The Hollywood Reporter confirms that Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania star Jonathan Majors has been found guilty of on one count of intentional assault in the third degree and aggravated harassment in the second degree by a New York jury.
They reached their verdict after three days; Majors was present, as was his girlfriend, Meagan Good (Shazam! Fury of the Gods), when the verdict was read out. The actor was also found not guilty of one of the counts of assault in the third degree and for aggravated harassment in the second degree.
Majors had pled not guilty to total of four charges after finding his now ex-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, unconscious in their apartment earlier this year. Police later arrested the actor when she was found to have sustained a laceration behind her ear and a bruised and fractured finger.
She alleges that Majors inflicted those injuries upon her during an altercation in a car when she snatched his phone from him upon seeing a text which read, "Oh how I wish to be kissing you." The actor is said to have pried her finger from the phone, grabbed her, twisted her forearm, and struck her head.
Both sides presented very different versions of events and the charges against Majors were brought by the state of New York rather than Jabbari herself. That made it a criminal trial and, in recent weeks, various surveillance footage and text messages have all been shared online despite his lawyers' attempts to keep the trial largely under wraps.
Now Majors has been found guilty of reckless assault and harassment, he faces up to a year behind bars. That seems unlikely for a first-time offender, though we won't learn more until his sentencing takes place on February 6, 2024.
"At the Manhattan D.A.’s Office, we are committed to centering survivors in all of our work," said District Attorney Alvin Bragg in a statement shortly after the verdict was delivered this afternoon. "The evidence presented throughout this trial illustrated a cycle of psychological and emotional abuse, and escalating patterns of coercion far too common across the many intimate partner violence cases we see each and every day. Today, a jury determined that pattern of abuse and coercion culminated with Mr. Majors assaulting and harassing his girlfriend. We thank the jury for its service and the survivor for bravely telling her story despite having to relive her trauma on the stand."
Majors and Jabbari first met in London in 2021 on the set of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Jabbari was hired as his movement coach on threequel and, despite his agents and several brands choosing to cut ties with the Kang the Conqueror actor, Disney and Marvel Studios have remained silent on his legal issues.
It's widely believed they wanted to give the Loki star a chance to clear his name in court, particularly as the entire Multiverse Saga essentially revolves around Majors and the many Kang Variants he portrays (the next Avengers movie is even titled "The Kang Dynasty").
We'd imagine he'll be dropped from the MCU, leaving Kevin Feige to recast Kang or move on from the villain altogether. It's previously been reported that Doctor Doom has been considered as a replacement.
Stay tuned for updates as we have them.