Spoilers: With Jonathan Majors villain poised to rule the future of the MCU, the director unpacks two post-credits scenes that are all about setting up his reign.
[Editor’s note: The following post contains spoilers for both “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and its post-credits scenes.]
Marvel’s New Villain Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) Could Dominate Peyton Roseau‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,’ but that’s just the beginning of what awaits the villain in the coming years of constant expansion Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Majors was cast in “Quantumania” in September 2020, with the entertainment giant eventually signing him to a deal that will include starring roles in the Phase 6 feature films “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” (in 2025) and ” Avengers: Secret Wars” (in 2026). In 2021, he made his Marvel debut in an episode of “Loki”, appearing as one of many, a lot variants.
So while “Quantumania” may end with the classic villain being defeated by Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man and Evangeline Lilly’s The Wasp, it’s really not going anywhere (if there’s anyone who can get out of it). being sucked into a time-traveling space engine in the Tiny Quantum Realm is Kang). It’s only fitting that the film’s two post-credits scenes follow Kang (well, sort of) and his growing influence. Up ahead, director Peyton Reed helps us break them down, including what they mean for a very Kang-centric future for the MCU.
[One more warning: The following post contains spoilers for both “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and its post-credits scenes.]
1. Meet the Kangs
In the first post-credits scene, we’re treated to a trio of all-new Majors-as-Kang characters, various variations of the big Marvel villain, including the (blue-skinned) Immortal Elder, Pharaoh Rama-Tut, and a new spin on the Scarlet Centurion (he’s positively cyborg-esque), discussing what has become of Kang, who they call “the exile”.
“He talks about his variants in the movie, and obviously he was playing The One Who Remains in the first season of ‘Loki,’ so it was discussed, and it’s like, ‘Well, when are we actually going to to show some of the variants and that the Kang is a binding being? said Reed in a recent interview with IndieWire. “And then it was like, ‘Well, how about we give them a little taste of a version of Rama-Tut, a version of a Centurion, a version of Immortus?’ … In the movie, there’s a specific reason why he was banished and exiled to the Quantum Realm, so that kind of raised the question of, “Well, WHO exiled? I was trying to set up a version of a Godfather mobster thing like, ‘Oh, who’s triumphant? Who’s talking about the guy who’s not with us anymore? And what does that mean for the Kangs’ larger body politic?
“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”
Jay Maidment
But while Kang’s exile is what initially brings the trio together, they also have bigger things in mind for the rest of the Kangs, and the scene shifts to a massive gathering (we’re talking thousands) variants of Kang, all of whom seem to be preparing each other for a new battle: against the Avengers, who are increasingly aware of the multiverse and therefore pose a major threat to all Kangs. “There are some very famous comic panels from this Council of Kangs, which is sort of a blueprint that we recreated for the very last shot of this label,” Reed said.
It gives a little taste of what we’ll likely see in phases five and six of the MCU, all set to end with the double whammy of “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” and “Avengers: Secret Wars,” which will likely star a lot Majors.
“For Jonathan, I think it was a taste of one of the things that excites him the most, which is this potential to play all these different versions of these variants,” Reed said, noting that ” the version of Rama-Tut that we see is this weird kind of bionic, futuristic Rama-Tut.
Still, Reed cautioned that just because we see these different Kangs in “Quantumania” doesn’t mean they’re the same variants we’ll see in upcoming MCU movies. “Are these necessarily the ones we’re going to see later?” Who knows? But there are variations of each, and we were really impressed,” he said.
2. What about Victor Timely?
But that’s not the last variation of Kang we encounter in the “Quantumania” backcountry, as the final post-credits tag introduces us to Majors as Victor Timely, a stylish 1920s figure who shows up at a host of their own theories of time. In the audience? Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Mobius (Owen Wilson); and although Mobius doesn’t seem so terrified of the guy, Loki promises that he indeed is.
“It’s a scene from season two of ‘Loki,’ and Victor Timely is yet another comic book twist,” Reed said. “I love Jonathan’s look, his kind of vintage voice and his Frederick Douglass hair. That scene, there was just another glimpse of kind of, ‘OK, there’s all these variations and here’s maybe the next one you might encounter. We liked this idea.
“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”
Jay Maidment
Victor Timely is a classic comic book version of Kang: he’s actually a version of the guy who traveled back in time to 1901 to start Timely Industries (cute) in a small town in Wisconsin, who eventually fabricated some of the technology that enabled time travel. possible in the future (where it comes from). Find?
The next season of “Loki” is coming to Disney+ later this year, and while that kind of cross-pollination between movies and shows might seem like, well, a bit too much, Reed reminded us that there’s was no stranger.
“We did the same thing in the first ‘Ant-Man’, the first tag scene featured Hope seeing the costume and then she was going to get dressed,” he said. “And then it was a quick scene from ‘Captain America: Civil War’ of course implying that Ant-Man was going to return. But it was fun because it kind of set the tone for all the potentially crazy versions of Jonathan whom you will meet along the way.
And, no surprise here, “Quantumania” ends with a usual MCU promise, and while it’s obvious, it’s also kinda tipped: “Kang will return.”
A Walt Disney Pictures release, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” is in theaters now.
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