Ant-Man’s third outing kicks off Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a microscopic bang. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania isn’t just the latest in the adventures of Scott Lang, it’s also the first film in the MCU with Jonathan Majors’ Kang as the main antagonist. Quantumania has big plans for Marvel Comics’ deadly Conqueror.
Of course, like with most MCU movies, some of the biggest reveals about the future come from Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s two credits scenes. The first scene takes place in the middle of the credits, and for the last one, you’ll have to wait until the very end.
[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.]
What happens in Quantumania’s first post-credits scene?
Quantumania’s mid-credits scene is the more important of the two, at least as far as the MCU’s future goes — Majors has been signed to play the big bad in the next two Avengers movies. While it’s unclear whether the actor’s run-in with the law in March 2023, with charges including strangulation, assault, and harassment, will impact his work in the MCU, for right now, Marvel is sticking with the plan: Quantumania’s Disney Plus debut in May had both of its post-credits scenes intact, as a sign of where things are going.
So what happens and what does it mean? We cut to a world that seems to be floating through space. Three versions of Kang — each styled radically differently, with different technology and costumes, though they’re all played by Jonathan Majors — discuss the fact that “the exiled one,” Kang the Conqueror, this movie’s antagonist, is dead. The Kangs then explain how our world is just starting to discover the multiverse, and so it’s time to discuss the matter with all Kangs everywhere. Cut to a vast arena, where thousands of other visually diverse Kangs begin to appear from different timelines, realities, and universes.
As for what this might mean, it certainly seems like Marvel is attempting to set up something like the Council of Kangs in the MCU. The three Kangs we see aren’t specifically identified during the short mid-credits scene, but they seem to be references to some of Kang’s most famous comic book incarnations.
Who are the versions of Kang at the end of Quantumania?
In the comics, all these characters are actually the same person, not parallel versions of each other. Thanks to Kang’s long life of time-travel shenanigans, many stages of his personal development have aided, bedeviled, or simply interacted with Marvel’s superheroes. The one with streaks of neon light down his skin is likely the MCU’s interpretation of Iron Lad, the superhero identity Kang took on when he was a teenager in the far future.
The Kang in Egyptian-type dress is a clear reference to Pharaoh Rama-Tut, the guise Kang went by when he was in his “I wanna go back in time and rule all of Egypt” phase. And the guy with the tall hat and the impressive beard is undoubtedly Immortus, Kang in his oldest phase of life, who’s been around so long he’s kind of over that conquering thing, and would rather repair timelines than mess around in them the way he did in his youth. The MCU’s version seems decidedly more malevolent, but it’s still not exactly clear what these Kangs actually want or are planning, only that it has something to do with “incursions,” an ominous multiversal natural disaster last seen in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
What happens in Quantumania’s Loki post-credits scene?
Quantumania’s post-credits scene is just as Kang-centric, though it also sets up a clearer vision for the immediate future of the franchise: It’s a very short teaser trailer for Loki season 2. The brief clip shows Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Mobius (Owen Wilson) watching a Victorian science presentation delivered by a stuffy, gentlemanly figure named Victor Timely (also played by Jonathan Majors). And guess what! Victor Timely is yet another time-travel identity of Kang.
In the scene, Victor is explaining how time shapes everyone’s lives, but it might be possible to shape it in return. From the audience, Loki — also costumed for the era — whispers to Mobius, “It’s him!” Mobius looks dubious: “You made him sound like this terrifying figure!” “He is,” Loki says ominously, before the cut to black. Given that Loki and his gender-swapped alternate-timeline self Sylvie faced off against yet another version of Kang in season 1 of Loki — this one called “He Who Remains,” a character who more or less explained how his death would set off a multiverse-wide explosion of Kangs — it’s no wonder Loki recognizes this new iteration, and the threat he poses. We’ll find out what part Victor has to play in the multiverse when season 2 of Loki drops this fall.