Jonathan Majors, who plays He Who Remains/Kang the Conqueror in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, shares his thoughts on being the franchise's next central supervillain. The American actor has steadily been moving up the Hollywood ladder in recent years after making his feature acting debut in 2017's Christian Bale-starrer, Hostiles. He continued his rise to fame after further appearances in films like Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods and the 2021 Western action film The Harder They Fall, both of which debuted on Netflix and received critical acclaim.
Majors was first cast for the role of Kang the Conqueror in 2020 during the early development stages for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and subsequently made his MCU debut in the 2021 Disney+ series Loki, where he played a variant of Kang the Conqueror called He Who Remains. Following the Infinity Saga, there was a numerous amount of speculation and fan theories that pointed to Kang taking over from Thanos as the MCU's next significant villain. Those theories came to fruition at SDCC 2022 with Marvel Studios' announcement of the Multiverse Saga confirming Kang as the primary antagonist of Phase 5 and Phase 6.
While speaking to ET Canada at SDCC last weekend, Majors took some time to share his thoughts on playing Kang the Conqueror in the upcoming Phase 5 and Phase 6 of the MCU and explained why it "feels cool." He mentioned that he was "humbled" by the fact that he's playing a character of "cultural" and "titular" significance and stated that it's something he wanted to do since his childhood. Check out his full quote below:
"It feels cool. You know, the whole thing is of cultural significance. And so, to be of titular significance, whatever that means, it's humbling actually. You know, you just want to get to work, you just want to see the script and start, you know? Start and fail and mess up and you know, memorize the lines and do all the stuff I wanted to do since I was a little boy in Texas."
The above comments mark the first time that Majors has opened up about being the MCU's next chief adversary, after the long-lasting secrecy surrounding the importance of his character Kang. Since his casting announcement, the Lovecraft Country actor has shown time and again that he's an avid fan of the ultra-popular superhero franchise. From staying up to date with every film in the MCU to reading up on the comics to prepare for his role, it's clear that Majors is passionate about the character, which bodes well for him and his journey as successor to Josh Brolin's Thanos.
Phase 4 of the MCU has so far been criticized for its lack of an overarching story and direction. However, Kevin Feige's Hall H presentation at SDCC seems to have put any further doubts and qualms to bed. The confirmation that Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars will conclude Phase 6 means that Kang is set to be the MCU's central antagonistic figure for the next three years at least. While succeeding The Mad Titan will by no means be an easy task, Majors' magnetism and charismatic onscreen presence as He Who Remains in the season 1 finale of Loki offer just a glimpse of his undoubted talents, which will surely be expanded on when audiences officially witness him as Kang the Conqueror in next year's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Source: ET Canada
