Array
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is more than the latest Marvel movie. It’s a new chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ushering in new supervillain Kang in an era codenamed Phase 5. But how does the end of the movie set up this new beginning for the MCU, in movies on the big screen and TV shows on Disney Plus?
In Ant-Man 3, in theaters now, Paul Rudd returns as small-time-thief-turned-big-time-superhero Scott Lang. With his girlfriend, scientist Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), Lang’s been coasting through a life of celebrity, oblivious to the political awakening of his daughter, Cassie (Kathryn Newton), or the repressed trauma of Hope’s mom, Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer).
Janet is horrified when her husband, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), helps Cassie sends a signal to the quantum realm, a plane of reality teenier than an atom. Janet was lost in that nightmarish itty-bitty world for 30 years, and was only rescued in 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp. So she’s none too happy when the whole family is sucked in and shrunk down, lost in the quantum realm and facing the chillingly soft-spoken dictator Kang (Jonathan Majors).
Kang forces Scott to retrieve the multiverse engine core that Janet damaged years ago, giving Kang the power to finally escape and launch an invasion of the larger world.
To stop him, Cassie gives an impassioned speech to the downtrodden people of the quantum realm, who rise up against Kang. Scott and Cassie turn giant and smash their way into Kang’s tower, although Cassie discovers that changing size takes a lot of energy (and limes).
The insurgents are reinforced by an army of high-tech ants who evolved from Hank’s experiments thanks to time fast-forwarding. “Socialism may be a charged word, but we’ve got a lot to learn from them,” Hank says of the super-evolved ant society.
The moral of the story is that individuals shouldn’t lose hope, even in the face of overwhelming odds. Even the tiniest ant or lowliest person can change the world when everyone bands together. MODOK is not a dick
In the first Ant-Man movie, sleazy arms salesman Darren Cross attempted to sell Hank Pym’s size-changing technology. That led to a showdown with Scott in Cassie’s bedroom when the poor kid was just six. Scott saved her then by damaging Darren’s Yellowjacket suit, which imploded and crushed Darren down to subatomic size.
