Jonathan Majors On Playing Kang the Conqueror(s)

Jonathan Majors is one of Hollywood’s biggest stars right now. Between his antagonistic turn in the forthcoming Rocky sequel/spin-off Creed 3 and his return to indie roots in Searchlight’s Magazine Dreams (coming out later this year), it’s apparent that the actor has the range and the means to do anything he wants. Still, he’s decided to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the long haul.

This weekend, Jonathan Majors makes his big-screen debut as Marvel’s next big threat, Kang the Conqueror, in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. During the press conference for the film, the actor made it clear why the MCU didn’t just choose him, but why he chose it.

He said, “The MCU has established itself as not just a national pillar, but a international pillar of culture and education and entertainment. And so, to be Kang, to come in with that, you realize it can only get that far because it’s been pushed that far with so much strength, power, support.”

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Despite Kang’s sinister actions and intentions – some of which we have yet to see – Majors also made it clear that he wouldn’t have signed on to play the character if he didn’t believe that there was some good things coming. “We are the people. We make it for the people,” he said. “I think we always make it with good intentions. I say a lot, you know, there’s somethin’ good in it. You may not see it right away, but it’s in there. If it wasn’t in there, I would’ve have given it to you.”

The actor also discussed how much of a synergistic relationship it was to take on such a role. On top of making it clear how important the character is an all his forms, he explained how he’s enjoying learning more and more from the fans every single day. “Those who follow this world really love it, you know? And they really have an open heart about it,” he said. “There’s so much good in [this world].”

Now, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania may not hit theaters until this weekend, but you can check out all of the film’s preliminary reactions here.

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Having previously directed the first two installments, now that Quantumania has wrapped filming, Reed is the second director to complete a trilogy set within the MCU after Jon Watts.

In the film, Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly will reprise their roles as the titular duo. Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer will also return as Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, the characters who donned the outfits and alter egos first.

New to the cast is Kathryn Newton. She’ll be replacing Emma Fuhrmann as Cassie Lang a.k.a Stature in the films going forward. Fuhrmann portrayed the character in Avengers: Endgame.

Additionally, Jonathan Majors is expected to reprise his role as Kang the Conquerer. Originally, it was believed that he would be making his debut in the film, but that was before he appeared in Loki as the character under the pseudonym “He Who Remains”. Whether or not the version of the character we meet will be a variant or the actual version we’ve already met remains to be seen.