Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has officially come to an end, and it was a doozy. The franchise greatly expanded thanks to projects on the small and silver screens, introducing a ton of new characters that will presumably be major forces in the shared universe. This includes Jonathan Majors, who appeared in Loki as He Who Remains before getting a starring role as the villain of Phase Five’s opener Ant-Man 3. And Majors recently revealed how different Kang the Conqueror and He Who Remains truly are for him as an actor.
The last MCU phase leaned heavily on the concept of the multiverse, starting with the Disney+ series Loki. Jonathan Majors played He Who Remains in the Season 1 finale, aka a variant of Kang. The latter character is expected to be the next Thanos-level threat to the MCU, so fans are eager to see him in action during Ant-Man 3. Majors recently spoke to SlashFilm about the way he’s distinguished his two different Marvel characters, saying:
I'm so radical about my language around it because I say, He Who Remains is He Who Remains. 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 are no similarities between the two roles. I did play Kang the Conqueror second... I didn't even look at the He Who Remains template regarding Kang. On purpose.
There you have it. While technically playing variants of the same man, it looks like Jonathan Majors has tried to form two different characters with Ant-Man 3’s Kang and Loki’s He Who Remains. He’s not even referring to them by the same name, which shows how much dedication he has to separating each entity. And smart money says his performances are going to be quite different as well.
Jonathan Majors’ comments about his MCU characters also poses an interesting philosophical question. Namely, which one is the main character, and which of them is a variant? While he’s expected to have significantly more screen time as Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, it seems he’s giving the Loki character just as much respect. And it should be fascinating to see if He Who Remains ever ends up returning, despite his apparent death at the hands of Sylvie.
Perhaps it should come as no surprise that Jonathan Majors is taking both of his Marvel characters so seriously. His performances speak for themselves, including acclaimed roles in HBO Max’s Lovecraft Country, Da 5 Bloods, and Devotion. But all eyes are on what he’ll bring to Ant-Man 3, as well as opposite Michael B. Jordan in Creed III. And luckily those projects are nearly here.
Given how Kang is supposed to be a threat for the greater MCU, he’s presumably going to survive the events of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. Jonathan Majors’ villain is expected to be the main antagonist of the next Avengers movie, titled The Kang Dynasty. And I can’t wait to see how he battles Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania will arrive in theaters on February 17th. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
