Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has the responsibility of introducing new big bad Kang the Conqueror to the MCU. Jonathan Majors’ villain had a brief introduction in Loki as He Who Remains, but according to the movie creators, we’ll be seeing a very different side to him this time around. But just how do you follow Thanos?
"To me it’s all about the humanity," says screenwriter Jeff Loveness in the upcoming edition of SFX Magazine, which features Star Trek: Picard on the cover. "Obviously Thanos is a great, iconic villain, but he’s also a big purple CGI guy. He’s an alien from outer space. The thing I really wanted to lean into is that Kang is a human being."
He adds: "Kang’s also a very lonely character. We’re going to be seeing a lot of him in a lot of different ways going forward, but I really wanted to introduce the humanity and even the vulnerability of this character before he gets to such apocalyptic, Avengers-scale heights."
The new villain will be appearing in the next Avengers movie, The Kang Dynasty, which Loveness is also writing. Currently set for release in 2025, the movie is part of Marvel Phase 6, which will bring the epic Multiverse Saga to an end.
"Kang is a top-tier, A-list Avengers villain," Loveness teases about his direction. "What do you do when you feel you’re not enough against that? How do you step up to face the challenge of this generation, who is Thanos on an exponential level? He’s almost this infinite Thanos. I think we’re setting things up for a pretty dynamic story. As I’m building to Avengers I want it to feel like a generational struggle. Phase 4 felt like the birth of new characters. You’re giving everyone a little bit of a breath, you’re broadening out the universe, you have fun Disney Plus shows that are elevating characters. And now I think it’s time to put the pedal to the gas again, and really take all these new characters that we like and throw them into the fire."
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Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is out in theaters on February 17. That's just a snippet of our interview, available in the latest issue of SFX Magazine with Picard on the cover, available on newsstands January 25! For even more from SFX, sign up to the newsletter, sending all the latest exclusives straight to your inbox.
