‘Ant-Man 3’ Villain Could Be Kang the Conquerer, Played by ‘Lovecraft Country’ Star Jonathan Majors

Ant-Man 3 has found its villain in Jonathan Majors. The Lovecraft Country actor has joined the cast of the upcoming sequel, and while Marvel has no comment on who he’s playing, sources indicate Majors will play Kang the Conquerer, a time-traveler with genius-level intellect. Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lily are both returning, as is director Peyton Reed.

Jonathan Majors is having a good year. Not only has he earned plenty of praise for his work in Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods and HBO’s Lovecraft Country, he’s also joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Deadline reports that Majors is a new addition to the Ant-Man 3 cast, and that he’s likely to play Kang the Conqueror.

In the comics, Kang is a 3oth-century scholar named Nathaniel Richards. He’s also a possible descendant of Reed Richards, AKA Mr. Fantastic of The Fantastic Four, so there’s that. There was a time when Marvel couldn’t reference that, since they didn’t own the Fantastic Four. But in the wake of the Disney-Fox deal, the studio now has the ability to make that connection if they so choose. Kang is a major Avengers villain, so he seems like a strange fit for the third Ant-Man movie. But maybe he’s being set-up to become a bigger threat in a future film.

Of course, the Marvel movies don’t always adhere closely to their comic book sources, so there’s always a chance the movie version of Kang will be somewhat different from his comic counterpart. There are also numerous alternate Kangs in the comics, so Marvel has some options to pick and choose from. Beyond that, though, we don’t know what role the character will play in the sequel.

Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lily, and Michael Douglas are all expected to be back for the third film, along with director Peyton Reed. It’s unclear at the moment if Michelle Pfeiffer will be back as Janet van Dyne, but if she is, I sure hope they give her more to do than the super-quick cameo she had in Ant-Man and the Wasp. Don’t waste Michelle Pfeiffer, that’s all I’m saying.

Majors’ star has steadily been on the rise since his breakout role in The Last Black Man in San Francisco, but he did solid work before that as well, appearing in White Boy Rick and Hostiles. He’s currently on HBO’s Lovecraft Country, and is currently in production on the Netflix movie The Harder They Fall. As for Ant-Man 3, Jeff Loveness is currently handling the script, and Marvel hopes to have the film out by 2022 – but that could always change.