Loki Cast Jonathan Majors As Villain Before He Was Ant-Man 3's Kang

Marvel Studios cast Jonathan Majors as Loki's villain before he became Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Now that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has expanded to Disney+, the addition of original shows increases the opportunities for Marvel Studios to grow and connect the franchise. Loki brought back Tom Hiddleston as a variant of Loki from Avengers: Endgame, but it otherwise mostly focused on introducing new characters. This included the surprise debut of Jonathan Majors in Loki's finale.

It has been known since last year that the Lovecraft Country and Da 5 Bloods star was heading to the MCU. Majors' was originally announced to be as Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. However, the timing of his casting for a 2023 movie led many to believe Kang's MCU debut could come earlier. Loki's season finale did just that and confirmed the popular theory that a variant of Kang known as He Who Remains was the creator of the Time Variance Authority. This would seem to be an instance of Marvel planning well ahead, but that wasn't actually the case at first.

In a recent interview with The Wrap, Loki director Kate Herron revealed that Jonathan Majors was cast for Loki before he was set to play Kang in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. She told the outlet that Majors was originally going to play a new take on He Who Remains, a character who does exist in the comics with no connection to Kang. But, she later learned that Majors would also play Kang in Ant-Man 3, leading to Loki's He Who Remains becoming a Kang Variant. Here's what Herron said about the casting process:

It was such a crazy situation. I was in a casting conversation with Kevin Feige, the studio, and Peyton [Reed], and I was like how am I at this table?I think Jonathan was just an actor that we all loved. And really, to be honest, it was just a case of seeing if he was interested, which he was, and then just trying to make it work with his schedule because he’s a very busy man... We cast him for the role at the same time. When he was cast in that, it was because we knew he was going to be in our show first.

Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige usually receive a lot of credit for the ability to plan out the MCU years in advance. However, this is an example of how Marvel is constantly tweaking those plans and individual projects. Loki could've still worked by revealing He Who Remains was a new character with no association to Kang. But, once Majors was on board to play the role, Marvel Studios presumably wanted him to take on a much bigger part in the MCU's future. Since they likely already knew that Kang would be involved in Ant-Man 3, convincing Majors to take the role and making some tweaks to Loki was all it took to pull off this surprise.

This decision gave Loki an additional significant way to set up the MCU's future. The finale already broke the multiverse ahead of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Spider-Man: No Way Home, but now Loki has introduced the MCU's next Thanos-level villain. With another Kang Variant expected to be seen in Loki season 2, the Disney+ show could continue to have a massive impact on where the MCU goes next.

MORE: Loki’s New Villain Repeats Doctor Strange’s Endgame Trick

Loki will return in the announced Loki season 2.

Source: The Wrap