Jonathan Majors Says There Are 'No Similarities' Between Kang The Conqueror And He Who Remains

Jonathan Majors has incredible range. Making waves for his performance in "The Last Black Man in San Fransico," Majors would dip his toe in various genres — from the horror show "Lovecraft Country" to the Western film "The Harder They Fall" — demonstrating his versatility as an actor. Most recently, /Film's own Chris Evangelista called him "phenomenal" in the Sundance selected "Magazine Dreams." Thankfully, 2023 will be as busy a year for the actor as 2022 was. Majors is attached to two tentpole releases in February and March, respectively, first as the villain in "Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania" and then trading blows with Michael B. Jordan in "Creed III." However, what's most interesting about his upcoming performance in "Quantumania" is that he's played an alternate version of that character before.

In the season finale of "Loki," Majors made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut as "He Who Remains," the founder of the TVA and the man supposedly responsible for keeping other variants of himself at bay. While He Who Remains would be killed in the show, that doesn't mean Majors is done in the MCU. Quite the contrary — he's ready to take the spotlight as Kang the Conquerer in "Quantumania." However, don't make the assumption that he'll be playing the character the same way he did in "Loki." Instead, Jonathan Majors will starkly contrast with the comedic Ant-Man as a self-serious and intense version of Kang.

In the February 2023 issue of Total Film, Jonathan Majors explained that he considered his "Loki" and Quantumania" characters two entirely different people. Majors even addresses both characters by separate names. While they're technically the same person, Majors sees them as separate, unique variants — meaning his performance as Kang will be different in "Quantumania":

"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."

Just watching the trailers for "Quantumania," it's clear that Majors is bringing an intense bravado and carrying himself differently to distinguish his two MCU characters. The more energetic and ominous playful nature of He Who Remains has seemingly been replaced with a stoic and determined Kang. Marvel has played with casting different actors for different variants in "Loki," but they've made the right move in keeping the same actor for Kang and all of his variants.

Going deeper into the vast differences between the two variants, Majors describe how efficient Kang is, preferring not to waste any time on trivialities. The newfound intensity in Majors' performance also provides the upcoming film with exciting dynamics between the conquerer and Scott Lang (Paul Rudd). Ant-Man is typically comic relief in most, if not all, the MCU film's he's been in; now that he's going up against this deadly version of Kang, it will give Majors a chance to show how different this performance will be than the previous one:

"There's no frivolity. Kang himself is very economical. He understands energy, time, and what is needed to survive. He doesn't suffer fools. Which is interesting because, not to say anything pejorative about Ant-Man, but Ant-Man is a jokester. He's a funny guy. And now you've got Scott Lang going up against Kang the Conqueror, who does not joke. He does have a sense of humor. And you'll discover that. But he does not joke."

It certainly would have been interesting to see Majors as He Who Remains having some interesting banter with Scott Lang. Unfortunately for Scott (and eventually the rest of the Avengers), he's stuck with a different kind of Kang who doesn't waste time with wisecracks. Whether this is the last version of the time traveling conquerer we see is currently up in the air. Still, whatever future lies ahead with the character, we can at least count on the versatility of Jonathan Majors as an actor to provide something new and exciting.