Ant-Man Should Have Died!: The Big Kang Problem From ‘Quantumania’

• “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” started in German cinemas in February 2023.
• Since then, the plot about the villain Kang has stood still, it only continues in “Loki” season 2.
• Since “Ant-Man 3”, however, Kang hasn’t seemed really menacing anymore. That could easily have been avoided.

Kang first encountered MCU fans in the finale of “Loki” Season 1 – at least as a statue. “The One Who Stays,” a variant of Kang, already encountered Loki and Sylvie, but only hinted at how dangerous the other Kang variants would become.

Thus, Kang had his first official appearance in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and at first glance the fate of Scott Lang aka Ant-Man seemed to be sealed. Knowing that Avengers: Kang Dynasty will hit theaters in 2026, Kang seemed certain for now, which wasn’t the case for Ant-Man.

Thanos would never have been defeated by ants

Six months have passed since “Quantumania” was released in cinemas, and the film has also been available on Disney+ for a long time. So everyone who cares knows: Ant-Man is alive and Kang has been defeated! Of course, defeating evil is part of the story in Marvel movies, but Kang isn’t a one-time villain like Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy or Gorr in Thor: Love and Thunder.

Kang is the new Thanos, the big new villain the Avengers are supposed to cut their teeth on. To defeat Thanos, all of the Avengers had to work together – and even then, they needed a second try. In “Quantumania,” Kang initially appeared menacing and overpowered due to his confidence, but a short time later he was defeated first by Ants and then by Ant-Man himself.

Of course, the multiverse is huge and there are countless Kang variants that can pose a threat to the Avengers. Already in “Loki” Season 2 we will at least see Victor Timely again, whose appearance was already hinted at in the credits of “Quantumania” – another version of Kang.

Great Danger = Great Sacrifice

Let’s imagine “Quantumania” had taken a completely different direction and Ant-Man had died fighting Kang. That way, the audience would have immediately understood how overpowered Kang is. Although Kang says that he has already killed several Avengers in the multiverse, we see nothing of that.

Ant-Man is by no means the strongest of Avengers, but his humor makes him very popular, and his death would have been a great, but perhaps necessary, loss. An army of kangs can be dangerous, but now the kangs seem more like cannon fodder. It would have looked different if Kang had emerged victorious from “Quantumania”. If one kang can kill one Avenger, how dangerous are thousands of them?

The milder alternative

Ant-Man is probably just too popular and Disney wouldn’t let the character die until Paul Rudd was no longer interested in the role. So why not sacrifice Hank Pym? In Quantumania, Hank had little else to do, but Michael Douglas’ household name alone ensures that he keeps coming back to the MCU.

Still, Hank Pym’s death would have been easy to live with, but not for Ant-Man and his family. After Hank’s death, Ant-Man would probably still have beaten Kang, but the film’s finale would have had a dramatic twist and not the “it was okay, wasn’t it?” feeling that Quantumania now ends with.

Of course it’s too late now to give “Quantumania” more meaning through a heroic sacrifice, but maybe Marvel will soon understand that Thanos didn’t prove his evil power through big words, but through the snap with the Infinity Stones. Without risks and sacrifices, the current MCU era will never take off. So maybe the supposed reboot of the Marvel saga wouldn’t be a bad idea.