Ant-Man and the Wasp hit theaters this weekend and along with introducing some new characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe like Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburne) and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), the movie introduced some crazy new powers for one hero.
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Spoilers for Ant-Man and the Wasp below.
As fans of 2015’s Ant-Man know, the original Wasp Janet van Dyne didn’t have much more than a cameo in that film as part of the explanation of how she had gotten lost in the Quantum Realm. However, Janet’s fate played a significant role in Ant-Man and the Wasp with Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) reluctantly teaming up with Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) expressly for the purpose of getting Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) back. Hank and Hope have spent the past few years working on a Quantum Tunnel and special pod that will allow them to safely retrieve Janet once they locate her position within the Quantum Realm, a location they get from Scott thanks to him having become entangled with Janet during his brief time in the sub-atomic world.
They face serious challenges in their rescue mission, though. Ghost/Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kammen) wants to use Janet’s quantum energy, with Bill Foster’s (Laurence Fishburne) help, to heal herself of her own molecular instability issues even if it means killing Janet in the process while black market tech dealer Sonny Burch wants to get his hands on Pym’s lab because of how profitable it could be for him. Ultimately, the heroes are successful and are able to rescue Janet, but even the original Wasp herself admits that the Quantum Realm “changes you in ways you can’t imagine”.
And for Janet that means some wild new powers. It’s something that the movie establishes well before Janet even emerges from the Quantum Realm. Ava and Bill’s plan to use Janet to heal Ava signals one of Janet’s new powers — she’s become, in a manner of speaking, something of a battery of quantum energy. However, once Janet is rescued it turns out that she’s more than just carrying the energy with her. She also has the ability to simply transfer her energy. When Janet realizes how Ava is suffering, she calmly approaches her, acknowledges her agony and with a touch is able to transfer some of the quantum energy she’s carrying to Ava, relieving her pain and stabilizing her for a time.
Janet’s ability to sense Ava’s pain itself may a manifestation of new, quantum-related powers. Hank and Hope are able to determine that Janet is alive and well as well as locate exactly where she is inside the Quantum Realm because she is able to communicate with Scott using some form of quantum telepathy. Because of Scott’s exposure to the Quantum Realm, Janet is able to share specific memories with him that lead him to reach out to Hank and Hope. Later, she’s straight up able to possess him briefly which allows her to not only assist in making sure the Quantum Tunnel works but give her family her exact location and the window of time they have in which to rescue her.
She also uses this quantum telepathy of sorts when she is able to stabilize Hank himself after he starts to lose it after arriving in the Quantum Realm himself to rescue her.
And it’s likely that her quantum telepathy and energy is only the tip of the iceberg. In Ant-Man and the Wasp‘s mid-credits scene, Janet is seen working with her husband and daughter to send Scott into the Quantum Realm to collect energy that they plan to use to cure Ava. While exactly how a canister of quantum energy alone is going to provide a cure, it’s possible that Janet herself would be able to use it in some fashion. There’s also nearly endless potential for what Janet could do with quantum energy, though it’s unsure when — or if — we’ll get to see the full range of her neat new tricks. Janet, along with Hank and Hope, were unfortunately turned to ash like so many other heroes when Thanos snapped his fingers while Scott remains stranded in the Quantum Realm.
What did you think of Janet’s new powers? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Avengers: Infinity War is in theaters now. It will be followed by Ant-Man and the Wasp on July 6, 2018, Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, the sequel to Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.
