There’s something really frustrating about superhero movies, which is that villains usually only live to see the end of one film, or two, at best. It’s even worse when it comes to the MCU, because the franchise always casts absolute dream actors to play its villains. We’re sure we’re not alone in hoping we had had a little more time with Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger, Cate Blanchett’s Hela, Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio, Tony Leung’s Wenwu, or even Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher (who just happened to be the best thing about Thor: Love & Thunder). Honestly, just read all those names back, because that is some serious top-level talent.
Thankfully, it looks like we won’t have to worry when it comes to Jonathan Majors, who will be playing the big bad of MCU’s Phase Five. Not only have we already seen him in Loki as He Who Remains, but we will also be introduced to his multiverse variant, Kang The Conqueror, in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, and there are big chances he will feature in season two of Loki, too. All before we finally get to the big confrontation between him and the Avengers in The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars.
That’s already a lot more than we ever saw of Thanos, who, besides being a significant character in both Infinity War and Endgame, only ever showed up in MCU movies in throwaway lines of dialogue or minute-long scenes that didn’t do much to flesh out his character.
We expect Kang’s story to have much more depth, not to mention screen time, than Thanos’, allowing audiences to connect with his character on a deeper level across years of movies and shows, which is always a positive in storytelling. Even if it might make Kang’s eventual demise bittersweet, we predict he will be a lot more complex than Thanos, ultimately being a better villain, and overall character, for it.
Kang is just one example of how Marvel has changed its outlook on villains across Phase Four and the soon starting Phase Five. Not only did we finally get to see more of our favorite antagonists from the Infinity Saga with Loki and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but Scarlet Witch’s evil turn was likewise all the more fascinating to watch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness because we had been following Elizabeth Olsen’s incredible performance as Wanda for so long. The end of Wakanda Forever also set up an exciting future for Tenoch Huerta’s Namor that we can’t wait to watch, and Thunderbolts, which will literally be a team-up of bad guys, is coming up as well.
With Kang at the head, the Multiverse Saga is shaping up to be the era of the villains, and we’re definitely here for it.