No Jail Time For Former Marvel Star Jonathan Majors In Assault Case

 

Actor Jonathan Majors leaves the courthouse following closing arguments in his domestic violence trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on Dec. 15, 2023.

 

Former Marvel actor Jonathan Majors will avoid jail time after his assault conviction earlier this year and was instead ordered to attend a year-long domestic violence intervention program, multiple outlets reported Monday.

Majors, who was hired by Disney to play Kang the Conqueror in the Marvel franchise, was convicted of one count of assault and one count of harassment in December after physically assaulting his ex-girlfriend during a taxi ride last year.

The actor, who could have faced a year in jail, has been ordered to attend a 52-week in-person counseling program in Los Angeles.

Majors tried to have his assault and harassment conviction overturned—his original February sentencing was delayed while the court considered the motion—but a New York judge denied the request last week.

The actor has maintained his innocence in the case—he said an assault was instigated by his ex-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, and he was only trying to escape her aggression in the altercation—and told ABC News he was "shocked and afraid” after the verdict.

Last month, Jabbari filed a civil lawsuit against Majors, claiming she was physically abused multiple times during their relationship and two other women told the New York Times in February they, too, were victims of abuse by the “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” actor.

KEY BACKGROUND

Majors was arrested in March of 2023 after Jabbari accused him of strangulation, assault and harassment. She said she and Majors were in a taxi and her head was resting on his shoulder when a text message came into his phone from another woman. She grabbed the phone and turned away, then reported that Majors threw his body weight on top of her and twisted her arm behind her back. Jabbari sustained multiple injuries, including a cut to her ear and a hurt finger. The pair argued outside of the car after the incident, the driver of the vehicle said, and Majors then pushed Jabbari back into the taxi. Majors has said he was attacked by Jabbari and was only trying to escape her and get his phone back during the altercation. A New York jury convicted Majors of one count of reckless assault and one count of harassment, but acquitted him of a second assault charge and one count of aggravated harassment, suggesting the jury believed Majors did not mean to hurt Jabbari but did harass her by pushing her back into the car. Priya Chaudhry, Majors’ attorney, has claimed Jabbari is a compulsive liar who was out for revenge after finding her boyfriend was texting another woman.

TANGENT

Several other women have accused Majors of troubling behavior since the criminal case began and other alleged abuse victims came forward and began cooperating with authorities after Jabbari made her allegations public. A Rolling Stone investigation alleged that Majors physically abused one romantic partner and emotionally abused two more. Two ex-girlfriends of Majors who spoke to the New York Times also accused him of abuse. Emma Duncan alleges Majors choked her after an argument in a taxi in 2017 and “threatened to strangle and kill her,” and Maura Hooper alleges Majors told her to “kill yourself.” The actor has also been accused of toxic behavior on the sets of films. His lawyers have said the behavior is a form of “method acting.”

SURPRISING FACT

Hours after he was convicted, Marvel Studios said it would not continue to work with Majors, whose character Kang the Conqueror was expected to anchor the next phase of the franchise, including a film titled “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” set to release in 2026. The character previously appeared in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" and was introduced in the Disney+ show "Loki." Disney's Searchlight also indefinitely postponed the release of the film "Magazine Dreams," which saw Majors star as a bodybuilder, and the actor lost several endorsement deals, including with the US Army and MLB's Texas Rangers. Majors also stepped down from the board of the Gotham Film and Media Institute, Variety reported, and stopped his work with the Sidney Poitier Initiative.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

The verdict in the civil case. Jabbari last month filed a civil suit accusing Majors of battery, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, malicious prosecution and defamation. She said she was the victim of a “pattern of pervasive domestic abuse” from 2021 to 2023 and suffered "serious injuries to her body.”