Jonathan Majors Gets Emotional, Says He’d Reprise Kang in a Heartbeat If Marvel Came Calling
Jonathan Majors is back… kind of. The former Hollywood star faces another career crossroads as Magazine Dreams hits theaters. When the drama premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2023, Majors received Oscars buzz. Three months later, his whole world crashed down. Now, the 35-year-old is rehabbing his reputation and explaining how his life has changed since his misdemeanor assault charge.
In February 2023, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania introduced Majors as Marvel’s newest villain, Kang the Conqueror. He was coming off the largely praised war drama Devotion and celebrating the premiere of Creed III. Add indie flick Magazine Dreams to his resume, and Majors was one of the fastest rising stars in Hollywood. Then, in March 2023, police arrested Majors after a domestic violence incident involving his then-girlfriend Grace Jabbari.
During a recent interview with USA Today, the Yale graduate acknowledged that “it’s well recorded where my career was and where everything was at that moment in Sundance.” Marvel fired the Majors. Roles dried up, and Magazine Dreams was shelved despite receiving heavy mentions of 2024 Academy Awards contention. Majors was found guilty of one misdemeanor assault charge and one harassment violation. He underwent a year-long counseling program beginning in April 2024.
Two years later, Majors is engaged to fellow actor Meagan Good, who stood by his side through his trial. He attributes being “an isolationist, a bit of a lone wolf” to causing some of his dysfunction pre-arrest. Majors told USA Today, “There is a need to have support and help. And you have to help and support yourself — your full self, not just your mind, not just your body, not just your heart.”
The Loki actor has tried to “relearn so many things,” mentioning that he and his family are dealing with his “buried-away childhood traumas” and his experiences of “sexual assault as a young boy” for the first time. Days ago, Majors told The Hollywood Reporter that he experienced “sexual abuse from both men and women from the time I was nine.” As he heals from his past experiences, he acknowledges he still needs to be accountable for his actions.
“Am I going to fall into that narrative of falling apart, of self-destruction?”The Harder They Fall actor asked. “Have a struggle, blame the world; have a struggle, hate yourself; have a struggle, deny everything. None of those narratives is beneficial.”
As actors like Michael B. Jordan and Matthew McConaughey vouch for Majors’ character. Both have said they’d love to work with him again. And Majors says he has an “even bigger appetite” for acting. USA Today reporter Brian Truitt asked a follow-up question many fans have wondered since Majors’ arrest: “If Marvel calls tomorrow and offers you Kang back, do you say yes?”
“Yeah, of course I say yes,” Majors immediately responded.
The former Lovecraft Country star wiped away a tear as he said he felt he had to earn love from others by performing well. “Now I’m in a space where I have enough confidence in myself,” he stated. “Not my talent but in myself, the thing I’ve been sitting with for two years. I can give you all of me as a character between action and cut, and I can give you all of me as myself in the trailer and [off the set].”
Are fans buying the new Majors? So far, the response has been divided. Many cite the countless overlooked domestic violence incidents committed by Hollywood actors. Why did Majors get canceled when Brad Pitt allegedly created a heinous incident on a private plane with then-wife Angelina Jolie and their children, for example? A Reddit user commented on the Magazine Dreams trailer, “Not saying [Majors] deserves a second chance. But I am asking what makes him not deserve one?”
Other fans believe Majors lost his chance at an enduring A-list acting status when he committed assault. “What a waste of talent. He had everything. People were rooting for him,” one Redditor wrote. Another alluded to his potential Oscar nomination with Magazine Dreams, saying, “Worst case of 1st ballot bag fumbling I’ve ever seen.”
Majors seems to fall somewhere in between. “All I can do, like [Magazine Dreams character] Killian, is dream and hope and put a plan in place … In this next chapter, I am the best version of myself, not just playing a really cool character in a really cool way.”
