Jonathan Majors found guilty of assault; Marvel Studios drops actor

A jury found actor Jonathan Majors guilty Monday of attacking his former girlfriend earlier this year following a two-week trial in New York.

>> Read more trending news

After more than five hours of deliberation stretched over three days, jurors found Majors guilty of misdemeanor assault and harassment charges, The New York Times reported. He was acquitted of two other charges that required prosecutors to prove that he had intent, according to the newspaper.

Marvel, Disney part ways with Majors

Update 6:18 p.m. EST Dec. 18: Marvel Studios and the Walt Disney Co. dropped Jonathan Majors immediately after Monday’s conviction, according to Variety and The Associated Press.

The AP cited a source “close to the studio” who was granted anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter. A source also confirmed the move to Variety.

Majors had played Kang, the central antagonist in the Multiverse Saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, according to the entertainment news website.

He had already appeared in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and the first two seasons of “Loki,” according to the AP. He was to star in “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty,” dated for release in May 2026.

-- Bob D’Angelo, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Original report: The Marvel actor, 34, is expected to appear in court for a sentencing hearing on Feb. 6, The Washington Post reported.

The charges stemmed from a dispute in March between Majors and his then-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, according to Reuters. The confrontation left Jabbari, a 30-year-old British dancer, with a broken finger and a swollen arm and ear.

Jabbari accused Majors of attacking her in the backseat of a chauffeured car, hitting her and squeezing her middle finger so hard that it fractured, The Associated Press reported.

Prosecutors said the confrontation began when Jabbari tried to take away Majors’s phone after seeing a flirty text from another woman, according to the Post. In court, she said he tried to pry her fingers off the phone before twisting her hand and her arm, the Times reported.

“Next, I felt like a really hard blow across my head,” she said.

The actor’s attorney claimed he was the victim, saying that Jabbari hit him after seeing the text and then falsely accused him of assault after he broke up with her, according to Reuters and the Post.

Majors starred in “Creed III” and appeared as Kang the Conqueror in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and the recent Disney+ series, “Loki.”

After his arrest, Disney pulled his upcoming film, “Magazine Dreams,” from its release schedule, Entertainment Weekly reported. He was also dropped by his management company, his public relations firm and several advertisers, according to Reuters.

©2023 Cox Media Group