The Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, will officially kick off its fifth phase of storytelling and universe-building with “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” as part of its Multiverse saga, the final trailer for which has just been released online. After the lukewarm response to the fourth phase, which acted mostly as a self-contained and introductory chapter for the Multiverse saga, the third installment of the Ant-man franchise, “Quantumania”’s final trailer hints the movie will shake up things to re-aim the franchise’s focal point, i.e., introducing the prime antagonist of the saga and setting up the stakes for the second crossover event. The Disney+ series “Loki” already hinted at the villainous Kang’s arrival by introducing Nathaniel Richards – aka ‘He Who remains’ played by Jonathan Majors as the founder of T.V.A. and keeper of the sacred timeline – getting killed by Sylvie and in his absence his nefarious variants rising to wrest control of time stream. The new trailer shows Kang in his familiar comic-book appearance, solidifies his threat quotient by showing him in action, and teases his plans.
‘Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania’ The Final Trailer
The trailer begins with Kang’s narration, which continues throughout a significant portion of the trailer. The opening shot shows the city of San Francisco, the setting of the earlier two Ant-Man movies. In a sequence that is similar to the earlier trailer and teasers, Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, is seen to be walking gleefully and joining Hope Van Dyne, aka Wasp, at a red-carpet event. Kang’s narration continues in the background as he addresses Scott as an interesting person. He claims that he knows that Scott is an Avenger and that he has a daughter. He also adds that Scott has lost a lot of time, like Kang, and that he thinks they can help each other in that regard. The scene goes on to show Scott in his Ant-man attire, growing larger in what seems to be the quantum realm. The focus remains on the lead as Scott looks at the childhood image of his daughter Cassie Lang during a book-reading event. We see a grown-up, teenage Cassie getting released from jail as a despondent-looking Scott, accompanied by Hank Pym and Hope, bails her out.
The scene shifts to Hank’s lab, where a mishap with Cassie’s quantum-communication device creates a vacuum orb that sucks every other one of the key characters inside the quantum realm—which includes Hope, Janet, and Hank. Scott desperately tries to grab onto his daughter but, failing to do so, moves inside the realm himself. Scott’s question about Kang’s identity can be heard in the background as we see his reflection progressing toward Scott. Kang remarks that he can give Scott what he wishes for most—time. Kang is shown in his blue-ish-hued armor, and as he speaks with Scott, his armor retracts. After the Marvel Studios logo shows a movie-theme-appropriate neon logo, we are shown the futuristic landscape of Chronopolis with moving platforms and giant machinations. Janet’s ominous remark to Scott about Kang being a timeline destroyer and existence manipulator grabs our attention, along with a warning to Scott that he shouldn’t trust Kang. Scott is shown to be splitting apart into two selves. Replying to Janet, Scott says he is willing to take a second chance if Kang can indeed provide that to him. Scott and Cassie are held prisoner by Kang, who is escorted by Kang’s minions and M.O.D.O.K. A flashback sequence is shown with Scott and young Cassie, which overlaps with a present-day scenario of an emotional father-daughter bonding moment.
Scott is shown to be moving downward inside an alien organism-surrounded tunnel, and the quantum world of the microverse is shown as Janet rides a hovering creature across the wilderness. Kang once again addresses Scott, this time threatening him, saying that unless he complies with Kang’s demand, he will end everything Scott holds dear. Innumerable “Ant-men” are shown to be huddling together to help Scott reach a platform. With a few more shots of Chronopolis, Kang is shown to be launching an attack in the microverse. The father-daughter duo is separated, and Kang cracks down on Scott. Hope in her Wasp costume is shown to be multiplying, too, as she rescues Scott. A battle-worn Kang mocks Scott, saying he thought he could win. A vicious stomp from him breaks Scott’s helmet, and a bloodied and battered Scott utters that he knows that he doesn’t have to win; instead, both of them have to lose. The previously shown Ant-Man huddle collapses, and Scott falls inside, apologizing to Cassie. In the ending sequence, Kang is shown to be descending from his platform into a battle scene as he blasts his handheld weaponized beams in a fit of rage.
Trailer Breakdown
The most striking feature of the final trailer of “Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania” was the serious, ominous undertone, which sat almost in direct contrast to the earlier teasers and trailers. Compared to the previous two installments of the Ant-Man franchise, the third movie is massively important, as not only will it initiate a new phase, but it will also act as an impetus to provide the MCU juggernaut with its lost momentum. As seen in “Endgame,” Scott Lang’s involvement was instrumental in defeating the previous big bad in the form of Thanos. Using quantum time travel as their mode of operation, the Avengers were able to restore the lives lost during “Snap.” Ironically, Scott’s involvement this time will open the gateways of the multiverse to Kang, who, it seems, will become an even bigger threat than Thanos seemed to be. The overarching presence of Kang throughout the trailer suggests his importance to the larger narrative of the MCU as well.
Like the Ant-Man movies, the plotline of “Shang-Chi” also took place in San Francisco. Now aside from the common setting, these two movies share another possible common feature, which we will discuss later. In a post-Blip world, Scott seems to have found bliss in successfully marketing his hero career to the public. “Ms. Marvel” teased his podcast revealing the hero experience to the public, and “Wakanda Forever” also revealed the publication of Scott’s book, and the trailer also shows him attending the book-reading session. Now Scott and Hope gallivanting through their ways might seem like a nonconsequential bit of misadventure on their part, but this actually puts him directly opposite to how his daughter Cassie has operated since the events of Blip (Endgame). Cassie has taken a liking to a career of vigilantism, something she might have taken after her father. Her ending up in jail will remind viewers of the early days of Scott, although the motives were different as Scott used to be a small-time crook. Scott has lost five years stuck inside the quantum realm during the aftermath of the events of “Infinity War,” and he was absent during Cassie’s formative years. This father-daughter relationship will act as both the emotional backbone and an integral part of the plot as well.
In Scott’s absence, Cassie invented a quantum communicator, which is shown in the trailer to be malfunctioning and to create a blue-orb vacuum – which also signifies Kang’s involvement in it as the color blue is an ever-present motif. In Marvel comics, the subatomic world is filled with its own ecosystem, even a star system, and is known as the Microverse. In the Microverse, Kang rules over a land called Chronopolis, and the trailers have done a neat job showcasing the futuristic empire. The rotating giant bands and platform resemble the Nega-bands of Ms.Marvel, which granted Kamala not only her usual construct powers but also some sort of dimension travel and time travel capabilities as well. Again, they are similar to the ten rings of Shang-Chi, which were mentioned as being of unknown origin, and connecting these two MacGuffins to Kang also makes sense in the way that in comics, too, Kang is known to be a genius inventor and collector of futuristic weapons through various timelines.
Kang proposes a deal to Scott about retrieving something that was stolen from him, and in return, he will grant him the lost time—possibly an alternate timeline where he and Cassie never got separated. In “Ant-Man 2,” Janet Van Dyne was rescued from the quantum realm by Scott and Hank, and in the previous trailers, her connection with the denizens of the microverse and Kang was hinted at as well. She knows Kang and is wise to warn Scott about the danger that might lie ahead if he makes a deal with the Devil. However, Scott is adamant about regaining what he has lost, having been a part of a cosmic struggle in which he had no control over his destiny. This will remind viewers of the similar struggle shown in “No Way Home,” as Peter Parker tried to gain control over what he thought was right but ended up messing things up even further in a way that only the ultimate loss became his teacher. Now, what Kang is asking of Scott is perhaps very specific and can be the key to his multiverse dominion. Unlike Thanos, he is not interested in cosmic equilibrium or even power; he thinks of himself as the rightful owner of the time-stream, and ‘He who remains’ had previously messed up his plans to dominate the time by creating and maintaining the sacred timeline. In the aftermath of “He who remains'” death in “Loki,” Kang might be asking Scott for the master template or some instrument that can make his multiverse travel possible once again. In any case, Scott is the only capable person from whom Kang will require help, for what seems to be the heist of a lifetime. Then again, Kang’s eventual betrayal is also shown in the trailer, which also suggests Scott may have to pay an ultimate price in the very end.
The trailer shows a proper look at M.O.D.O.K. and once again puts an MCU-exclusive spin on the character. In the first Ant-Man movie, the villainous Yellowjacket, aka Darren Cross, was disfigured and shrunk to oblivion, and as the trailer shows Cross once again in this new role, it can be speculated that perhaps through Kang’s involvement, he was later saved and became the ginormous-headed monstrosity of M.O.D.O.K. The scene with numerous Ant-Man huddling to create a peak for Scott to climb on resembled real-life ant behavior and was a nice little nod to the titular insects. The nature of the quantum realm, as Hank Pym had said earlier, is extremely unpredictable, to say the least; hence the duplication of multiple Ant-man or the stature of giant-man tearing to shreds can be seen. Also, it could be the nexus event, which causes reality to split further, in which case we will see not only multiple Ant-Mans but also multiple Kangs as well. With the rules of the physical realm thrown out of the equation, the quantum realm also makes it possible for Kang to go in and out of the multiverse at will—something we might see happening in the movie as well. Kang’s beatdown of Scott further proves him to be a formidable opponent, someone who has mastery over both brain and brawn. Kang’s rise to power seems to be the leading point of the movie, which will also see Scott facing his most personal struggle to date, and the multiverse might never be the same again.
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