Marvel drops actor Jonathan Majors after assault conviction

LOS ANGELES (AFP): Rising Hollywood star Jonathan Majors was convicted Monday of assaulting and harassing his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari, prompting Marvel to drop him from a prime role in its superhero blockbusters.

Majors’s conviction could see the actor facing up to one year imprisonment and has upended Marvel’s plans for the franchise, which had his character Kang the Conqueror front and center in multiple upcoming films.

Majors debuted as Kang the Conqueror in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” earlier in 2023, and was set to appear in at least two subsequent Avengers films — the top franchise in the Marvel universe.

The studio will not be moving forward with Jonathan Majors, a source briefed on the decision told AFP after it was reported by US entertainment media.

Majors was arrested in late March over a confrontation involving 30-year-old Jabbari during a car ride in Manhattan.

The court heard that Majors had received a text message and Jabbari had sought to take his phone, believing the contact to be from another woman, local media reported.

There was then a struggle, with the pair’s legal representatives trading accusations over who attacked whom in the ensuing tussle over the device.

“Jonathan Majors was found guilty by a Manhattan Criminal Court jury of assault in the third degree and harassment in the second degree,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Majors will be sentenced on February 6, it added.

“The evidence presented throughout this trial illustrated a cycle of psychological and emotional abuse, and escalating patterns of coercion,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.

“A jury determined that pattern of abuse and coercion culminated with Mr. Majors assaulting and harassing his girlfriend.”

The jury of six people spent more than five hours deliberating over three days, local media reported.

Majors has appeared in several major films, including “Creed III,” “Lovecraft Country,” for which he was nominated for an Emmy, and “Magazine Dreams,” a film presented at the Sundance Film Festival.