‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ Trailer Breakdown: Phase 5 Kicks Off!

We are now in 2023, and Marvel Cinematic Universe is ready to start its next phase! After finishing Infinity Saga, suffering numerous pandemic-influenced delays, bringing TV shows into the canon, and dealing with some mixed reviews throughout Phase 4, Marvel Studios will now try to return MCU to its former glory as they’re gearing up for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The third Ant-Man movie is the first movie of Phase 5 and the first movie that will build the stage for the next big crossover event — Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, which is set to be released in May 2025.

Scott Lang aka Ant-Man, played by Paul Rudd, first joined the franchise in 2015 with his first solo movie. Rudd reprised the role in Captain America: Civil War, the sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Avengers: Endgame. Following the conclusion of Infinity Saga, Ant-Man remained one of the vital members of the MCU roster. Quantumania will conclude the Ant-Man trilogy, although it remains to be seen when and if he’s gonna return in future projects and crossovers.

Marvel Studios recently revealed the second official trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The movie will see the return of some known faces, including Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne/the Wasp, Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, and Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet van Dyne. Kathryn Newton joins the franchise as the new Cassie Lang, and Jonathan Majors who played He Who Remains in the Loki series now returns as the super-villain Kang the Conqueror.

In this article, we are going to break the trailer down to see what can we expect from the next Ant-Man flick. If you haven’t seen the trailer yet, you can check it out below:

‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ Trailer Breakdown

How is Scott Lang doing after Thanos’ defeat?

The character of Scott Lang has experienced a lot since he joined the MCU. He’s an ex-con that became a superhero, fought in Civil War, got imprisoned again, got stuck in the Quantum Realm (twice, the second time for five years), traveled through time, and fought Thanos in a battle for the universe. Even though it seems everything is doing well now, he’s got a new girlfriend, a happy family, and everything, with so much that happened in his life, one of Scott’s regrets is how he didn’t have time to be there for his daughter Cassie, who grew up in his absence while he was stuck in the Quantum Realm for five years after the snap (we are not calling it “the blip”).

According to the trailer, this will be one of the plot points for Scott. We know it’s hard for any parent when a child grows far from them, and everything that happened in Scott’s life makes it a lot harder because that time is unique and it cannot be brought back. In the trailer, we see how Scott wants to make it up to Cassie for all the years he wasn’t there for her. In one short scene, we see Cassie in jail, which gives us some “like father, like daughter” vibe. One thing is for sure, the relationship between Scott and Cassie will be one of the movie’s plot points, and we’re all here for that.

Going back to the Quantum Realm… again!

The teaser trailer that Marvel Studios revealed last year showed that the movie’s main plot point will be the main characters getting sucked into the Quantum Realm, again. Once Cassie tries to send a signal there, an accident will occur and now everyone will be stuck there, where a new villain will await.

From the looks of it, down in the Quantum Realm Scott will be the first MCU hero who will meet the next big bad — Kang the Conqueror! Although it’s obvious that he’s the supervillain not only of this movie but of the whole Multiverse Saga, Kang will come to Scott with a proposition because, in his own words, he can give Scott one thing he wants — time.

Making a deal with Kang? Yeah, what could possibly go wrong?

We gotta say, every time we look at Jonathan Majors as Kang, he looks better and better. Especially now, when we got the best look yet at his comic-accurate appearance. Majors first played He Who Remains in the Loki series, and after that character was killed off, the Multiverse awoke and Kang is ready to show up as one of the evil variants of He Who Remains.

The trailer is giving us a glimpse of Kang’s plan, which is to force Scott into some kind of deal, most likely for the price of Cassie’s life. Apart from the fact that he looks amazing, Kang seems like a very manipulative villain. And considering the fact that he’s not only the main villain of this movie but of the whole Multiverse saga, whatever he will do in Quantumania is only the beginning of his reign of terror.

Experience the Quantum Realm like never before

Quantum Realm isn’t an unknown place for the fans of MCU, even less for the fans of Marvel Comics in general. Quantum Realm was one of the important parts not only in the first two Ant-Man movies but also in Avengers: Endgame, where it was used as a time machine to fix the damage that Thanos has done.

Still, even after visiting it and mentioning it so many times, the Quantumania trailer is doing its best to show us that we have never experienced Quantum Realm the way we will experience it once this movie hits theaters. And we are all here for it, because, let’s be real, down there is a whole other universe, so many things that can be explored, and we have no doubt that we will see a lot of things there. Stunning visuals and top-notch CGI? Oh yeah!

First look at M.O.D.O.K.

In terms of supervillains, we are always talking about Kang when it comes to this movie. But, there will be one more villain in this movie who is most likely very known to the fans of the comics — M.O.D.O.K. And one more interesting fact is his actor. This villain will be played by Corey Stoll. You don’t remember him? He played Darren Cross/Yellowjacket in the first Ant-Man movie.

Now, this brings up an interesting theory. We remember that Scott went subatomic to defeat him in the first movie and that Darren also vanished the same way. Although Scott managed to return, could it be that Darren eventually turned into M.O.D.O.K. while he was stuck in the Quantum Realm? We can’t be sure since it isn’t confirmed that these two characters played by Stoll are one of the same. Still, it will be interesting to see how will that turn out.

Witness the beginning of a new Dynasty

Both the official poster and trailer that were recently revealed didn’t try to hide the new tagline of the movie — Witness the beginning of a new Dynasty! Which means only one thing. It was already announced that Quantumania will be the first real step toward the next crossover event, and when we look at what that event is called — Avengers: The Kang Dynasty — looks like there is no need to explain it any further.

We know that Kang will be the next big bad, which means that Quantumania is only the beginning for him. We will need to see the movie to be sure how the franchise will build up the storyline for the next Avengers movie, but we have no doubt that a lot of great and epic things are waiting for us in the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Directed by Peyton Reed, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is set to be released on February 17, 2023.