Kang Creates A Huge Villain Problem For The MCU (That Thanos Never Had)

The MCU’s first proper exploration of Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania creates a villain problem that never affected Thanos’ portrayal in the same way. Though Jonathan Majors already made his MCU debut in Loki, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the first time he’s truly getting to flex his villainous muscles. The latest Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania trailer showed a very different Kang variant from Loki’s He Who Remains, one that is quietly sinister yet crushingly powerful. As the MCU’s confirmed next big bad, Kang’s villain role in Quantumania has a lot of hype attached to it, but it may be to the detriment of the film’s titular heroes, Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man and Evangeline Lily’s Wasp.

At present, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s biggest selling point is the inclusion of Kang in a major villain role, marketed as a taste of what’s to come later in the MCU’s Phase 5 and 6. As a result, Quantumania’s hype is being built around the MCU's Kang the Conqueror, not the superheroes themselves. It’s understandable to some degree, as the introduction of an over-arching villain as opposed to another one-and-done enemy is a big moment. But this is the final installment of the Ant-Man trilogy, possibly even the final Ant-Man film, and much as with Captain America: Civil War, the story of the titular hero(es) seems to be overshadowed by the promise of other bigger characters. Thanos, on the other hand, mostly appeared in end-credit scenes until his first big appearance in Avengers: Infinity War, and there was no way he could overwhelm that film’s cast, as the driving force behind the narrative was Thanos’ successful Infinity Stones quest, not the Avengers’ loss. It remains to be seen whether Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has figured out how to balance the much-anticipated Kang appearance with an honest, hopeful, and fun Ant-Man and the Wasp adventure.

Why Kang Is More Important Than Ant-Man & Wasp (In Their Own Movie)

Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania Trailer Hide Villain Kang MODOK

Kang’s inclusion in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is no coincidence. Ant-Man and the Wasp’s unique power sets enable them to travel to the Quantum Realm, a plane of existence within the Marvel universe that few other characters can reach. The Quantumania trailer makes it seem like Kang has been quietly biding his time there, amassing more power and looking for ways to unleash himself upon the world. As such, Ant-Man's unique corner of the MCU may be being used as a vehicle to introduce Kang’s threat level, rather than as an interesting facet of an Ant-Man and the Wasp story. Avengers: Endgame made Scott Lang an unmissable character because he was the only one who could provide the ultimate solution for Thanos’ Snap, but Quantumania may be doing the opposite: Scott, his daughter Cassie, and the various members of the van Dyne family could be used as Kang’s pawns in their own movie.

Can Ant-Man 3 Avoid Being Overshadowed By Kang?

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Whether the third Ant-Man film can avoid being overwhelmed by Kang’s presence all comes down to the core of the story. Is this a story built around Kang’s threat and what it would mean should he be unleashed upon the multiverse? Or is it a story about the Ant-Man family coming together after the harrowing events of Avengers: Endgame, pulling together within the MCU's Quantum Realm to help make the world a safer place and find a way home? Until the film is officially released, it's hard to say which storyline will be more prominent, but as long as Marvel remembers that the core of its storytelling has always been its heroes and not its villains, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania certainly has the potential to tell a compelling, more serious Ant-Man story with incredibly huge stakes. Quantumania needs to be treated as its own film with its own narrative purpose, rather than as a stepping stone to something greater.

Why Thanos Never Had The Same Villain Problem As Kang

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Though Thanos’ threat lurked behind the scenes of almost every MCU Phase 1 – 3 project, his actual screen presence was relatively small until the third and fourth Avengers movies. The key to Thanos’ success as an overarching villain was the promise of something terrifying to come, rather than factual knowledge of what his true ambitions might be. Kang, on the other hand, will be much more present within the MCU, across numerous franchises in numerous variant forms, and as such, a generous amount of screen time needs to be dedicated to his character to explore him fully and understand his motivations.

Kang will likely face off against smaller heroes, as is expected in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, as well as larger teams like the Avengers, his presence an ever-possible prospect, rather than a slow build-up to something more. On the one hand, this means that the MCU will develop a villain as they have never done before, a welcome change when one of Marvel’s biggest consistent criticisms is the lack of truly compelling villains. On the other hand, however, it also means that every future Kang cameo and storyline could overshadow the heroes’ development in favor of pushing his narrative forward.

Only time will tell whether Marvel Studios has found a way to successfully balance the hype of Kang the Conqueror’s first major appearance with an emotional and affecting Ant-Man story. It does look like Kang will be on a different level of villainy in the MCU than even Thanos, much more present and influential. This can have both negative and positive effects on Marvel’s cinematic storytelling, as it can overshadow the heroes that made the MCU what it is today yet also provide a much deeper villain story for the audience to enjoy and dissect. In any case, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is likely to contain one of Marvel’s most memorable villain performances to date.

Next: Which Version Of Kang Is In Ant-Man 3: All Possible Variants