The new villain gets a proper introduction in the first film of the MCU’s fifth phase.

By Patrick Cremona

Published: Saturday, 18 February 2023 at 12:00 am

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Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

With Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania now out in cinemas, fans are getting themselves acquainted with the new big bad of the MCU: Kang the Conquerer.

The hugely significant new Ant-Man film, which also acts as the first instalment in the MCU’s Phase 5, gives us our first proper look at the comic book villain, played by Jonathan Majors, after he made a brief appearance in the Disney Plus series Loki as a different variant of the character.

Here, he takes centre stage, as he battles it out with Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang, Evangeline Lilly’s Hope Van-Dyne and the rest of the Ant-fam in the Quantum Realm, the subatomic universe which, after Avengers: Endgame, became a crucial part of the Marvel canon.

With this crucial battle set up and plenty of nods towards Marvel comics lore throughout the film, you may find yourself wanting to get to grips with exactly what happened at the film’s ending. If you want it unpacked, we’ve got you covered.

Read on for everything you need to know about the ending of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ending explained with full spoilers

Upon being sucked into the Quantum Realm, the film’s heroes are initially split into two groups – Scott and Cassie on one hand, and Hope, Hank, and Janet on the other.

Although they see all sorts of weird and wonderful sights, it doesn’t take long for it to emerge that arriving in the Quantum Realm was a big mistake: during her previous time here, Janet had become acquainted with a man named Kang, who is now desperate to find her and get revenge.

Meanwhile, we also learn from Bill Murray’s character Lord Kryler that Janet has a secret.

What is Janet van Dyne’s secret?

Around halfway through the film, we learn that many years earlier, Kang had initially introduced himself to Janet as a multiverse traveller who had become trapped in the Quantum Realm when his ship stopped working. She had helped him fix it in exchange for the promise of more time – desperate to get back the time she had lost with her daughter, Hope.

While she had been working for him, however, she discovered he was evil and so decided to destroy the core of his ship they had been repairing, consequently trapping them both in the Quantum Realm indefinitely – and meaning that Janet would no longer be able to reunite herself with Hope.

The move also had repercussions for the inhabitants of the Quantum Realm. From that moment onwards, Kang became the Conquerer and established himself as a brutal dictator in the Realm, “turning his prison into an empire” as he puts it himself

What is Kang’s ultimatum to Scott?

Marvel Studios

The only way Kang is now able to fix his ship is by getting his hands on Pym particles, and so he tracks down Scott and threatens him – either he works with him or he will kill Cassie. Meanwhile, he also outlines his grand plan: once he has escaped, he intends on taking his new empire with him such that he can conquer all universes.

After a rather trippy scene that sees Scott enter a “probability storm”, this naturally all leads to one massive fight which sees Cassie and Scott become giant versions of themselves and also includes Hank utilising a bunch of ants who come to help save the day.

What happens to MODOK: does he die?

Marvel Studios

During the fighting, much of Kang’s citadel is destroyed and his ally MODOK (who was earlier revealed to be Darren Cross from the original Ant-Man film) is killed.

But before all this, MODOK switches sides and confesses he was wrong for aligning himself with Kang – eventually playing a vital role in helping Scott and co defeat his former boss. (Amusingly, the thing that appears to cause MODOK to change his allegiance is when Cassie insults him, before telling him that “it’s never too late to change”.)

In his final moments, MODOK – now going by the name Darren once again – says that he can at least die having become an Avenger, and the other hesitantly agree.

What happens to Kang: does he die?

Marvel

By the end of the battle, the major players other than MODOK have all survived, and it briefly looks like the heroes will be able to make it out of the Quantum Realm safely, leaving Kang still stranded and unable to fix his ship.

However, Scott is prevented from leaving at the last minute and becomes engaged in an epic duel with Kang on the latter’s ship, during which the villain initially appears to get the upper hand.

Thankfully, Hope returns to the Quantum Realm to save him, and the pair work together to destroy the Multiversal Engine once and for all with Pym particle discs before Hope kicks Kang into the engine as it collapses, appearing to kill him.

And so the version of Kang that we met in this film does die, but as the post-credits scene teases, there’s a lot more where he came from, with the Council of Kangs now working together to take drastic action against the Avengers to stop further meddling with the multiverse.

Does Scott escape the Quantum Realm?

Marvel Studios

Yes – after defeating Kang, Scott and Hope are able to make their way out of the Quantum Realm to reunite with Hank, Janet, and Cassie.

Back in the normal world, Scott appears to be enjoying his life as a celebrity once again, but it is clear that he continues to be plagued by Kang’s earlier threat that something big is coming which could potentially lead to everyone being killed…

This is certainly not the last we’ll see of Kang.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is in UK cinemas now. Watch the Marvel movies in order on Disney Plus – sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 for a year

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