Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania may not be doing so hot with critics so far (a 53 percent Rotten Tomatoes approval rating threatens to send the film the way of Eternals), but it seems that none of those criticisms extend to Jonathan Majors’ performance as Kang the Conqueror, and with the villain playing one of, if not the biggest role in the Multiverse Saga as a whole, the Marvel Cinematic Universe shouldn’t give up hope just yet.
Indeed, one can always count on Majors to bring his A-game to everything he works on, whether that’s Da 5 Bloods, Devotion, or The Harder They Fall, and no critic score can possibly quell the excitement that audiences should feel towards whatever the actor ends up bringing to Quantumania.
The actor has never played coy on his markedly intentional approach to acting; once he takes a role, he’s all in on unlocking the essence of the character, and according to Majors in a recent interview with /Film, Kang was far from an exception, with the actor revealing that he drew upon Napoleon Bonaparte of all people to capture the essence of the Multiverse Saga’s big villain.
“[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.”
Of course, we imagine that being exiled to the Quantum Realm is quite a bit different than being exiled to Saint Helena, even if both Bonaparte and Kang weren’t particularly happy with the living conditions; one had to deal with arsenic poisoning, the other had to deal with being forced out of time itself. But hey, who’s keeping score?
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will release to theaters on Feb. 17.