Marvel Studios is setting up Jonathan Majors as their next supervillain in MCU, post-Thanos. Debuting in the final season of Loki (2021), the Disney+ series, Kang the Conqueror is a fan favorite villain of many comic lovers. Reprising his role as Kang in the third installment of Ant-man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Majors is earning his stripes in the MCU for his performance.
But, the Lovecraft Country actor’s biggest career move almost did not happen after walking out of his first meeting with Marvel executives meeting due to their tardiness.
The actor sat down with Vanity Fair for their 2023 Hollywood Issue and said “I hope this doesn’t bite me in the ass, but I walked out of my Marvel [meeting].” He continued, “I grew up in a very particular way, and I don’t want to waste nobody’s time. So I got in there, and they’re just busy. And I was like, ‘I’m supposed to be here, right?’ It got long, and I went, ‘I’m just going to go. It’s cool. I’ll just go.”
He explained as he was walking out of the door, he was told the casting director, Sarah Finn, was on the way. He emphasized that he and Finn had a “great” conversation. “I think it was three years later that we had the Kang chat,” the cover star told the magazine.
Majors has played in pivotal films and shows over the last few years. His performance in The Last Blackman in San Francisco (2019) caught the attention of Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer, Kevin Feige.
“In the early days of ‘Quantumania,’ Jonathan started to pop in a big way,” Feige told Entertainment Weekly. “He’s the highest-testing villain we’ve ever had in any of our friends and families [screenings]. That’s really saying something with a movie like this. Even early on, without the effects, Jonathan is his own effect. He was working from the start.”
Majors’ long-term Marvel deal with Marvel is in place to extend to 2025 with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
Ant-man and the Wasp: Quantumania, released on Friday, Feb. 17, officially kicking off Marvel’s Phase 5. The film synopsis reads: “Super-Hero partners Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) return to continue their adventures as Ant-Man and the Wasp. Together, with Hope’s parents Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), the family finds themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on an adventure that will push them beyond the limits of what they thought was possible.”
Check out the trailer below:
