The third installment of the Ant-Man movie franchise, “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania,” will officially kick off phase five progressing the story of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Aside from being a self-contained part of the Ant-Man movie trilogy, the movie will play a pivotal role in the MCU’s world-building, as it will be a direct continuation of both “Avengers: Endgame” and “Loki” Season one. Also, its aftermath will hint at the future of the ongoing Multiverse Saga and “Avengers: Kang Dynasty,” the penultimate movie of the MCU’s current story arc. The first trailer for the movie was exclusively released at San Diego Comic-Con in July, and an extended version of it was screened for Disney D23 attendees exclusively earlier last month. But just like most MCU content, which gets exclusive trailer releases only to get leaked online within a short period of time, the “Quantumania” Trailer got leaked both the times. We will discuss this eventful trailer, its breakdown, and how this movie will perhaps become the most important one in the context of addressing the big picture of the MCU.
‘Ant-Man And The Wasp’ Trailer Description
The trailer opens with Scott Lang, his daughter Cassie, and Hope Van Dyne on a road trip and listening to the audiobook of Scott’s newly released autobiography, “Look out for the Little Guy,” and an excerpt in the audio is heard as Scott recalls his experience during “Avengers: Endgame,” when Hulk de-aged him to a baby. Scott’s audio goes on as he says he often finds himself questioning how he, a former convict, ended up traveling through time with heroes like Captain America. The trailer proceeds forward, and later in a scene, we find Scott reading the same book during a public reading when he receives a call from prison. It turns out the call was from his daughter Cassie, who was apprehended by police on the charge of vigilantism. After bailing his daughter out from prison, Scott tells her that he understands what Cassie is trying to do, but she is wasting her life in the process. Cassie retorts that at least they are trying to do something that matters.
Scott responds saying he was part of the Avengers and had previously helped them to save the world. This triggers some fun banter as Scott’s mentor, the original Ant-Man Hank Pym, mentions that he has reiterated that same statement numerous times earlier, too, to which both Janet and Hope agree. Scott casually avoids the jibes and reminds them how he, along with the Avengers, succeeded in undoing the effects of the snap. In the next scene, Cassie says she is working on a project with Hank and Hope. She also says to Scott that she had developed an interest in Quantum Realm after reading Hank’s journals, while the rest of the family members were “snapped” away or, as in Scott’s case, missed in the quantum realm. While the next scene presents everyone inside Hank’s lab, Cassie shows them a device she had created for communicating in and out of the quantum realm, which she opines could have been used to reach out to her father when he was trapped inside of the realm. Janet gets alarmed at the proposition of such a device and turns it off.
Suddenly, the device turns on its own, almost explodes into an orb, and blue light starts emanating from it, which sucks most of the Ant-Man family members. Scott tries to prevent Cassie from getting pulled inside the orb, but they, too, get pulled inside it. Quick glimpses of the quantum realm are shown as we see entire civilizations inside the quantum realm, with people and other different sorts of creatures living there. We are introduced to Bill Murray’s character, who is surprised after seeing Janet Van Dyne and remarks that he never thought he would see her alive again.
Finally, Kang’s voiceover is heard as he addresses Scott Lang. He says that he finds Scott interesting as a man who has lost a lot of time, but time isn’t what he thinks it is. It is not linear. His voiceover continues as he remarks that if they could see time as Kang does, they could have seen everything. He further adds that their reality, everything they hold onto, everything that signifies ‘life’ for them; Kang knows how it ends. Pieces of futuristic machinery join together to construct a platform on which Kang starts moving. A shot of the villainous MODOK is shown. Scott, now retorting to Kang, says that he doesn’t know him, but he made a big mistake in introducing himself to Kang as an Avenger. In the next shot, Kang, portrayed by actor Jonathan Majors, steps out, showing his full stature for the first time in the trailer. Replying to Scott, Kang says that if he is indeed an Avenger, then he wonders whether he has killed him before. Scott gets confused as Kang continues that the memories all blend together after a while. Scott questions Kang about his identity and the latter replies that he, too, has lost time and then proposes a bargain. He needs something retrieved, something that was stolen from him, and Scott is the only person who can bring it to Kang. It is then shown that Cassie has been held captive by Kang, who signals to Scott not to agree with the bargain. Scott refuses Kang’s proposal and subsequently gets crushed into the wall by the villain. The trailer ends with Kang ridiculing Scott that this time Ant-man is out of his league.
‘Ant-Man And The Wasp’ Trailer Breakdown And Explanation
“Quantumania” directly follows the aftermath of “Avengers: Endgame” and “Loki” season one. The “Loki” season one finale saw He Who Remains getting murdered by Sylvie Laufeydottir, which branched the sacred timeline into a multiverse and started the uprising of variants of He Who Remains. The most important of such variants, Kang the Conqueror, will appear as the primary antagonist in “Quantumania.”
The trailer begins on a quirky note, similar to the past two Ant-Man movies. In the ‘post-blip’ world, Scott has found luck in conveying his first-hand experience as an Avenger to the audience and has made a successful career out of it. The title “Look out for the little guy” will remind fans of the conversation between Tony Stark and Peter Parker during “Civil War,” when Peter said he had seen Spider-Man’s MO. Earlier, the Ms. Marvel series mentioned a podcast named “Big Me Little Me,” where Scott participated in a series of interviews sharing the experience of events during Endgame, and it seems like he has decided to make a fortune out of his career as an Avenger. Scott’s daughter Cassie seems to have found a superhero career of her own, as movie stills have also confirmed her having a super suit along with her parents. In the comics, Cassandra Lang dons the moniker of a superhero named “Stature” with size manipulation powers thanks to Pym-particles. In the MCU, too, she will take the alias Stature, but whether she steals Pym particles on her own or is supported by Hank Pym himself remains to be seen. Scott was known as an ex-convict even while being a superhero (aftermath of the Civil War), so he can relate to his daughter all too well and knows first-hand that even doing the right thing might end her up in trouble, but teenage Cassie isn’t willing to abide by that.
The funny banter actually acts as a reminder of events that took place during the last Ant-Man movie and Endgame, where Hank, Hope, and Janet were dusted due to Thanos’s snap, and Scott got stuck inside the quantum realm for five years. It is then revealed that, during those five years, Cassie used Hank Pym’s journal to invent a radio-like communication device that can be used to transmit messages towards and from the quantum realm. As seen in the second Ant-Man movie, Janet had spent three decades inside the quantum realm, and it seems she knows something that can cause severe trouble if a communication device is used to connect with the quantum realm. Her fears manifest into reality when, either through some deliberate machination by Kang or by accident, the device explodes, and a portal is created, which pulls in everyone present at the lab. We got a fair amount of quantum realm exploration in the last Ant-Man movie, and this movie hints that the MCU will delve deeper. In comics, the quantum realm is known as the “microverse,” where entire star systems like Coronar and Sub-Atomica exist, and human/alien races like Mita and K’aitian reside. Bill Murray’s character is one such inhabitant of the quantum realm, and it seems that she and Janet Van Dyne have shared history during her stay in the quantum realm. Along with Kang, the infamous supervillain MODOK (an acronym for Mental/Mobile/Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing) is set to make an appearance in “Quantumania.” According to our speculation, the character might be a deformed, degraded version of Yellowjacket, played by Corey Stoll, who was the antagonist in the first Ant-Man movie and got shrunk down to a sub-atomic level by the end of the movie. Whether the speculation fits or is MODOK acting on his own or assisting Kang, that remains to be seen.
Kang converses with Scott regarding the retrieval of an object that was stolen from him and blackmails Scott using his daughter, Cassie. The trailer cues Kang’s appearance using a sinister background score. It becomes apparent that not only does Kang know Scott and his family already, but he also has knowledge of most of the others and their timelines as well. His remark about perceiving time not in a linear way and seeing it all will remind fans of “Loki” season one, where the sacred timeline orbited around the Citadel at the end of time, and conveniently both the citadel and quantum realm posits outside conventional time streams. Which was the reason why Scott Lang spent five years in an instant being trapped in time dilation, while Janet Van Dyne, on the other hand, aged in the quantum realm exactly the way she would’ve aged in the real world. He Who Remains had the definitive knowledge regarding the time stream, and his TVA kept the sacred timeline intact. With him gone, his former adversaries/variants, who are as powerful as he, if not more, are on the rise, and how menacing they are can be estimated by Kang’s mention that his memory regarding how many Avengers he had killed literally gets convoluted at times. Scott’s position as an Avenger holds no merit in front of someone who has the means to control time. Speaking of controlling time, it seems what Kang had lost could be the master Tempad as it is the only object that remains out of his reach because it lies in Citadel, which was accessible only by He Who Remains. Scott Lang, who has shown mastery in skillful heists previously, seems to be the perfect man for this job. Or, Kang might be looking for Miss Minutes, the propaganda-spreading AI used by TVA, whose origin remains a mystery along with its functionality. In the comics, Kang had control over numerous futuristic technologies and weaponry, making him almost impossible to beat using conventional means. In the trailer also, Kang’s shifting platform and use of telekinesis to crush Scott shows how he has mastered advanced technology through the passage of time. The time he lost might refer to the first multiversal war, which ended with He Who Remains ending the war using Alioth, which pushed Kang and his other variants out of the timeline. In the comics, Kang’s residence, Chronopolis, exists in the Microverse, so we will befittingly meet Kang in the quantum realm here too. Kang’s presence in the movie will build him up for future MCU mega events like the Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars.
Major Tonal Shift In The MCU
“Quantumania” takes place exactly in the middle portion of the ongoing “Multiverse Saga,” beginning phase five. Quite a number of self-contained, character-oriented pieces were released through phase four, which has left viewers lackadaisical. “Quantumania,” with the menacing appearance of the big bad of the multiverse saga, Kang, will bring back the pre Endgame excitement. So far, Ant-Man movies have been considered low-stakes, fun romps. In the third installment, however, things are looking bleaker than ever for our titular hero, and the stakes are so high that he truly has met an overwhelmingly tough opponent who can topple the multiverse on a whim. The familial bonds, which were a major theme throughout the Ant-Man movies, are present in this trailer too. Time traveling in MCU was majorly introduced in “Avengers: Endgame,” and both “Quantumania” and “Loki” divulged the concept of time even more. If He Who Remains indeed allowed the Avengers to use the time loops or quantum vortexes to move through different eras, it might be the creation of the original Kang. The aftermath of this movie will be shown in “Loki” season two, where TVA is seen to be dilapidated for some reason.
See more: ‘Loki’ Season 2: Leaked Trailer Breakdown, Easter Eggs, And Expectations, Explained
