Jonathan Majors Explains How He Was Cast As Kang The Conqueror

Marvel Studios take meetings with talent all the time, and sometimes it’ll be years before they circle back around and settle on a project to work on together. Chadwick Boseman’s first encounter with the studio saw him audition for Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Drax the Destroyer, and while Kevin Feige and his team went with Dave Bautista instead, they knew the actor was a special talent that would be a much better fit for another role later on down the line.

The comic book juggernaut will no doubt have casting wish-lists compiled well ahead of actual offers being made, and very few stars end up turning down the Marvel Cinematic Universe when it comes calling. In a new interview with Total Film magazine, Loki and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania star Jonathan Majors revealed how he ended up being cast as Phase Four’s big bad Kang the Conqueror.

“I guess after The Last Black Man in San Francisco. I can’t say it was that film at all. The Marvel team has their ways. It’s very much like getting a role in drama school. They’re just watching. You don’t audition for roles. You get into drama school, then the dean will watch what you’re doing. If they wanted you, you get tapped. That’s kind of what happened.”

The Last Black Man in San Francisco was released in January 2019, and it was only Majors’ fourth feature film appearance, but he ended up landing the role of Kang in September 2020. In between those two points he only enhanced his credentials as one of the industry’s fastest-rising talents, with the 32 year-old now set to wreak havoc on the world’s biggest franchise as the MCU’s next Thanos-level threat.

It’s been a remarkable few years for Majors, and it sounds as though Marvel had been keeping tabs on him for quite some time before they decided to take the plunge and offer him what could turn out to be one of the juiciest recurring parts in the brand’s history.