The New Villain in 'Ant-Man 3' Was Hinted at During 'Avengers: Endgame'

One of the best things about the Marvel movies that bring together the whole universe (often referred to as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or the MCU) is that all of the storylines are connected. Even when we don't see the connection or see how the timelines match up, they always do. The latest to match up is Kang the Conqueror being hinted in Endgame that he's coming for Ant-Man. 

According to Deadline, the next villain to take on the members of the Avengers has been announced and the actor has been confirmed.  "[Jonathan] Majors has been tapped for one of the lead roles in the next Ant-Man movie opposite Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly," the site reports. It continued, "The studio had no comment, but sources close to the project say he is likely to play the super-villain Kang the Conqueror."

Deadline’s sources say, “with so many new characters in the MCU, there could be a twist with how the character is featured in future films, but as of now he is likely to be one of the main villains in the next installment in the [Ant-Man] franchise.”

According to Collider, Kang the Conqueror was first created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Avengers No. 8 way back in 1964. He made his first appearance by arriving from another timeline, like a time traveler, and declared Earth to be his. And the Avengers didn't stand a chance. "The dude got annoyed with fighting Captain America and sent him back to 1945. That’s not a metaphor," the site said. "He just tossed Steve Rogers back into the ’40s."

And that sets up the villain in general — he's a really dangerous time traveler who has been going head-to-head with no issues with nearly all the Marvel characters at some point in the comic series, and it's time for him to make his entrance into the MCU. 

IGN described Kang the Conqueror as a "powerful villain" who is "infamous for having weaponized time itself. He freely travels between past and future and manipulates the course of human history for his own ends." According to the site, he's seemingly impossible to kill, too. "No matter how many times Kang is defeated and seemingly killed, his mastery of time means there's always another version of him ready to strike the Avengers when they least expect him," the site wrote. 

The movie Endgame saw the Avengers introduce the idea of time travel into the MCU for the first time. Avengers: Endgame introduced the idea of traveling through time when the heroes that survived the destruction that Thanos created went back in time to retrieve the Infinity Stones and brought them back into current time to use them to undo what Thanos had done. 

Thanos was one of the biggest villains in the MCU and now that he's been defeated, and fans of the franchise know that Kang the Conqueror is so much scarier than he was, the use of time travel in the movie is the perfect hint that he's coming for the heroes.