Jonathan Majors breaks down his "hyper-intelligent" Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania villain Kang

Exclusive new image of Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man 3

(Image credit: Disney)

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the launching board for the MCU’s next big villain Kang The Conqueror. While a lot remains shrouded in typical Marvel secrecy ahead of the movie’s release, Jonathan Majors tells Total Film in the new issue of the magazine, featuring John Wick on the cover, all about his new formidable foe. Here's a snippet of the conversation – and you can see an exclusive image from the movie above.

"I mean, he’s hyper-intelligent – it’s one of the superpowers," says Majors. "His brain function is just greater than even the smart guys. He’s on that level. And the gravitas is a necessity. It’s Kang against the world, isn’t it? At least that’s his point of view. There’s no frivolity. Kang himself is very economical. He understands energy, he understands time, he understands what is needed to survive. He doesn’t suffer fools. Which is interesting because not to say anything pejorative about Ant-Man, but Ant-Man is a jokester. He’s a funny guy. And now you’ve got Scott Lang going up against Kang the Conqueror, who does not joke. He does have a sense of humor. And you’ll discover that. But he does not joke."

Paul Rudd also admits the match-up between Ant-Man and the biggest villain to grace the MCU since Thanos clicked his fingers almost seems unfair. "He’s a formidable foe – the understatement of the century," Rudd adds to Total Film. "Scott’s never faced anybody like this. He’s Kang the Conqueror! Thanos is obviously the closest but, yeah, he doesn’t have any of the other [Avengers] gang with him. How do you go about stopping somebody like that? It’s not easy. Whether or not Scott is even successful people will see… but I think that hopefully the emotion, and wanting to do what he’s trying to do, makes sense to an audience. Hopefully they’ll be rooting for me."

We have already met a variation of Majors' character in Loki where played He Who Remains. However, the actor says there are "no similarities" between the two. "I’m so radical about my language around it because I say, He Who Remains is He Who Remains," Majors adds. "I don’t even call him Kang. He may or may not be a Kang variant. I leave my mind open to think that Kang the Conqueror may be a He Who Remains variant. It has to be that lucid for me, to keep it going. But, no, there’s no similarities in the two roles. I did play Kang the Conqueror second… I didn’t even look at the template for He Who Remains in regard to Kang. On purpose."

Order a copy of the John Wick: Chapter 4 issue here

For more from the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania team, pick up a copy of the new issue of Total Film, which hits stands (and digital devices) this Thursday, February 2. Check out the covers below:

John Wick: Chapter 4 — (Image credit: Lionsgate/Total Film)

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James Mottram is a freelance film journalist, author of books that dive deep into films like Die Hard and Tenet, and a regular guest on the Total Film podcast. You'll find his writings on GamesRadar+ and Total Film, and in newspapers and magazines from across the world like The Times, The Independent, The i, Metro, The National, Marie Claire, and MindFood.