Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Ending Theory: Scott Lang Returned to an Alternate MCU Timeline
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is now out in theaters, and Marvel fans have had time to absorb all of the more subtle clues and hints about this pivotal start to Phase 5. One of the biggest lingering debates about Ant-Man 3 is what the ending of the film was truly trying to convey. Now, a popular theory is emerging from the Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom, which totally reframes what happened at the end of Quantumania, and what kind of danger there is to come in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Ending – New Timeline?
The popular theory that's been growing with MCU fans is that the bookending beginning/ending sections of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – featuring Scott Lang doing a sitcom-style montage about how good his life is – is actually a much more serious hint about what the Ant-Man 3 post-credits scenes try to convey: that an evil power much more dangerous than Thanos is at work in the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse.
That threat is The Council of Kangs, a collective of Kang variants that have convened outside of space/time, following Loki Season 1's culminating death of He Who Remains, and the rupturing of his Sacred Timeline. He Who Remains was the gatekeeper who made sure Kang The Conqueror and his variants were locked out of the Sacred Timeline and therefore prevented from destroying the multiverse. In the Quantumania mid-credits scene, it's made clear that the leaders of the Council of Kangs (Immortus, Rama-Tut, the Centurion) have the ability to manipulate entire timelines, as well as a god-like point of view over realities that the heroes of the MCU cannot yet comprehend – even though they are starting to gain awareness of the multiverse.
The ending of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is theorized to be an example of the true power the Council of Kangs wields: the ability to reshape, eliminate, or create new timelines at their whim. The theory is that the world Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) returns to at the end of the film is NOT the reality he left behind: instead, it is a timeline that has been shaped for him by the Council of Kangs to keep him complacent – and NOT digging into deeper questions about Kang, the reasons for his genocidal mission, and the multiverse itself.
This faux reality is supposedly exposed by the fact that everyone Scott passes on the street at the end of the film takes creepy notice of him (many wearing Kang-themed colors), while the world recognizes and acknowledges Scott/Ant-Man's greatness more than ever – despite his heroics inside the Quantum Realm being totally unknown to the larger world (pun). Fans think that Scott's deep moments of anxiety in the ending montage are actually his mind screaming that the world he's now in is wrong and that he feels the unseen hand of Kang(s) on his shoulder.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania writer Jeff Loveness has now addressed the theory – and, he kind of slyly suggested that it may have more truth to it than most MCU theories! Check out his quote on ComicBook.com:
Next: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Writer Addresses Different Universe Fan Theory (Exclusive)
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is now in theaters.