Jonathan Majors was a supervillain of a boyfriend who inflicted a “cruel and manipulative” pattern of abuse on his ex-girlfriend — once ranting at her that she needed to live up to the standard of Michelle Obama and Coretta Scott King, Manhattan prosecutors said Monday.
Known for his role as a Marvel villain, the 34-year-old actor’s anger eventually boiled over during a March cab ride when he allegedly attacked his then-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, after she read a flirty text from a woman named “Cleopatra” on his phone and snatched the device away.
Majors threw Jabbari, a British dancer and movement coach, “like a football,” Assistant District Attorney Michael Perez told jurors during opening statements at the actor’s Manhattan Criminal Court trial.
His alleged campaign of abusive behavior began just months after Majors met Jabbari on the set of Marvel’s “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania,” in which he starred as the villain Kang the Conqueror, Perez said.
“I am a great man! I am a great man!” he once told her in a voicemail, that the prosecutor told jurors would be played during Majors’ domestic assault trial, which is expected to last two weeks.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office also plans to show jurors evidence of two other instances of Majors’ alleged abuse toward Jabbari — including one incident where he smashed household items against a wall and another in which he ripped her headphones after being upset that a friend visited their home, Perez said.
“You are stupid if you don’t know what you did wrong,” Majors told Jabbari during the December 2022 headphones incident, Perez said.
But Majors, who faces misdemeanor assault and harassment charges, was actually the victim in the March 25 altercation, his lawyer, Priya Chaudhry, claimed during her opening statements.
When the car service made it over the Manhattan Bridge and stopped in Chinatown, Majors was the only one to emerge from the black SUV with visible injuries, Chaudhry told jurors.
The actor then fled from Jabbari who chased him for several city blocks, added Chaudhry — who ripped Jabbari for going to a dance club on the night in question.
“Within minutes the bloodied person goes to a hotel to hide, and the other one goes clubbing for hours,” Chaudhry said.
Perez said that Jabbari went to the Loosie’s nightclub on the Bowery because a group of bystanders who she confided in after the alleged assault offered to hang out with her.
Jabbari documented a gash on her ear on her cellphone in the bar’s bathroom and asked a witness for ice on her finger she later discovered was broken, the prosecutor added.
The next morning, Majors was arrested despite being the one who called 911 himself after discovering Jabbari lying on the floor of his walk-in closet, disorientated and naked from the waist down, his lawyer said.
Chaudhry claimed that Jabbari concocted “false” abuse charges to police as revenge because Majors broke up with her in a text later on the night of the alleged assault.
“We’re not here because of what happened in the car,” Chaudhry said. “This is the case about the end of a relationship, not about a crime.”
Majors was surrounded by supporters in court Monday, arriving at around 9 a.m. in a floor-length winter coat and beret, holding hands with both his mother and his current girlfriend, actress and model Meagan Good.
Once in the courtroom, Majors, wearing a dark gray double-breasted suit over a black button-down shirt and black tie, gave Good a kiss as she sat in the first row of the gallery.
He then kissed about a dozen other supporters in the courtroom’s first two rows on the cheek before taking his seat at the defense table.
It’s not yet known whether he will take the stand during the trial.
Jabbari is expected to testify this week.