How Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Sets Up Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars

By Jenna Anderson

Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is officially upon us, with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania now playing in theaters. The blockbuster film has already been hyped for its connections to the larger franchise, with the cast and crew teasing that it will have a surprising domino effect towards stories in the future. Two of the biggest projects that have been teased as having ties to Quantumania are Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars — connections that were understandable, given the tie of Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors). Now that Quantumania is out in the world, we have a better idea of how it leads into those next two Avengers films, and the answer is a doozy. Obviously, major spoilers for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania lurk below! Only look if you want to know!

The film sees the Lang and Pym-Van Dyne families accidentally being thrown into the Quantum Realm, and learning that the makeup of it has changed wildly since Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) was rescued from it. In particular, Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), who initially befriended Janet when he was also stuck in the realm, has grown evil and frustrated at his predicament, and has remade much of the society of the Quantum Realm in his image. As Kang reveals midway through the film, he actually was exiled to the Quantum Realm by the other versions of himself, after he took issue with — and tried to stop — their attempts to destroy as much of the multiverse as possible. This Kang, meanwhile, wanted to keep the multiverse in tact, even if it meant destroying any Earths or realities that did not share his vision. Still, Kang swears to the members of the Ant-Man family that trying to stop him would only bring about his other variants, and ultimately the end of everything.

By the end of the film, we see that possibility in motion, as Scott Lang / Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne / The Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) destroy the technology that Kang could use to escape — and seemingly kill him along with it. When Scott returns to Earth, he's content with what happened, until he starts to get a sneaking fear that all of their actions could have brought the bad things that this Kang had foreseen. The film's post-credits scenes seal the deal in that regard, showing the other versions of Kang that are lurking in the wings — the entire Council of Kangs, led by Immortus, Rama-Tut, and Scarlet Centurion; as well as Victor Timely in the past.

How does Ant-Man 3 set up Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars?

Despite this Kang seemingly dying by the end of the film, the post-credits scenes make clear that there are countless other versions of him out there — including, presumably, a "Prime" Kang that we have yet to meet. As Quantumania's Kang hints, these other variant of him will stop at nothing to fulfill their goal, and will ultimately try to destroy all of reality itself, something that (albeit not by Kang's actions) occurred in both versions of the Secret Wars comic. Now, with Marvel's Secret Wars movie still several years on the horizon, we do know that Scott has that threat in the back of his mind, even if he doesn't quite know what that "end" looks like.

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As for Kang Dynasty, it doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility that Kang-Prime, or even the trio at the center of the Council of Kangs, could end up being the central antagonists of that film. Not only would that up the stakes for the new team of Avengers to go up against, but it would further fine-tune the conflict with Kang in general before Secret Wars rolls around.

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

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