Jonathan Majors' Kang The Conqueror Was Inspired By Napoleon In Exile [Exclusive]

Jonathan Majors is aiming high with his portrayal of Kang the Conqueror in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania." For months now, Marvel Studios has been hyping up Kang as the next big thing, an antagonist who can "rewrite existence and shatter timelines." As the overarching villain of The Multiverse Saga, he's already got a future "Avengers" sequel named after him — "Avengers: The Kang Dynasty," coming in May 2025 — and has drawn numerous comparisons to previous big baddie Thanos, though studio president Kevin Feige says he's a "totally different" character.

Majors has spoken in the press about how seeing Heath Ledger's Joker in "The Dark Knight" was part of what inspired him to become an actor. And he's compared joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe to linking up with a Shakespearean acting troupe. He's also listed real-life historical figures like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Genghis Khan as influences behind Kang.

In addition to Kang being all those things rolled into one, even more inspirations arise when you talk about how the character was written, as opposed to just how he's played. /Film's Jeremy Mathai recently spoke with "Quantumania" director Peyton Reed, who revealed that screenwriter Jeff Loveness had yet another historical conqueror, Napoleon, in mind when he was writing Kang. Reed told us:

"[Jeff Loveness is] really well-versed and steeped in history. He really helped us find the voice of Kang. We talked a lot about Alexander the Great, and we talked about Napoleon and all the sort of templates for that temperament of a conqueror, and particularly Napoleon when he was exiled, right? He knows his stuff and he's also such an enthusiastic human being, and I'm very proud of the fact that he's the only credited writer on this movie. I think there's a voice there."

Looking back on the 30 other MCU films up to this point, it is indeed a rarity for a person to receive sole screenwriting credit for one. With the exception of Joss Whedon and James Gunn who directed their own films, there are only a handful of writers who have had the same distinction: Zak Penn for "The Incredible Hulk," Justin Theroux for "Iron Man 2," Eric Pearson for "Black Widow," and Michael Waldron for "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness."

Yet while Jeff Loveness may be the sole credited writer for "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," he was still operating within the Marvel movie machine. That involved working with others, including Ant-Man actor Paul Rudd. This kind of collaboration process would be natural to any film, but Peyton Reed indicated that Loveness and his writing voice were nonetheless essential in helping the creative team develop Kang's unique, cosmic Napoleon-like energy:

"We worked really closely together throughout the entire process, and with Paul Rudd, and with Stephen Broussard, our producer, in how we were going to tell this story. But Jeff, he loves writing. The lines that come out of Kang's mouth, he was so crucial in finding that voice. We talked a lot about, 'What is this villain like? He's got dominion over time. He can travel throughout the Multiverse, and what's it like being in the presence of someone like that, and this economy of energy?' When Kang speaks, it's very slowly, but it's very deliberate and you better listen, which is a very different energy than Scott Lang in this movie. And that excited us, too, putting those two energies on a collision course."

"Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" opens in theaters this Friday, February 17, 2023.