Ant-Man has returned with the release of the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
trailer! It begins with the usual Ant-Man charm as Scott Lang is seen strolling through New
York, accepting an employee of the month award from Baskin Robbins, and getting mistaken for
Spider-Man. In more good news, it looks like Scott and Hope are still going strong as they are
seen attending a gala benefitting the scientific community. Cassie Lang seems to jump right into
the Lang-Van Dyne-Pym family dynamic as she is seen tinkering with technology and following
in her father’s engineering footsteps. Seems like everything is going well for the Ant-Man crew
as Thanos has been defeated.
Cassie’s invention is a bad idea made in good conscience. Most likely inspired by losing
five years with her father while he was trapped in the quantum realm as well as Hope losing time
with her mother, Cassie invents a beacon of sorts for people in the mircoverse can signal for help
if and when needed. However, this ends with the gang being sucked into the microverse and
subsequently split up.
Scott and Cassie get a little father daughter bonding time as they are trapped together in
the microverse. Scott is donning his Ant-Man suit and it looks like the MCU is introducing
Cassie Lang as her character, Stature from the comics.
The other group consists of a wary Janet, leading Hope and Hank through the microverse.
Janet spent a few decades inside the microverse, so it is no shock that she knows it very well.
However, it does not bode well for the group as Janet feels the need to hide as she lifts up her
hood. She must know what is truly lurking within.
Janet is correct as the trailer continues we get a glimpse of who may be taking Thanos’
place as the next bad guy of the MCU. Appearing almost identical to his comic book counterpart,
Kang the Conqueror makes his MCU debut. As most fans know, in the MCU TV series, Loki,
He Who Remains was taken out by Slyvie, leaving the universe at risk for the variation of Kang
the Conqueror, which unfortunately looks like what happened.
The trailer ends with a surprise Bill Murray cameo, who many believe will be portraying
the villain, MODOK, as well as footage of Ant-Man going head to head with Kang’s army. Since
we know that Kang is set up to be the next “big bad” of the MCU, does this mean Ant-Man’s
time has come to an end?
As we know with Marvel, everything has a purpose, which means with the introduction
of Cassie Lang’s Stature, Marvel could be setting up the Young Avengers. Lang’s Stature joins
the ranks of Kamala Khan (Miss Marvel), Kate Bishop (Hawkeye), Eli Bradley (son of Isaiah
Bradley from Falcon and the Winter Solider), Kid Loki (Loki), America Chavez (Doctor
Strange: Multi-verse of Madness), and Billy and Tommy (WandaVision) in order to create the
next generation of Avengers. With Marvel setting up Kang the Conqueror as this phase’s villain,
it would make sense for the Young Avengers to be created as they are responsible for Kang’s
inevitable defeat in the comics. Either way, things continue not to look good for Scott Lang as
Cassie only becomes Stature after her father’s death.
Looks like Ant-Man will become the starting block for the MCU’s next phase with the
primary villain, Kang the Conqueror beginning in the microverse.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania premieres February 17, 2023
Colleen Malucci
