Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Writer on Kang’s Most Important Difference from Thanos

Marvel’s newest big bad has some titan-sized shoes to fill.

With the upcoming film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Jonathan Majors’ rendition of Kang the Conqueror will be formally introduced to audiences in a bold and robust fashion. Majors’ villian had a short introduction in Loki as He Who Remains, whom Sylvie decided to kill despite knowing that his death would unleash countless ultimately powerful variants of Kang bent on conquering the multiverse.

Now, Kang is taking center stage in the Multiverse Saga. In a new interview with SFX Magazine, screenwriter Jeff Loveness explained how Marvel is looking to create a villian equal in greatness to Thanos.

“To me it’s all about the humanity,” Loveness said. “Obviously Thanos is a great, iconic villain, but he’s also a big purple CGI guy. He’s an alien from outer space. The thing I really wanted to lean into is that Kang is a human being.”

Kang’s role is sure to expand beyond just Ant-Man 3, as the next Avengers movie literally has his name written all over it. Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, which is set to hit theaters in 2025, is also written by Loveness.

“Kang’s also a very lonely character,” Loveness continued. “We’re going to be seeing a lot of him in a lot of different ways going forward, but I really wanted to introduce the humanity and even the vulnerability of this character before he gets to such apocalyptic, Avengers-scale heights.”

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will kick off Phase 5 of Marvel, which will see the MCU continue to grow in both film and television before the next Avengers team-up. The new film has already been teased to have massive stakes for the rest of the franchise, so perfecting the villain is essential. However, Loveness seems assured that Majors’ Kang is something special.

“Kang is a top-tier, A-list Avengers villain,” Loveness said. “What do you do when you feel you’re not enough against that? How do you step up to face the challenge of this generation, who is Thanos on an exponential level? He’s almost this infinite Thanos. I think we’re setting things up for a pretty dynamic story.”

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is set to hit theaters on February 17.

Carson Burton is a freelance news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter at @carsonsburton.