A Beginner’s Guide to ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania’
Phase 5 officially kicks off with the third Ant-Man installment.
If it feels like we’ve been talking about Marvel’s Phase 4 for years…well that’s because we have. But Phase 5 is officially underway with the newest installment in the Ant-Man series, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.
Phase 5 will feature a lot of familiar faces, like The Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America, Loki, and even Agatha Harkness. But who better to get the next phase rolling than the guy who basically saved everyone’s butts in Endgame but doesn’t get nearly enough credit? Sorry Tony, we’re talking about Scott Lang.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters on February 17, so if you need a little refresher about what Scott’s gotten into in the past few movies, then let’s dive in.
Who Is Ant-Man?
In Ant-Man, Scott Lang is a Robin Hood-esque man. He’s a criminal that steals from other criminals and returns the stolen goods to the victims. However, thieving is thieving, and it ends with Scott in jail.
After he serves his time, he gets out and vows to live a clean life for the sake of his daughter, Cassie. Sadly, Scott turns back to burglary to make ends meet and robs Hank Pym, a scientist. The thing he steals is a suit that allows him to shrink down to the size of an ant — but what he doesn’t know at the time is that Hank wanted him to steal that suit and take on his old persona, Ant-Man.
Scott, Hank, and Hank’s daughter Hope van Dyne team up to retrieve Hank’s stolen technology from his former lab assistant, Darren Cross. Scott is able to defeat Cross and destroy the stolen tech.
After this success, Ant-Man is recruited by Captain America’s team in Captain America: Civil War. He fights alongside Steve Rogers, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, and Hawkeye to protect Bucky Barnes. However, because of the altercation, Scott, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, and Hawkeye are all arrested — but Scott makes a deal to be put on house arrest so he can spend time with his daughter.
Under house arrest is where we find Scott in Ant-Man and The Wasp. While on house arrest, Hope (who is now a romantic interest for Scott) breaks him out to help her and Hank with a mission. Hank has built a portal to the Quantum Realm, which is essentially another dimension, because his wife, and Hope’s mother, Janet van Dyne has been stuck in the Quantum Realm for years. After a series of exciting, near-death events, Scott and Hope (now The Wasp) are able to save Janet and bring her back to Earth — and Scott is able to make it back home before the FBI agent can realize he’s gone.
During the post-credit scene of Ant-Man and The Wasp, we see Scott enter the Quantum Portal with Hank, Hope, and Janet waiting for him outside. As he’s asked to be pulled back out, the three on the outside are Snapped by Thanos — and Scott is stuck in the Quantum Realm for five years (though it feels like five hours).
He escapes the Quantum Realm post-Snap, albeit thanks to a sneaky rat who steps on the controls, and he learns what Thanos did. Scott comes up with a plan to use the Quantum Realm to bring back the other half of humanity. He gathers the rest of the Avengers and, thus, the infamous Time Heist is born.
The last we know of Scott is he’s reunited with Hope and Cassie, who was not Snapped and thus aged five years during the Blip.
What Are Ant-Man’s Powers?
Scott’s powers come through the Ant-Man suit. With the suit and Hank’s Pym Particles, Scott can shrink to the size of an ant and grow up to 65 feet tall. When he is shrunk, Scott maintains his normal strength and endurance, which makes his ant-like body super strong. While in the suit, he also has the ability to communicate with insects.
The Ant-Man power is mostly attributed to the Pym Particles. Along with the Particles that help him shrink and grow, Scott also carries shrink and grow disks that can manipulate objects’ size.
Who Is the Wasp and What Are Her Powers?
Because Hank chose Scott to wear the Ant-Man suit, Hope was given an upgraded version of Janet’s Wasp suit.
Just like Ant-Man, The Wasp can shrink to the size of an insect — however, her wings also allow her to fly in both small and normal sizes.
What Is Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania About?
These questions get harder and harder to answer as Marvel enters new, extra tight-lipped phases.
Here’s what we know from the trailer: Scott, Cassie, Hope, Hank, and Janet enter the Quantum Realm, seemingly not on purpose. While there, they find a secret Quantum universe that may be ruled by Bill Murray?
We also know that Kang The Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) appears as the villain of the movie. He may look familiar to Loki fans — that’s because he is a variant of He Who Remains, and not a nice variant at that. Kang says Scott has something he wants, likely the Pym Particles and likely to use them to travel through time, because he wants to conquer (get it?) time and space.
Watch the Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania Trailer:
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters February 17 — you can buy tickets now on Fandango.