The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been going strong for well over a decade, and is showing no signs of slowing down. Phase Four has officially come to an end with Black Panther 2 and the Guardians Holiday Special, so fans are looking ahead to Phase Five. The first highly anticipated upcoming Marvel movie hitting theaters will be Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, which will feature Jonathan Majors as the villainous Kang the Conqueror. And Majors recently responded to comparisons between his MCU character and Josh Brolin’s Thanos.
Throughout the first three phases of the MCU, Thanos loomed as a threat to the galaxy. Josh Brolin gave a universally acclaimed performance as the Mad Titan in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, widely considered one of the MCU’s best villains. Kang the Conqueror is expected to be the next Thanos-level threat to the heroes, and Jonathan Majors recently spoke to CinePop about comparisons between the two antagonists. He was asked if Kang would be as powerful and scary as his predecessor, with the Creed III actor responding:
It's hard to say. I think Thanos was an incredible villain. We only got to this stage because of Josh Brolin 's great work. I understand the comparisons between Thanos and Kang, but they are completely different worlds. My story is different. Kang is different. It will be very different. About the character being powerful, I will let the movie show that.
There you have it. It looks like Jonathan Majors doesn’t really subscribe to the notion of comparing Kang to Josh Broiln’s Thanos. Instead he focused on bringing his new character to life, and let the story of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania speak for itself. Luckily for fans we won’t have to wait too long before our questions are answered.
Jonathan Majors comments to CinePop comes as he’s beginning the promotional tour for Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. While we’re still a few months away from its release, the actors are already traveling and conducting interviews to help increase hype for the first movie of the MCU’s Phase Five. The footage released to the public has been fairly limited, which is why there are countless questions about the contents of Peyton Reed’s mysterious threequel. Regarding Kang the Conqueror, that’s doubly true.
Like Thanos before him, the arrival of Kang the Conqueror is something that’s been built up for some time now. Jonathan Majors got to play a less terrifying variant of the character on Loki, who issued a warning about the destructive nature of his alternate self. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will give us just that, with the first trailer teasing his own personal army in the Quantum Realm. As a reminder, you can re-watch that trailer below.
Considering just how powerful Kang is supposed to be in the MCU, I have to say that I’m worried about the characters of Ant-Man 3. They hardly seem to have enough powers at their disposal (unless Scott uses that Thanos butt strategy), and the trailer showed Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang looking worse for the wear. But the movie’s plot is largely a mystery, with Jonathan Majors only shown briefly in his full Kang glory.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is currently expected to hit theaters on February 17th. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your trips to the theater in the New Year. We’ll just have to wait and see when other characters will get to meet Kang the Conqueror, or if it all goes down with Avengers 4.
