The overarching villain for Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Kang the Conqueror, played by Jonathan Majors, will finally make his big screen debut this Friday when Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters this Friday on February 17th (Kang technically made his first appearance in the MCU in the Loki series on Disney+). Majors, who will reportedly play a a “warrior variant” of Kang in Quantumania, has received plenty of praise for his multifaceted rendition of the Thanos-level villain from director Peyton Reed, who has zero doubt that Majors is the right actor for the challenging and important role.
“When I cast Jonathan in the role? That was it, man,” Reed told Screen Rant. “I had my eye on Jonathan because he’s been so good for so long. And he’s having a moment now, right? But he takes it seriously.”
Reed continued to applaud Majors for his dedication to the craft, noting that not only did Majors gain ten pounds of muscle for his role as Kang in Quantumania, but that he was able to apply himself proportionately to each variant of Kang as well.
“He’s such a dedicated actor. He has the physicality that Kang needed,” Reed added. “He’s a conqueror. But we talked so much about how this guy experienced his time in a loop, not in a straight line; how he’s had all these different experiences, and what it’s like to hang out with someone like that. It’s scary. And he just got all of that and just ran with it. And of course, for an actor to be able to play the guy, and then another guy and a guy who are variants? They’re all technically Kangs, but they’re all radically different characters.”
MCU president Kevin Feige echoed Reeds’ statements, commending Majors’ versatility as an actor.
“We were casting that role for both Loki, He Who Remains, and Quantumania, and obviously, he shot He Who Remains first, and then [Ant-Man]. But you can see already, if viewers who saw him in Loki, saw him in the trailer for Quantumania, he is such a versatile actor, he’s getting a lot of great acclaim in numerous movies coming out around this time. And we’ve already—” Feige paused. “I almost gave you a big spoiler, but we’ve got lots of plans ahead for him in a great way.”
Are you excited to see Kang the Conqueror actor Jonathan Majors in his role as then new big, bad villain for MCU Phase Four? Let us know what you think in the comments.
