by Peyton Reed, the director of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, explained what went into the Multiversal post-credits scenes in the movie.
The newest super-powered movie in the MCU, starring Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang against Kang the Conqueror, the next Thanos-calibre bad guy, has finally arrived.
Despite being an Ant-Man film, a large portion of Quantumania was devoted to developing Jonathan Majors’ new Multiversal antagonist, a character that will cause havoc throughout the MCU in the upcoming years and has “so many Variants.”
Ant-Man 3 only featured one of these Variants, “warrior” Kang, but implied the existence of many more.
An analysis of Ant-Man 3’s post-credits
The remainder of this page includes plot details for Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, so beware.
In a recent interview, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania director Peyton Reed talked on the twist in the mid-credits scene that revealed hundreds of Kang Variants had started congregating at the Council of Kangs‘ behest.
In an interview with Fandom, Reed remarked that although “there were a lot of discussions” on “which [Kang Variants] we were specifically going to show,” the important thing was to tease viewers with the idea that “there are an almost infinite number of Kangs out there:”
“There were a lot of discussions about which ones we were specifically going to show and how much but the key was to really give the audience a taste of there are an almost infinite number of Kangs out there. Each one is in a different timeline, a different universe in the Multiverse.”
No matter whatever Kang they choose to focus on, the MCU director observed that they had to end the movie having “introduce[d] this sort of triumvirate of Kangs” and “suggest[ed] that there’s another power structure out there with the Kang:”
“To touch on these different characters, for Jonathan, it’s an actor’s dream, to be able to play all these different roles. But in a very short period of time, we wanted to introduce this sort of triumvirate of Kangs and suggest that there’s another power structure out there with the Kangs. Somebody exiled Kang the Conqueror into the Quantum Realm outside of space and time where he could not access his powers.”
He bemoaned that he truly wanted to see that “Council of Kangs image that’s such a classic comic panel” on the big screen and compared the Kangs hierarchy to the mafia of the Godfather movies:
“And suddenly you realize, oh, maybe there’s this sort of Mafia-esque, kind of ‘Godfather’-esque, hierarchy at play. That seemed interesting and we had to do that all very, very quickly. And of course, I wanted to get to that Council of Kangs image that’s such an iconic comic panel with them up in the rafters. The guys in the cheap seats cheering up there, I loved it.”
Reed referred to this Council of Kangs sequence as a “technical nightmare” in a different interview with Entertainment Tonight. Reed praised Jonathan Majors for “[getting] specific with each of those individual characters:”
“It’s a technical nightmare. It only works if you have actors like Paul and Jonathan who can really, you know, get specific with each of those individual characters and their responses. And so, that was fun.”
Stephen Broussard, a producer at Marvel Studios, also offered his opinion on the post-credits scene. Broussard explained to Collider‘s Steven Weintraub that the three Kangs that the stinger targeted were chosen because they had “notable arcs‘ “notable arcs”
The Marvel executive, however, found the idea of an infinite Kang to be intriguing because it hinted of “Everything is fair game:
“It seems that anything is on the table. We’ve seen radically different versions of this character, where does it go next? It could go in so many places, and the unknown of that is exciting. Far be it for me to tell the kind of film for Destin [Daniel Cretton] to make, and for my colleagues to make, [it] is in good hands with that stuff. But just the notion of so much possibility being on the table is exciting.”
A Closer Examining of the Council of Kangs
It’s fantastic that the Council of Kangs has been included in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It’s frightening to think that the latest Avengers-level menace is unstoppable. While there was only one Thanos, Kang the Conqueror seems to have no beginning or finish. And Quantumania gave fans just a small taste of this.
Even though the post-credit scene only had the opportunity to spotlight a few of these Variants of Jonathan Majors’s Multiversal villain, it did so.
Rama-Tut, Scarlet Centurion, and Immortus were highlighted because they are three of the more well-known Kang Variants, as noted by Peyton Reed and Stephen Broussard.
It is unknown if these three individuals will continue to represent the Council of Kangs, but at least their varied appearances hint that the antagonist may truly appear anywhere, at any time, and in any reality.
There will undoubtedly be more prominent Kangs in the MCU. Possibly soon, the recently discussed Lizard Kang will get his day in the spotlight.
No matter what happens, Kang Variants will keep fans busy, as the character is expected to return in Loki Season 2.
In theatres all throughout the world, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is currently showing.
