Ant-Man Director Teases Jonathan Majors' Kang: "The Most Powerful Villain in the Multiverse"
In the infinite Marvel Multiverse, there's no villain as powerful as Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors). Marvel Studios' Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania kicks off Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the introduction of the reigning time lord — a multiversal variant of He Who Remains (Majors), manipulator of the timeline-pruning Time Variance Authority in Disney+'s Loki — who Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) warns has the power to "rewrite existence and shatter timelines." In Quantumania, Marvel moviegoers will come to understand why Kang is the existential threat assembling Earth's mightiest heroes in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.
"This movie is the biggest of the three. We decided if we had a chance to make a third round, we wanted to go nuts," returning Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp director Peyton Reed told THR. "We wanted to beat Scott Lang up a little bit. It's still comedic, but also it takes a very serious turn. We love the idea of putting the tiniest Avengers, and Avengers that maybe fans think are the least powerful Avengers, and [putting] them up against the most powerful villain in the multiverse."
After Avengers: Endgame pit size-shifting superhero partners Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) against Thanos (Josh Brolin) and his alien army, they find themselves trapped in the "basement of the Multiverse": the Quantum Realm. Along with Scott's aspiring superhero daughter Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton) and Hope's parents, Janet and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), the Ant-Fam are up against "the big villain" without help from the new Avengers.
"We knew early on that we wanted to put Ant-Man and the Wasp against the big villain," Reed said. "I loved Kang growing up as a comics reader. And we looked at a lot of Kangs, but I cast Jonathan because he had it all. He's physically imposing. He is one of the most exciting actors I have ever met and worked with. He's just a force of nature."
In the comics, Kang the Conqueror is the self-professed master of time who has had many names across many timelines: Immortus, Rama-Tut, Scarlet Centurion, Victor Timely, Iron Lad. Quantumania presents the time-traveling warlord as "the Conqueror," who vows vengeance on those who banished him to the Quantum Realm. "I will burn them out of time," Kang growls in a recent featurette revealing a new look at the villain and his underling, M.O.D.O.K.
"If you know the comics, you know [Kang's] very important to them," added producer Stephen Broussard. "And so it's been kind of this crown jewel we know that we've had when there [was] an idea for it."
Starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathryn Newton, William Jackson Harper, Katy O'Brian, David Dastmalchian, Bill Murray, and Jonathan Majors, Marvel Studios' Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania opens only in theaters February 17th.