Will Jonathan Majors’ assault charges impact his career?

Last week, Jonathan Majors was being anointed as one of Hollywood’s next big stars.

Major was both a box office hit and a critic’s darling, starring in blockbusters like the Rocky sequel “Creed III” and indie film “Magazine Dreams,” which premiered to raves at Sundance. His casting as a new Marvel supervillain, Kang the Conqueror, both pushed the franchise forward in terms of representation and delighted critics and fans. Earlier this month, Majors even presented at the Oscars alongside his “Creed” director Michael B. Jordan. If Majors got coverage for anything other than his good looks and great talent, it was his long-running habit of carrying his own personal ceramic cup as a kind of safety blanket.

On Saturday, that meteoric rise came crashing down to earth.

According to police, Majors was charged with strangulation, assault and harassment following an alleged domestic dispute with a 30-year-old woman at an apartment in New York. An NYPD spokesperson said that officers responded to a 911 call around 11 a.m., and that the woman “informed police she was assaulted.” The woman sustained minor injuries to her head and neck and was taken to a hospital in stable condition, said the spokesperson. A 33-year-old male — identified as Majors — was arrested “without incident.” He was released later that day.

In a statement, Majors’ lawyer, Priya Chaudhry said that Majors is “completely innocent, and provably the victim of an altercation with a woman he knows.” The Los Angeles Times reported that Chaudhry said her team have two written statements from his accuser, recanting the accusations.

Reactions to the allegations against Majors have been swift.

On Sunday afternoon, the U.S. army, who were running a campaign starring Majors, announced it was pausing the ads. “While Mr. Majors is innocent until proven guilty, prudence dictates that we pull our ads until the investigation into these allegations is complete,” a spokesperson said.

On social media, two separate directors seemed to indicate that the accusations were part of a larger pattern of alleged bad behaviour from Majors.

In February, A.B. Allen, a filmmaker and cinematographer, posted a cryptic message to Twitter about a “relatively new on the scene actor who Twitter has fallen violently fallen head over heels for” but who is actually “a vicious, cruel, abusive human being, both professionally and in his personal life.” (It’s not immediately clear how Allen knows Majors.)

When news about Majors’ arrest broke, a Twitter user screenshotted that tweet, commenting: “Now we know who this tweet was about.” With a now-deleted retweet, Allen wrote: “DingDingDingDing.”

(Allen later apologized for being “overly flippant,” and said that he had not realized the “brutal” nature of the allegations. “Everything I’ve known about has not been physical,” Allen, whose profile is now private, wrote.)

Another director, Broadway veteran Tim Nicolai also spoke out on Twitter. “Folks at Yale and the broader NYC community have known about (Majors) for years,” he wrote, in part. “He’s a sociopath and abuser and that is how virtually everyone speaks about him.” (Nicolai’s profile is now private.)

The allegations against Majors are extremely serious, but it’s impossible to ignore the multimillion-dollar elephant in the box office: Hollywood, and Marvel Studios, have bet big on their star.

After a string of superhero flops, Majors is supposed to be the flag-bearer for the next wave of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

His Kang the Conqueror villain, seen in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” is billed as the new “big bad” — the equivalent to Thanos in “The Avengers” movies with a multi-movie arc. There must be some very tense boardroom conversations happening right now at Walt Disney Corporation, which owns Marvel Studios.

Hollywood has bet its future on superhero franchises — and now they’re finding out what happens when its “superheroes” prove to be all too human.

Majors and Marvel are the most recent example, but DC Studios recently faced a similar situation with Ezra Miller, the star of its forthcoming, much-hyped “The Flash.”

Miller has faced a series of controversies, including allegations of physical assault, grooming minors and emotional abuse. In March 2022, Miller was arrested for disorderly conduct and harassment; the following month, Miller was arrested for second-degree assault after allegedly throwing a chair at a woman. In August 2022, Miller issued an apology to anyone who had been “upset” by their behaviour, stating they were receiving treatment for “complex mental health issues.” (Miller identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns.)

At times, it looked like “The Flash” was destined to live in movie limbo; its original release date was Novemer 2022. So far, however, the studio has stood by Miller, and the film — which had an estimated budget of USD $200 million — is scheduled for a June 2023 release. This may be a testament to the studio’s faith in the project — or it’s an indication of the size of their bet, and the corner it has painted them into.

To further delay, or not release, the film may simply not be a financially viable option, given the state of the movie business: 2022 marked the worst year at the box office since 1998 — and that’s with the success of “Top Gun: Maverick.”

Since Charlie Chaplin first twirled his cane, Hollywood has built tent-pole film franchises around the box-office draw of its actors.

What’s different now is that the tent is increasingly fragile, and the winds of scandal can be enough to bring it down. Consider “Emancipation,” Apple’s 2022 Will Smith movie. Pre-slap, Apple had aspirations of Oscars glory; post-slap, the film disappeared.

An alleged incident like Majors’ has the potential for a blockbuster-sized disaster. Rather than embark on an expensive recasting process, a studio is more likely to invest further in a public-relations campaign to rehabilitate a star’s image — particularly if the allegations are dropped.

While allegations against Major have yet to be proven in court, and Marvel’s plans remain unclear, one thing is certain: Hollywood’s happy ending has never been more uncertain.

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