Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania unanswered questions

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the third film of the Ant-Man franchise is bigger in scale and execution and serves as the first stage towards the next Avengers films set for 2025 and 2026. Kang, essayed by Jonathan Majors, is the next ‘big-bad’ of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, filling the void left by Josh Brolin’s Thanos. While the new film introduces fans to new characters and potential storylines for the future, it did leave a lot of questions unanswered. So for today’s List hai toh hit hai we take a look at some of the questions unanswered in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

How did Kang kill a variant of Thor?

Jonathan Majors’ Kang is a force to be reckoned with, as a world-conquering being capable of travelling through time and space. In one particular scene where he boasts about the worlds he has conquered, he mentions that he killed a variant of the God of Thunder Thor from another universe. This is perplexing considering he was overpowered by the relatively less powerful protagonists in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. It begs the question as to how Kang defeated a God, did he have technology designed to specifically kill Thor or was this version of Thor not as powerful as the one depicted in the MCU by Chris Hemsworth?

What happened to the Avengers?

After the events of the Avengers: Endgame, the MCU has witnessed several events that almost triggered an apocalypse. The animated series What if…?, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Eternals, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness all featured threats on a global scale and in most cases events that threatened to wipe out the entire universe. However, none of these films or TV shows featured the world's mightiest heroes, The Avengers, assembling to face these existential threats. So where are the Avengers? Or at least the new version of the Avengers.

Where is the Ghost?

The villain of the previous film Ava Starr aka the Ghost is essayed by Hannah John-Kamen. Towards the end of the 2018 film Ant-Man and the Wasp, the ghost is depicted as a sympathetic character. The heroes even embark on a scientific mission to find a cure for her condition, which has caused her physical and mental pain for years. However, as the ‘Thanos snap’ occurs when they were about to start their mission, it remains unclear if she was also snapped out of existence and brought back five years later, or if she stayed alive for years without a cure. The character is not even mentioned in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. What we do know is that she will return for the upcoming Marvel film Thunderbolts, as an anti-hero part of a team of other anti-heroes under the command of Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross, played by Harrison Ford.

Who will lead the Young Avengers?

It was assumed that the Young Avengers would be leading from the front in the fight against Kang in Marvel Phases 5 and 6. Ms Marvel, Iron Heart, Kate Bishop, Cassie Lang, and the new Black Panther Shuri are among those tipped to be part of the Young Avengers. There has also been no official confirmation about the team or who will lead the team. There is speculation that Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop aka the new Hawkeye or Kathryn Newton’s Cassie Lang could be in contention. That being said there is also speculation that Marvel Studios could be changing their plans entirely for the Young Avengers, as rumours have emerged that the original ending for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was supposed to feature the Young Avengers.

What version of Kang is the one depicted in the film?

Even though Kang’s feature film debut is Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, his actual debut was in the 2021 series Loki. However, the Kang in Loki is not the Kang in the new film, but a variant of the character. In the comics, Kang is a time-travelling being who has managed to harness unlimited power. The film does not give enough exposition about the version of Kang shown in its story nor does it acknowledge the Kang shown in Loki.

The Quantum realm and its residents?

While it is a unique experience to witness a fictional microscopic universe in the Quantum Realm, the narrative does not go into much detail about the Realm itself. Several questions remain unanswered, how are they human-like beings in the Quantum Realm? and how can the heroes from the ‘real’ world survive in the realm without the aid of any devices to adjust to the new ecosystem, which is essentially like a new planet?

Janet and Kang

The film’s narrative focuses on Janet’s refusal to divulge information about the Quantum Realm, despite spending half her life trapped down there. This was not even hinted at in the previous film, which focused on saving Janet from the Realm. Could this be because of the actions of the Kang from Loki, who destabilised the timelines, and Janet’s memories of the Quantum Realm are in fact new memories she gained recently as a result of time and space being alerted?

The end of the world and What if..? connections?

Fans of the MCU would have expected at least one reference to the universe-altering events that happened post-Avengers: Endgame, but Where is the celestial being from Eternals, the Ultron with Infinity Stones from What if…?, or the Kang from Loki? Even though Marvel has received plenty of plaudits for how they have managed to create an interconnected universe, their expansion into television has created unprecedented levels of inconsistencies. It is something they hope they can rectify with upcoming releases or risk falling into the same pitfalls as Fox’s X-Men universe.

Well that's all the time we have for this episode , until the next time it's your host Nikhil signing out.

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• Written by Ryan Gomez