The ex-girlfriend of Jonathan Majors described in court how the Marvel star allegedly grew increasingly abusive over the course of their relationship.

Dancer Grace Jabbari testified that Mr Majors assaulted her in the back of a hired SUV in New York in March, the culmination of months of abuse.

Sobbing at points and having to take one break, she said he threw glass candles at her head and berated her for mentioning an ex-boyfriend.

Mr Majors has denied all charges. If convicted, he faces one year in prison.

His once-rising career has been in limbo since his arrest in March, with Marvel pushing back the release date for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, where he plays the lead.

Mr Majors, who has attended most of the trial with his current girlfriend, actress Meagan Good, along with a copy of the Bible, has been accused of attacking Ms Jabbari in an SUV that month, leaving her with bruises and a broken finger.

In her complaint, she said he slapped her and put his hand on her neck.

On the stand, 30-year-old Ms Jabbari described meeting Mr Majors on the set of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, where she was a movement coach, in September 2021.

They started a relationship but it turned increasingly violent, she said in court.

In one argument the 34-year-old action star threw objects that left dents in the wall while she tried to take cover, the jury was told. Another time, he didn't speak to her for days because she went to a music festival.

Lawyers played a recording of Mr Majors yelling, where he called himself a great man and said he needed a woman like Coretta Scott King or Michelle Obama.

He would also threaten to hurt or kill himself.

"I had to constantly look after him. I'd worry because I did not want that to happen," Ms Jabbari said, according to NBC News.

On 25 March, the two were in the back seat of a chauffer-driven SUV when Mr Majors received a text message from another woman, which he does not dispute.

Ms Jabbari told the jury she snatched the phone out of his hand and he then twisted her arm behind her back and hit her in the head to get it back.

"He's very strong. I couldn't move," she said, according to an AP report of her testimony.

They got out of the car and she chased him through the streets, according to a video compilation from surveillance cameras that AP reported was shown to the jury.

Later, Ms Jabbari went to a nightclub with strangers and was recorded smiling and dancing. She told the court on Tuesday that "I was having the nicest time I could have had within the situation", AP reported.

But Mr Majors alleges that it was Ms Jabbari who assaulted him and not the other way around.

In opening statements on Monday, his lawyer Priya Chaudhry said her client emerged from the SUV bloody and scratched.

Ms Jabbari ripped two buttons off his coat in the assault and tore the pocket with her bare hands, the court heard.

During cross-examination by Ms Chaudry on Wednesday, Ms Jabbari said that after she got home on the night of their SUV altercation, she noticed her finger turning black and that dried blood from a cut on her head was making her hair stick to her ear, according to the Independent.

The case continues.