Summary
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania kicks off Phase 5 of the MCU, setting up a new era for the franchise and introducing Kang the Conqueror as the overarching Multiverse Saga villain.
- The movie explores the Quantum Realm in detail and reveals Hope's history with Kang, showcasing her complicated past in this world.
- Alongside Kang, the film also features MODOK as a minor villain and introduces the Council of Kangs, setting up future conflicts and a greater threat for the Avengers in the Multiverse Saga.
MCU, putting the movie in a hugely important place in the Multiverse Saga. Paul Rudd's Scott Lang has certainly come a long way since he was 2015's Ant-Man. Before he became an Avenger, Scott Lang was a master thief who ended up taking part in the experiments of Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) involving a super-suit that allows him to shrink in scale but increase in strength. Ant-Man got a sequel in 2018, and in Avengers: Endgame, it was Scott Lang who spurred the defeated Avengers back into action against Thanos using Dr. Pym's quantum technology, becoming a crucial player in the MCU timeline.
In 2023's Ant-Man 3, the franchise dives into the Quantum Realm and continues the story of the unlikely Avenger as he comes face to face with MCU's Kang the Conqueror. In addition to reintroducing Loki's Jonathan Majors as the overarching Multiverse Saga villain Kang, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania also features Freaky and Detective Pikachu star Kathryn Netwon as grown-up Cassie Lang. With so much going on in the movie, it's natural that audiences still have questions about the film, even some time after it officially released.
Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania Ending Explained (In Detail)
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's ending has deep implications for the MCU Multiverse and directly sets up at least three future installments.
Ant-Man 3 Release Date
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania released on February 17, 2023. After MCU Phase 4 closed with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ant-Man 3 opened the MCU Phase 5 slate, setting up for a whole new era for the franchise. Ant-Man 3 was then closely followed by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the third and last Guardians of the Galaxy movie, and the Disney+ show Secret Invasion. While the movie ended up to open the MCU Phase 5 slate, the new Ant-Man movie had multiple delays and repositions prior to the Quantumania February 2023 release date becoming set in stone.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was originally slated as an MCU Phase 4 movie, which ultimately fell through and saw the film need to be added to the later lineup. Marvel then moved the Ant-Man 3 release date to the middle of MCU Phase 5, July 28, 2023, only for this to be later assigned to The Marvels instead, prior to this sequel's later November 10, 2023 release date. With Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania serving as the real introduction of Kang the Conqueror and the reintroduction of Darren Cross/Yellowjacket as MODOK in the Quantum Realm, Ant-Man 3's current place at the beginning of MCU Phase 5 actually seems a much better fit for Scott Lang's continued adventures.
Every Version Of Kang In Quantumania's Post-Credits Scenes
As seen in Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Kang and his variants have arrived in the MCU as the next big threat to the multiverse.
Ant-Man 3 Cast
The main characters of the Ant-Man franchise all reprise their roles in the new Ant-Man movie, as Paul Rudd (Scott Lang), Evangeline Lilly (Hope van Dyne), Michael Douglas (Hank Pym), Michelle Pfieffer (Janet van Dyne), and Kathryn Newton (Cassie Lang) all play their part of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The new movie also involved the feature-movie debut of Jonathan Majors' Kang the Conqueror. Bill Murray also s the cast as Lord Krylar, a governor in the world found in the Quantum Realm who has a mysterious history with Hope. In addition, the mutated, powerful, bulbous-headed Marvel mainstay MODOK finally appears in Ant-Man 3, played by Ant-Man actor Corey Stoll, who appears once again as the MCU's Darren Cross.
Is Ant-Man 3's Kang The Conqueror The Same As Loki's He Who Remains?
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania debuts Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror, but is he the same as He Who Remains from Loki?
Ant-Man 3 Story Details
The MCU hasn’t really explored the Quantum Realm in detail, which made Ant-Man 3 a good opportunity to do so. After Scott's daughter Cassie attempts to reach other lost individuals with a device that sends signals to the Quantum Realm, Scott, Hope, Janet, Hank, and Cassie all get sucked into the unusual lands. This quickly serves to reveal Hope's impressive if morally complicated history in this world, as it's revealed that she did work with Kang for a time, before discovering his true nature and villainous intentions.
Ultimately, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania provides two surprises by having Scott Lang both not make a deal with the MCU villain - as the trailers for the movie led many to suspect he would be forced to - and also having the hero survive the course of the movie's events, as this was also a popular theory, especially since it would work effectively to set up Cassie's own superhero career for the MCU's Young Avengers. However, the movie closing with Kang's fate unclear and a Council of Kangs debating how to deal with the main MCU universe's heroes, it does seem things are only set to get more dangerous for Ant-Man 3's protagonists going forward.
Who The Villains Are In Ant-Man 3
Apart from Kang the Conqueror, the new Ant-Man movie also brings another Silver Age villain into the MCU — MODOK. In Marvel Comics, MODOK was a technician named George Tarleton transformed by AIM into a giant-headed, genius supervillain who can control technology with his mind. Also known as the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing, MODOK took over AIM and assumed control of its army and resources, making trouble for the Avengers in the comics.
The Ant-Man 3 plot very loosely adapts MODOK's comic book origin story, as there is no George Tarleton in the MCU, and MODOK is instead a transformed version of Darren Cross from the first Ant-Man. MODOK's look in Ant-Man 3 was immediately met with heavy criticism, which is reflective of how risky it is for the MCU to create an entirely new origin story for the iconic Silver Age character. As such, it's perhaps for the best that MODOK plays a minor villain role in the movie, closer to Bill Murray's Lord Krylar in scale rather than being a focal villain like Kang.
How Ant-Man 3 Impacts The MCU
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania had a huge burden on its shoulders, being the first real movie setup to the climax of the Multiverse Saga in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars. Alternate variants of different MCU characters were addressed but largely underutilized in MCU Phase 4, but Phase 5 is where Marvel reveals the real implications of several versions of Avengers and Avengers-level threats alike existing simultaneously across the multiverse. As such, the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania post-credits scene may well be the most important part of the entire movie, as the introduction of the Council of Kangs appears to bring the group that will play an integral role in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty into play.
Loki season 1 addressed how the other Kang variants posed a danger so great that He Who Remains destroyed the multiverse to try and defend against them, suggesting this faction will make up the major antagonists of the Multiverse Saga if Kang doesn't return, with either option presenting a greater threat than has ever been seen before in the MCU. Given just how many variants were seen in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, it certainly seems the Avengers have a lot to deal with in their future, should they have to deal with even a fraction of the figures initially shown.
