Warning: This article contains spoilers for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘s ending.
Let’s address the eleph-ant in the room. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania definitely fumbled the opportunity to end the Ant-Man trilogy on a high. While fans don’t necessarily think Rotten Tomatoes’ decree that it’s the joint-worst MCU movie of the lot is accurate, most certainly wish it could’ve been a whole lot better, especially in living up to the dramatic and foreboding trailers. There’s no way to fix Quantumania‘s mistakes at this point, then, but the damage it’s done to Ant-Man’s arc can still be fixed when he returns for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
First, let’s recap where Quantumania left him. Although it briefly looks like Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) will be trapped in the Quantum Realm after defeating Kang, the pair manage to escape back to Earth and get a happy, totally underwhelming ending. Many seem to be in agreement that sticking with this original denouement would’ve been vastly superior and offered a perfect, bittersweet conclusion to Scott’s storyline. It may even have been the original plan, from what we know about the film’s last-minute reshoots.
So, given that this is what the fans want, maybe Marvel should adapt and update this concept for the conclusion of the Multiverse Saga come Kang Dynasty and its epic sequel, Avengers: Secret Wars. Instead of having Scott take over from Kang as the ruler of the Quantum Realm, how about having him replace the Conqueror — as the ruler of all time? Yes, really. Just bear with us a moment…
However it happens, once Kang is defeated, the TVA will be needing a new figurehead as the timeline will be without someone to govern over it, for the first time since whenever He Who Remains took the gig. While the threat of Kang will be gone, it’s highly likely that the timeline still requires someone to act as its guardian. It only makes sense, then, that it should be one of the Avengers. Specifically, Scott himself.
There are various reasons why he’d be the perfect choice for the job. First, Scott is one of the most humble of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and there would be a wonderful dramatic irony to the smallest Avenger becoming the most important being in reality. What’s more, Scott is someone who has always been plagued by losing time — being sent to prison, getting trapped in the Quantum Realm, ETC. It would be the ultimate way of ending his arc to make him be the one in charge of time.
Scott’s unlikely to be the hero who single-handledly destroys Kang, Iron Man in Avengers: Endgame-style, in Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars, but those movies could still fix Quantumania‘s mistakes by giving him and his fans the emotional, empowering ending Ant-Man deserves. Only time will tell.