Peyton Reed, director of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, has dished on bringing the powerful villain Kang the Conqueror to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Reed discussed Kang's place in the pantheon of Marvel's greatest villains and how he approached adapting the classic foe to the big screen. "In the comics, Kang has dominion over time, he's a time traveler," Reed said. "His situation is a little bit different in this movie, which I won't spoil for you, but he's someone who, [while] we live very linear lives, from childhood to death, Kang doesn't exist that way. It struck me as interesting to take the tiniest Avengers -- in some people's minds maybe the least powerful Avengers -- and put them up against the most powerful force in the multiverse."
Kang will be played by Jonathan Majors, who previously appeared as a multiversal variant of the character in the Season 1 finale of Loki. Like Reed, Majors sees Kang as a one of the all-time great comic book villains. He also took inspiration from other MCU baddies. "I think Ultron, Loki, and Thanos, I think those would be the quintessential baddies or anti-heroes," Majors said. "They all had very interesting qualities to them and some of them shared qualities, which is just a necessity for taking up the mantle. And so once I took those out and put those in the Kang soup, I then looked at, 'What is it we need for this time period?'"
Kang Is Here to Conquer
While the first two Ant-Man movies are often regarded as "palate cleansers" -- smaller adventures that follow the epic crossovers of the Avengers movies -- Quantumania is said to be a grander story that will not only introduce a powerful new villain to the MCU, but also be central to the future of the franchise. Majors is already set to return as Kang in the upcoming fifth Avengers movie, The Kang Dynasty, which will be written by Quantumania scribe Jeff Loveness and directed by Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' Destin Daniel Cretton.
Majors isn't the only Quantumania star with a busy future ahead of him. A recent rumor suggests that Paul Rudd will continue to play thief-turned-hero Scott Lang in future Ant-Man and Avengers projects. Additionally, the threequel is set to give a larger role to Scott's daughter Cassie, now played by Kathryn Newton, which lends credence to the long-held fan theory that Marvel is setting the stage for a project starring the Young Avengers.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania arrives in theaters on Feb 17, 2023.
Source: Entertainment Weekly