Jonathan Majors told TMZ that he’s “heartbroken” over the news that Robert Downey Jr.‘s Doctor Doom will be the new villain of the next two “Avengers” movies, effectively replacing Majors’ Kang the Conquerer.

Majors was dropped by Marvel in December on the same day he was found guilty of two misdemeanor counts of harassment and assault. His villain, Kang, was set up as the new Thanos of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and was set to feature prominently in “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty,” which has now been scrapped and replaced by the Downey-starring “Avengers: Doomsday.”

“Yeah, heartbroken. Of course,” Majors answered when TMZ asked him if he was hurt by the new direction Marvel was taking. “I love Kang. Doctor Doom is wicked, though.”

TMZ then noted that Downey was being given a chance to lead more Marvel movies despite his own history of legal troubles. Downey was arrested in 1996 for possession of heroin, cocaine and an unloaded gun and given three years of probation. He faced numerous other legal issues in the years that followed, which made some Marvel executives apprehensive to cast him as Tony Stark in 2008’s “Iron Man.”

“I think it’s fair that Mr. Downey is being and has been greeted with patience and curiosity and love … and [he’s] being allowed to work [his] art and be creative at that level,” Majors said about how Downey was afforded a comeback despite legal troubles. “I didn’t really get that.”

Would Majors want to return to the MCU as Kang? “Hell yeah! Hell yeah! I love him. I love Kang,” he said. “If that’s what the fans want, and that’s what Marvel wants then let’s roll. Hell yeah.”

Majors was arrested on March 25, 2023 for assault and harassment charges after his then girlfriend Grace Jabbari accused him of assaulting her in the backseat of a private car after she took his phone to read a text message he’d received from another woman. Jabbari alleged that Majors forcefully retrieved his phone from her, causing an “excruciating” injury to her right middle finger, and when she exited the car, Majors hit her on the back of her head and then tried to force her back into the car, causing a cut behind her right ear.

In Majors’ trial verdict, Majors was also found not guilty of one count of intentional assault in the third degree and one count of aggravated harassment in the second degree. After his arrest, Majors was dropped by his talent manager, Entertainment 360, and his publicity firm, the Lede Company.

Downey’s return to the MCU was announced at Comic-Con earlier this month. He will star as Doctor Doom in 2026’s “Avengers: Doomsday” and 2017’s “Avengers: Secret Wars.”

A new trial production line of the electric version of Fiat’s Grande Panda car was inaugurated in Kragujevac last Monday.

Built at the factory known for producing the Italian brand’s vehicles since it was rebranded under Fiat Chrysler — now Stellantis — in 2008, it’s set to become the first-ever electric car to be mass-produced in Serbia, with production expected to begin this October.

Its launch follows a deal on lithium reached with the EU in early July in Belgrade that could reduce Europe’s dependency on China and push Serbia, which has close ties to Moscow and Beijing, closer to Brussels.

That deal, however, has been fiercely criticised by environmentalists and opposition groups in Serbia, who argue it would cause irreversible damage to the environment while bringing little benefit to its citizens.

According to the 2023 US Geological Survey, Serbia is estimated to have around 1.2 million tonnes of lithium reserves, a critical mineral for making electric batteries, as the transition to zero-emission vehicles accelerates.

For Fiat’s Grande Panda vehicle, the Stellantis group said it took two years to adapt the Kragujevac plant so it could produce EVs.

The Grande Panda comes with distinctive LED lights and an interior made using up-cycled materials.

After rolling off the production line in Kragujevac, the cars will be delivered to showrooms in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares says his company is ready to rise to the challenge from Chinese EV makers. “We at Stellantis are ready for the fight,” he says.

“We are going to demonstrate to them that we are hard-working. We are going to demonstrate to them that we have the right technology. We are going to demonstrate to them that we are a very fierce competitor.”

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić was at the inauguration of the new trial production line.

“I congratulate you on this big day. I congratulate everyone in Serbia. I am proud of our Serbia, proud of Fiat, and proud of Stellantis,” he says.

“I am proud of our cooperation, which is not always simple and easy, and we love that fighting spirit that we saw here today. We will not lack that, and we will fight and work hard in order to catch the most developed countries of Europe and the world.”

The Stellantis group, which sold 1.35 million vehicles worldwide last year, recently reported net profits down by half in the first half of the year due largely to lower sales and restructuring costs.

Created in 2021 from the merger of Fiat-Chrysler with PSA Peugeot, the Franco-Italian multinational reported net profits of €5.6 billion in the period, down 48% compared with €11bn in the same period last year.

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Thousands in Serbia protest lithium deal

Meanwhile, on Monday, thousands of people rallied in several towns in Serbia to protest a lithium excavation project the Balkan country’s government recently signed with the European Union.

The protests were held simultaneously in the western town of Šabac and the central towns of Kraljevo, Aranđelovac, Ljig, and Barajevo.

They followed similar gatherings in other Serbian towns in the past few weeks. The biggest lithium reserve in Serbia lies in a western valley that is rich in fertile land and water.

The multinational Rio Tinto company had started an exploration project in the area several years ago, which sparked huge opposition, forcing its suspension.

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Earlier this month, however, Serbia’s constitutional court overturned the government’s previous decision to cancel a $2.4bn (€2.21bn) mining project launched by the British-Australian mining company in the Jadar Valley, paving the way for its revival.

Vučić has said that any excavation would not start before 2028 and that the government would seek firm environmental guarantees before allowing the digging.

SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — Dozens of hurdlers and sprinters will get a second chance at their once-in-a-lifetime moment thanks to a new rule at the Olympic track competition.

That’s the beauty of the repechage rounds.

Starting on Saturday at Stade de France, all hurdlers and runners in the 200 through 1,500 meter races will get another start if they don’t qualify in their opening heat.

Many athletes don’t want any part of the repechage rounds

Some have never heard of repechage. Others can’t pronounce it (reh-puh-SHAAJ).

Most agree: They want no part of it — unless something disastrous happens, of course.

“It’s kind of like a make-up quiz,” said Masai Russell, the 100-meter hurdles champion at the U.S. Olympic trials. “If it didn’t go right the first time, you could get it right the second time. That’s really good because I feel like with the hurdles especially, anything can happen. I think it’s a really great thing that they’re doing that.”

Russell quickly added, “but I’m not planning on using it, though.”

The repechage concept was taken from rowing, wrestling and martial arts

Based on a French word that literally means “second chance,” the word has taken on its own meaning when applied to sports — mostly rowing, sometimes wrestling or martial arts and, now, track.

In the past, runners who didn’t receive automatic spots into semifinals by finishing near the top of their first-round heats could back in if they were among a predetermined number of fastest times among the non-automatic qualifiers. They were referred to as “lucky losers.”

That means racers would finish and then watch the times of every other heat, hoping their time held up so they could advance. It could be confusing for fans.

Now, instead, anyone who doesn’t earn one of those automatic spots will line up for another race — the repechage round — to determine the final spots in the semis.

Repechage rule should make events more straightforward

When the repechage rule was passed in 2022, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe called it a change that will make “these events more straightforward for athletes and will build anticipation for fans and broadcasters.”

It’s a concept that might come in most handy for hurdlers, who have a higher likelihood of tripping and falling over a barrier, even in the early rounds when they’re taking it easy.

“I actually haven’t thought much about it,” American 400-meter hurdler and medal favorite Rai Benjamin said. “But I don’t have any plans to be in that heat, to be honest.”

Medal favorites who could have benefited from repechage

It certainly could’ve helped Jamaican 200-meter world champion Shericka Jackson at the 2021 Tokyo Games. A medal favorite, Jackson decelerated midway through her preliminary heat and by the time she realized others were gaining ground, she couldn’t speed back up. She finished fourth and didn’t get to run in the final.

Events that include the repechage round will go like this: First round, repechage round, semifinals, final. This ensures that athletes involved will have at least two chances to run on the track, instead of just one.

Hurdler Nia Ali, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist, could’ve used a repechage at the 2022 world championships in Eugene, Oregon. She bumped the second-to-last hurdle and didn’t advance. Like that, she was finished. Under this sort of format, she could have worked her way back into medal contention.

“It’s good for fan engagement, which is very important,” Benjamin said.

A handful of events won’t get a repechage round

The change, however, does not impact the 100 meters because the larger number of qualifiers for that event already adds an additional “preliminary” round for some runners.

For distance events such as the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 5,000, there are no repechage round because those athletes need more time to recover. The men’s and women’s 10,000 meters and marathons each stage only a final.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games