Kang the Conqueror: Kevin Feige Explains Why He’s the Perfect Main Villain for the Multiverse Saga
First teased in the season finale of Loki, Kang the Conqueror is coming to the MCU. He is the Thanos of the Multiverse Saga, the next big bad, and he will be fully introduced in the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, played by Jonathan Majors.
Speaking to Empire Magazine as part of the about-to-be-released March issue, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige explained why Kang was the perfect villain for the Multiverse Saga:
“He is the obvious choice as you’re dealing with the Multiverse. Kang allowed us to do a new kind of Big Bad. He’s a different type of villain, warring amongst themselves as much as he’s warring with our heroes.”
Jonathan Majors as Kang The Conqueror in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.
As he continued to tease, though, the Kang we’ll meet in Quantumania is not yet the fully-formed big bad that the Avengers will eventually encounter in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Continuing the plot thread initiated in Loki season 1, he needs to get that power back:
“Kang’s a very powerful person, but when we meet him he’s in a position where he needs to get that power back. He has a ship and a device that would allow him to go anywhere, and anywhen he wants if he can get it online. If only he had access to genius scientists with Pym particles.”
Majors himself explained his journey joining the MCU:
“I met with the Loki team first. Then Peyton [Reed, ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ director] came on and we had our chat for the film,” he tells Empire. “He gave me a few reference points – Alexander The Great, things like that.
Kang adds tonal diversity, real conflict and real friction. You’re being introduced to a new vibration in the MCU. There’s conflict – not just mano-a-mano, not just hero and villain, but ‘your way of life’ and ‘my way of life’. I’m coming for it. We’re in battle here.”
(L-R): Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet van Dyne and Michael Douglas as Hank Pym in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.
Majors will have a major presence across multiple films and TV series of the Multiverse Saga, even more than Thanos did in the Infinity Saga. Feige and the team at Marvel Studios are planning to exploit the opportunities provided by the concept of variants and multiverses to insert Majors into many of the upcoming projects. He was already a surprise addition to Loki season 1, and given that finale, he’s expected to appear in at least one episode of the second season. We know he will be in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, and according to rumors, the Beyonder would be the main villain of its sequel, Avengers: Secret Wars, also a variant of the Conqueror. But we’re only getting started.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is set to kick off Phase 5 and the main plotline of the Multiverse Saga, which was already set in motion during WandaVision and Loki. It marks the return of Marvel Studios to exploring a big bad as well as an interconnected storyline. We know this is a pivotal entry in the saga going forward to the point that Marvel anointed its writer, Jeff Loveness, as the screenwriter of The Kang Dynasty too.
Peyton Reed, from the first two Ant-Man films, is back as the director. The main cast returns, including Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne/Wasp, Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, and Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne. Kathryn Newton is joining the ensemble as Cassie Lang (a role recast from Avengers: Endgame), who is likely to become Stature in the movie, and Bill Murray is also playing a key role in the film. Corey Stoll is back from the first film as MODOK, as it was finally revealed in the trailer released this month:
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
