Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania landed in theaters Friday, kicking off Stage 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe sending size-shifting superhero Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and his family on an intense journey into the Quantum Realm. This is Ant-Man’s third solo outing, 31st MCU movie overall, and some post-credits scenes that might blow your mind.
“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a whole lot of fun, carried by a charming band of goofy heroes thrust into a weird and wonderful world to take on a villain big enough to change the entire franchise,” said CNET’s Rich Knightwell. wrote in his review. “The plot may not be innovative, but the trippy visuals and interesting themes prove that bigger isn’t always better.”
The quest puts Scott Lang in Kang the Conqueror’s sights (Jonathan Majors), a time-traveling supervillain from the distant future who was teased as next major danger for the Avengers. Let’s try to unravel the extra scenes and what they mean for the MCU. Multiversal SPOILERS before.
Mid-credits: Council of Kangs
Following Kang’s sucking of this film into the core of the malfunctioning Multiverse Engine, a trio of Kang variants discuss reuniting with their Multiverse counterparts. Two of these guys look like ancient Egypt Rama-All and timeline pruning Immortal as they appear in the comics, while the cyborg-looking guy may be based on the armor Scarlet Centurion.
They’re upset that an Avenger killed Kang, exiled them to the Quantum Realm, and heroes touching the Multiverse – likely a reference to the timeline deception in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness And What if…?
“And if we let them, they’ll take everything we’ve built,” says the hoarse Immortus, who appears to be the leader of the trio. “So let’s stop wasting time. We’re late.”
He notes that he called “all of us”. Their chamber opens to reveal a massive arena full of variants – Kangs from branching timelines – of seemingly endless temperaments and species, with even more arriving through time portals.
Seems Kang-tastic. What does that mean?
Our heroes will face an army of Kangs who want to dominate the multiverse. However, the variants of Kang we encountered in the season 1 finale of Loki and this movie suggest that these guys don’t really get along, likely due to their megalomaniac tendencies, so any alliance is likely to be shaky. .
Kang’s goal, in a nutshell. Excellent supervillain pose too.
Marvel Comics
It is the same with the source material of the comic, where a Kang – Kang Prime – worked with certain variants to eliminate their counterparts. He then killed these allies and replaced them with robot doubles to ensure his control over all timelines. It didn’t quite work out for him, as plans that involve ruling multiple realities tend to spiral out of control.
It’s likely the same will be true for the MCU, but the fact that Avengers: Kang Dynasty is slated for a May 2025 theatrical release suggests it (or they) will have some success. Kang from that movie could come back, because the Multiversal Engine Core could have spit him out somewhere (or at some point) rather than kill him.
Post-Credits: Loki’s Hunt
We jump to the early 1900s, to reunite with our old pals Loki and Mobius (Tom Hiddleston And Owen Wilson) look dapper as they take in the stage performance of a certain Victor Timely — a guy who looks exactly like Kang.
“Time is everything,” Timely says, with supervillainous seriousness. “It shapes our lives, but maybe we can shape it.”
Loki seems fascinated by this guy, but Mobius is less than impressed.
“You made him look like a terrifying character,” the Time Variance Authority (TVA) agent said.
‘He is,’ Loki replies.
Loki, hooray! Why is he in there?
The last time we saw Loki in the season 1 finale of his eponymous show Disney Plushis female variant Sylvie threw him into a time portal and slew the One Who Remains, a variant of Kang who managed the flow of time and prevented any branches.
The remaining one wasn’t lying when he said he was nicer than his variants.
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The death of the Dictator of the Timeline restored the Multiverse, and the One Who Remains’ own variants, which had been brought under control through his efforts, were able to unleash once again.
Loki ended up in the drab offices of the TVA, where he attempted to warn Mobius of the threat of many Kangs.
“Someone comes. Countless different versions of a very dangerous person,” he told Mobius and Company. “And they are all ready for war. We have to prepare ourselves.”
Loki apparently convinced Mobius to join him in hunting Kang.
wonder
However, this version of Mobius does not remember Loki. There’s also a statue of Kang wearing his VAT-dominating comic costume – it looks like the god of mischief has been sent to a timeline in which the agency is controlled by a variant of Kang who’s cool to leave the timeline branch.
This film’s post-credits scene suggests that he convinced Mobius to join him in his hunt for Kang.
But why is Loki after Victor Timely?
It’s unknown why Loki is hunting this particular variant of Kang, but it’s possible he’s a version of the character from early in his career. He might try to stop the villain’s career before it even begins.
Once again, the upcoming Avengers: Kang Dynasty movie suggests it won’t go smoothly. We’ll probably know more in loki season 2which should arrive on Disney Plus this summer.
Great costume, but Kang still gives off major supervillain vibes in his Victory Timely persona. This is probably the pose of the puppeteer.
Marvel Comics
In the comics, Victor Timely is an identity adopted by Kang Prime after traveling to 1901 and establishing the town of Timely, Wisconsin, as a safe haven from which he could hatch his plans. He also seeded his futuristic technology into all sorts of machines, planning to take control of them later in the timeline. It also gave him a fundamental role in the development of the Marvel Universe.
The name is also a bit meta since the company we know as Marvel Comics was established as one-time publications in 1939. It only started go through marvel In the 60s.
It’s possible that the MCU Timely is also the Kang Prime of this continuity, and hidden in a time when he can plan acts of wickedness long before the Avengers exist to trouble him. That would explain why Loki is after him.
This guy could also be the same Kang we met in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (the final battle left his fate uncertain) – it would be more narratively satisfying if the version of the character we spent of time (ha) turned out to be Kang Prime.
Another wrinkle is that the comic Kang might be a descendant of Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic and archvillain Doctor Doom (in-universe records are hazy, though). Since The Super-Team Should Make Their MCU Debut in 2025he could look into that connection.
It’s kind of hard to know what’s wrong with all these Kangs when they all have the same face. At least that keeps the door open for Jonathan Majors’ MCU supremacy.
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