We are just hours away from witnessing how much water Kang the Conqueror’s promises of rewriting existence and erasing timelines hold. But while Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will be the first proper introduction of the supervillain who just loves to tamper with time, one only needs to take a proper look at the existing MCU to see all the signs that prove that the time-traveling baddie has been toying with the fabric of reality for a very long time.
How many times have you borne witness to a Marvel scene that doesn’t really sit well with the narrative set before it – facts that are inaccurate, moments that don’t make sense? Well, what if it wasn’t the Marvel Studios making mistakes but the nefarious Kang the Conqueror tinkering with time — carelessly changing and altering events to fit his whims and fancies while also setting off a ripple effect in the process — that have all been chalked up as continuity errors?
Characters changing faces and no one even batting an eyelash
Unless your MCU journey started with Iron Man, you already remember the Hulk we met in The Incredible Hulk is very different from the one we are currently acquainted with. The same goes for Rhodey. Yes, perfectly logical, real-world explanations exist for the switch. But if we were to strictly stick to Marvel’s silver-screen land, saying that Kang has been making the swap does sound about right. Who knows how the OG characters ruffled the feathers of the Master of Time?
There is also Cassie Lang who was “recast” — what if Kang changed her with the one he knew would end up bringing Ant-Man to the Quantum Realm?
The Ant-Man-sized error in Avengers: Endgame
During the battle with Thanos and his massive army, Scott and Hope are trying to hotwire the van. But then we see Giant-Man (Ant-Man’s gigantically proportioned form) facing off against the Titan’s army. How is he at two places at the same time?
The MCU fandom has done its best to explain this anomaly without accepting that the studios simply messed up while stitching the scene together. And nothing trumps the possibility that it was a result of Kang interfering without anyone knowing. Maybe the villain, who can travel to the future as well, knew that Scott would perish if he remained stuck in the van as everyone else was too occupied to come to his aid.
Knowing that he would end up getting stuck in the Quantum Realm, Kang proceeded to alter the reality in a way that allowed Scott to take down the ones that could have potentially harmed him. Yes, we know, Kang has said he has never heard of Ant-Man, but for a man who makes and breaks timelines, it seems impossible that he doesn’t know the Avenger. Chances are he just wanted to irk Scott and what’s better than a mighty opponent like Kang claiming he has never heard of him?
Captain America’s stoic shield can probably do it all day too
This is again from Endgame — looks like Kang really wanted the Avengers to beat Thanos and get him out of his way when he decided to unleash his brand of chaos on them.
There is a scene where Cap is standing, with his trusty shield close to him, ready to take down the enemies. Just one problem — his beloved shield is completely whole and not broken, which is weird as moments ago Thanos snapped it like it was made of glass. Unless Steve somehow traveled back in time only to get his shield back, it could have Kang written all over it.
Thor’s belief that growing up he was the same age as Loki
Yes, we know Thor is a God, probably ages at a different pace and that’s why he looks the same age as Loki — who is younger than he is and whose alternate origins plausibly affect how he ages — but it has been confirmed many times that Thor is a few hundred years older than Loki and yet in Ragnarok, he recounts a childhood incident when his brother pranked him and adds that they were both eight at the time.
Either he is very bad at maths or he did spend the earlier years of his childhood with Loki, but it was a variant that would not have served Kang’s agenda and was thus replaced.
HYDRA predicted a rather unpredictable future
In Captain America and The Winter Soldier, Arnim Zola’s algorithm observed the past and present of millions to deduce who is or would pose a threat to HYDRA. And somehow, Doctor Stephen Strange is a part of this eclectic mix.
The Strange we met at the beginning of Doctor Strange is a haughty surgeon and, for lack of better words, a total asshole who thinks nothing about others and would be least concerned about what is going on in the world as long as it doesn’t bother him. And yet, HYDRA labels him as their enemy. Why? What part of his being an ass routine pitched him as a future liability?
What if Kang — who can travel to the future — was the one feeding HYDRA the info as he probably saw how Strange and his superpowers would essentially throw a wrench into his future plans? This won’t be the first time an all-mighty evil joined forces with a shady organization.
Gamora’s incorrect claims about her past
In Infinity War, we saw how in the past Thanos had to resort to less efficient and rather bloody means to exact his offing-half-the-universe plans. In a flashback, he is seen invading Zehenberei, mercilessly killing half the population, and taking Gamora with him. And yet, an older Gamora said in Guardians of the Galaxy that she is the “last survivor of the Zehnberei people.” So, what happened to the remaining population that was chosen to survive Thanos’ plans for the greater good?
Is Gamora’s memory faulty or did someone alter the outcome of that particular massacre?
Cap’s uniform fixes itself and his wounds
When Captain America goes back in time to get the Space Stone and Mind Stone, he has to face off against his past self from their 2012 New York battle against the aliens. But we all remember how battered Steve was after the battle, right? His normally immaculate uniform was all messed up and dirty and he sported a rather nasty gash on his right shoulder. But somehow, Cap’s time-traveling venture has erased this from his past self as the latter is seen in a perfect uniform and free from any visible injuries.
While Kang gains nothing from tidying Cap up, it could very well be an aftereffect of some other way he poked at the timeline.
The inaccurate time-jump in Spider-Man: Homecoming
It is made explicit throughout Homecoming that its events take place eight years after the battle in New York that happened in 2012, which means its year is 2020. But it is also established that it is set a short time after what went down in Captain America: Civil War, which according to the MCU timeline happened in 2016.
Tell us what sounds more enticing — Joe Russo accepting that calculation was “incorrect,” or imagining Kang was the one behind the mix-up?
Yes, yes, the logical but very boring answer would be to call these continuity errors that escaped the final editing cut. But seeing that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania isn’t faring well as far as critics are concerned, let us MCU fans thrive in our fantasies, okay? Let’s just say that even though He Who Must Not Be Named has kept Kang at bay for who knows how long, the moment the maniac was free he started to-ing and fro-ing back in time as his favorite hobby.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania arrives in theaters this Feb. 17.