Why Kang Debuts in an Ant-Man Film Revealed (Exclusive)

The Marvel Cinematic Universe's next big bad is here. Following his friendly variant's appearance in the Loki Season 1 finale, the solely sinister Kang the Conqueror made his Marvel Studios debut in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. This tyrannical iteration of the all-powerful time traveler rules over the Quantum Realm, creating his own empire within the microscopic universe. This film is just an appetizer for what promises to be a Kang main course in 2025's Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, but just like all good starting dishes, Quantumania prepares audiences' palettes for what's in store.

Considering he is already locked in to stand opposite Earth's Mightiest Heroes, some questioned what place Kang had in an Ant-Man movie. Speaking to ComicBook.com's Brandon Davis, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania producer Stephen Broussard revealed Marvel Studios pulled the trigger on Kang's rookie season coming early because of its unpredictability.

"Because it's unexpected," Broussard said. "If you get to a part three, you almost have the duty to switch it up and do something unexpected and different."

Broussard added that the unexpectedness in Quantumania came in multiple ways.

"One was just going to the Quantum Realm and taking the characters you know and love and dropping them in a different kind of movie. The other was to be unexpectedly central to the MCU moving forward," Broussard continued. "I like the idea that this person that kind of bumbled his way into being a superhero in the first place suddenly finds himself as the only person facing off [against] this very powerful villain."

When fans last saw Scott Lang in a solo capacity, he was embarking on a small scale adventure that dealt with the immediate ramifications of Captain America: Civil War. After spending five hours trapped in the Quantum Realm, Lang returned to a depleted Earth, re-associating himself with the Avengers in an effort to reverse the consequences of Avengers: Infinity War.

Despite all the changes that the MCU underwent in the five years between Ant-Man films, Broussard noted that Kang had been in the plans since around the time of 2018's Ant-Man and the Wasp.

"I'd say soon after part two. On part one, there was the question that Hank asks about, 'Is it possible that Janet is still alive down there?' That was the seed," Broussard revealed. "Then in part two, there were freeze frame moments of some Quantum Realm city scapes down there. That was us just kind of playing around at the time, but the seeds were planted a little bit. Maybe there's a whole movie down there."

Once Broussard and company decided that wanted to up the scale of the third Ant-Man film, Kang chatter began.

"If one of the wants of this movie was for it to feel huge and epic and not necessarily a chase movie, like part two was, then you need a big bad," Broussard continued. "You need someone that feels like they can step into those shoes. That's where the Kang conversations really started to take shape."

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is now in theaters.