wars" in 2026 and 2027 to make Ravonna the true conqueror.
Ravonna Dynasty
We don't know much about "Loki" season 2, but we do know that Gugu Mbatha-Raw teased Ravonna's arc will "go to some deeper, darker places with her as well."
Even if they don't team up or fall in love, it seems likely Ravonna's arc this season will in some way be connected to the story of Kang, while setting her up as a big antagonist to Loki. It isn't out of the question for "Loki" to lose whatever big season-ending teaser to "Kang Dynasty," and for the show to get a third season that fully adapts Ravonna's rise to power. If Marvel is looking to save costs, we could even just see this story play out during post-credits scenes, like a little B-story that shows Ravonna's variants slowly taking over Kang's empire.
Then there's the matter of "Kang Dynasty," named after, well, Kang. The thing is, that is not the character's name, but something he adopts as he becomes a conqueror, so what's stopping Marvel from having Ravonna take over the name without further explanation? The Avengers won't know the difference. And as for the many, many variants of Kang we saw in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," who wouldn't want to see Mbatha-Raw play hundreds of versions of herself? Have her play a bunch of weird variants and call it a day. It fixes the problem of employing an alleged abuser, it gives more screen time to a fantastic actor, and it also follows in the comic book canon. Problem solved.