Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania kicked away stage 5 of Marvel Cinematic Universe, which sends Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and his family on an intense journey into the quantum realm. This is the third Solo ant man Outing, the 31st MCU film overall, with post-credits scenes that will blow your mind.
“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a ton of fun, carried by a charming band of goofball heroes who fall into a weird and wonderful world to face a villain big enough to take over the entire franchise.” change,” according to CNET’s Rich Knightwell wrote in his review. “The storyline may not be innovative, but the funky graphics and interesting themes prove that bigger isn’t always better.”
The quest puts Scott Lang in the crosshairs of Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), a time-travelling supervillain from the far future who has been teased as the next big threat for the Avengers. Let’s try to unravel the additional scenes and what they mean for the MCU. multiversal SPOILER in advance.
Mid-Credits: Council of Kangs
After this film’s kang is sucked into the flawed multiversal engine core, a trio of kang variants discuss collecting their multiversal counterparts. Two of these guys resemble ancient Egypt ruler Rama-Tut and the timeline Pruning Immortus as they appear in the comics, while the cyborg-looking guy may be based on the armored Scarlet Centurion.
They’re unhappy that an Avenger killed Kang, whom they’ve banished to the Quantum Realm, and that the heroes are touching the multiverse – presumably a nod to Spider-Man: No Way Home’s timeline stupidity. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness And What if…?
“And if we let them, they’ll take everything we built,” says the rasping Immortus, who appears to be the leader of the trio. “So let’s stop wasting time. We’re running late.”
He notes that he called “all of us.” Her chamber opens to reveal a vast arena filled with variants – Kangs of branching timelines – of seemingly infinite 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 Kang variants we met in the Loki season 1 finale and in this film suggested that these guys don’t really get along, likely due to their megalomaniac tendencies, so any alliance will likely be shaky.
Kang’s goal, in short. Excellent supervillain pose too.
Marvel Comics
The same applies to the comic source material, where one Kang – Kang Prime – worked with some variants to eliminate their counterparts. He then killed these allies and replaced them with robotic doppelgangers to ensure his control over all timelines. It didn’t really work out for him, however, because plans that involve domination of multiple realities tend to spiral out of control.
It’s likely that the same is true of the MCU, but the fact that Avengers: The Kang Dynasty is slated for a May 2025 theatrical release, suggests he (or she) will find some success. This film’s kang might return, as the core of the multiversal engine could have spit him out elsewhere (or anywhere) instead of killing him.
Credits: Loki’s Hunt
Jumping to the early 1900s, we find our old friends Loki and Mobius (Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson) looking dapper as they attend the stage show of a certain Victor Timely – a guy who looks exactly like Kang.
“Time is everything,” says Timely with supervillain seriousness. “It shapes our lives, but maybe we can shape it.”
Loki seems spellbound by this guy, but Mobius is less than impressed.
“They made him sound like a horrible character,” says the Time Variance Authority (TVA) agent.
“He is,” Loki replies.
Loki, hooray! Why is he there?
When we last saw Loki the season one finale of his self-titled Disney Plus showhis female variant Sylvie threw him into a time portal and killed He Who Remains, a Kang variant that managed the flow of time and prevented any branching.
He Who Remains didn’t lie because he was nicer than his variants.
Marvel Studios
The death of the Timeline Dictator restored the multiverse and the own variants of He Who Remains, kept in check by his efforts, were allowed to run amok once more.
Loki ended up back in the drab offices of TVA trying to warn Mobius about the threat of many Kangs.
“Someone is coming. Countless different versions of a very dangerous person,” he says to Mobius and company. “And they’re all set for war. We have to prepare.”
Loki apparently convinced Mobius to join him in the hunt for Kang.
Wonder
However, this version of Mobius does not remember Loki. There’s also a statue of Kang in his comic book costume looming over the TVA – it seems the god of mischief was sent into a timeline where the agency is controlled by a Kang variant, which is cool if she makes the timeline fork.
The post-credits scene of this film suggests that he convinced Mobius to join him in his hunt for Kang.
But why is Loki after Victor Timely?
It’s unclear why Loki is chasing this particular Kang variant, but it’s possible he’s a version of the character from earlier in his career. He might try to stop the villain’s career before it even begins.
Once again, the upcoming movie Avengers: The Kang Dynasty hints that things won’t go smoothly. We’ll probably learn more in Loki season 2to be released on Disney Plus this summer.
Great suit, but Kang still exudes major supervillain vibes in his Victory Timely persona. It is probably the pose of the puppeteer.
Marvel Comics
In the comics, Victor is Timely an identity assumed by Kang Prime after traveling back to 1901 and establishing the town of Timely, Wisconsin as a safe haven from which to hatch his schemes. He also implanted his futuristic technology into all manner of machines and planned 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 a bit meta, too, since the company we know as Marvel Comics started as Timely Publications in 1939. It only started in the ’60s with Marvel.
It’s possible that the MCU Timely is also the Kang Prime of this continuity, hiding in an era where he can plan villainous plots long before the Avengers exist to disrupt 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 fight left his fate unclear) – it would be more narratively satisfying if the version of the character we spent time (ha) with turned out to be Kang Prime.
Another wrinkle is that comedian Kang is a descendant of Reed Richards/Mr. The fantastical and arch-villain Doctor Doom (however, the in-universe records are fuzzy). Because the super team is supposed to make its MCU debut in 2025it could lean into that connection.
It’s pretty hard to tell what’s up with all these kangs when they all have the same face. At the very least, it keeps the door open for Jonathan Majors’ MCU dominance.
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