Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is one of the year’s most anticipated films, and it’s easy to see why. The third film in the Ant-Man trilogy will set the scene for Marvel’s new phase by introducing the franchise’s latest antagonist, the multiversal miscreant Kang the Conqueror.Â
Many fans have been excited to see what Kang’s actor Jonathan Majors brings to the table, as Majors has been receiving lots of praise for his work in projects like The Harder They Fall, Lovecraft Country, and The Last Black Man in San Francisco. However, one thing that has been getting lost in the hype is the challenge Majors will face going forward, as he’s in a situation that would terrify many actors.
The issue with the multiverse
Majors’ has confirmed that he will play most, if not all, variants of Kang seen in the MCU, and if the MCU follows in the footsteps of the comics that inspired it, then viewers will be introduced to many different Kang variants in the coming years.
Having one actor play all of these different characters opens up a lot of issues and puts a lot of pressure on the actor. While each universe’s Kang is similar, they’re all different people who have been uniquely shaped by their experiences meaning that Majors must play each Kang in a way that makes them feel like unique, individual beings rather than just being exact copies of one another. Plus, in scenes where the various Kangs are interacting, Majors will be forced to act alongside himself, which isn’t an easy task as it’s hard to give a realistic feeling performance when you’re performing with something or someone that isn’t physically present.
This is made trickier as Kang is a villain and thus needs to maintain a threatening aura as Kang will still need to feel like a threat by the time the next Avengers movie comes out, as he’s the lynchpin of the current story arc. Because of this, Majors can’t go the easy route and give each version of Kang a different accent or boil each one down to a single pronounced and exaggerated character trait, else the character will lose his mystique and feel like a goofy comedy character rather than a massive, world-ending threat. Or, even worse, the character will become annoying, leading to fans deserting the franchise entirely.
It should be noted that even Tom Hiddleston, an actor well known for his acting talent, wasn’t given such a massive undertaking. Many of the Loki variants introduced during Loki were played by different actors, including Sophia Di Martino’s Sylvie and Richard E. Grant’s Classic Loki. Implying Marvel must be aware of this issue, and they have worked out a way to overcome it with Majors’ various Kang characters.
Hopefully, Jonathan Majors can pull off this massive undertaking and get the credit he deserves for performing such an impressive feat. If he manages to make every version of Kang feel unique and threatening, he has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is an actor to keep a close eye on in the future.
