Ant-Man 3's Kang May Not Be The Last Kang Variant We See, According To Jonathan Majors
Ant-Man occupies a strange place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's colossal superhero roster. His films had largely served as palette cleansers following an "Avengers" adventure, featuring relatively low-stakes antagonists in comparison to his other teammates. But after Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) was able to convert the mechanics of the Quantum Realm to perform time travel in "Avengers: Endgame," he became one of the most invaluable characters of the MCU. Even after facing a threat like Thanos, it looks like "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaina" is going to give him an even greater challenger.
Going into Phase 5, the MCU essentially needs a new big bad to terrorize our heroes, and one has been provided in the form of Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror. The character's charismatic first appearance in the "Loki" season finale brought about the fracturing of the multiverse. But where that Kang, who went under the moniker "He Who Remains," was a bit more jovial, the one Scott's going to meet probably isn't going to be as friendly. We already know that a number of Kang variants exist within the scope of the multiverse, but Majors is playing coy about whether we'll get to see them in "Quantumania" (via Collider):
"[N]o spoilers here, we can take it there, but Kang has variants, you know what I mean? [There are] always variants. I'm Kang. So whatever comes through comes through, you know what I mean?"
The promotional campaign for "Quantumania" has been playing this Kang's abilities close to the chest, but you don't have to look too far to see the seeds of the threat that awaits Ant-Man and his crew.
'See you soon'
During the "Loki" season finale, the titular mischief-maker (Tom Hiddleston) discovers the mysterious Kang had been pulling the strings of the Time Variance Authority to prevent even more disarray in the Marvel universe. Even with everything he's told us about being a scientist from the 31st century, there's a lot left to learn, but what we do know is that he's one of the "nice" ones. When you take into account that his multiple variants were responsible for a multiversal war, it's worrisome to think of them wreaking havoc outside the sacred timeline.
But with Loki variant Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) stabbing Kang, rather than taking over his position to keep the TVA in order, the multiverse starts to form some consequential cracks. The thing that has me most worried for Scott is that ominous "see you soon" Kang musters to Sylvie before his death. Majors' time in the MCU has only begun, and although he has to keep the Marvel secrets, it wouldn't surprise me if we actually saw the extent of his variants' path of destruction.
It will be interesting to see how Marvel handles the Kang dilemma, given that the Disney+ shows are not only side adventures between films, but required viewing. There's a good chance that "Quantumaina" will be a lot of folks' introduction to the antagonist, which puts additional pressure on Peyton Reed to introduce the next big overarching threat going into the next "Avengers" film, in addition to whatever is planned for the second season of "Loki." Although I don't know if Scott will live to see any of it.
"Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" is set to hit theaters on February 17, 2023.