Jonathan Majors has been having a year, y’all. Since breaking out in last year’s The Last Black Man in San Francisco, he’s been nonstop, nabbing a supporting role in Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods this summer and currently playing a lead role in HBO’s Lovecraft Country. Now, he’s set to take one of his biggest stages yet: the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Deadline reports that Majors has been cast as Kang the Conqueror in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The studio has remained silent on the news, but he is expected to play Kang the Conqueror in the upcoming Ant-Man sequel. While Marvel has shown a willingness to play with audiences’ preconceived notions about their characters, Deadline’s sources expect Kang to be a primary villain in the film.
Now, let me put on my conspiracy brother hat so I can explain what I think this means for the MCU. It’s completely possible that Kang is the primary villain of Ant-Man 3: Electric Boogaloo.
I have my doubts, though.
Kang, to be completely frank, is a beast. He’s a hyper-intelligent time traveler who can throw hands with the best of them and has gone toe-to-toe with the Avengers. Ant-Man is a bitch none of those things. While the Wasp showed she was a formidable hero in her own right, neither are at the power level of Kang. Just look at who their last two villains were: not-Ant-Man and the Feds.
What Ant-Man does have is the quantum realm which, as Endgame established, has the capacity for time travel. What I’m hoping, fingers crossed, is that the timey-wimey nature of Kang will be used as a backdoor to introduce the similarly time-hopping Fantastic Four and X-Men. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ant-Man 3: Cruise Control established Kang as a larger villain for the MCU and sets up the larger conflict for the post-Thanos MCU.
Regardless of how he’s used though, it’s still incredibly exciting that an actor of Majors’ caliber is tackling a character as intriguing as Kang. Both Thanos and Loki have shown that when Marvel villains are given multiple movies to thrive they can become just as iconic as the heroes. I have no doubt that, should the approach be right, Kang has the capacity to become just as iconic.