Warning: This article contains spoilers for Ms. Marvel.
Aside from perhaps Carol Danvers, Ant-Man has become the most referenced superhero in Ms. Marvel — but why is Marvel hyping Ant-Man in the MCU show nobody seems to be watching? Ms. Marvel broke a Rotten Tomatoes record for the MCU and is the highest-rated MCU television property to date, but also opened to the lowest number of households of any Disney+ MCU series. Ms. Marvel's frequent inclusion of Ant-Man begs the question of just what Marvel is trying to set up with a show that's clearly still struggling to find its audience.
Ant-Man has been explicitly referenced in three of the four episodes of Ms. Marvel currently released, with his presence in each episode having some bearing on the plot. In Ms. Marvel episode 1, Ant-Man is showcased heavily at AvengerCon. Kamala inadvertently knocks the head off a large Ant-Man display, which almost injures Zoe before Kamala is able to rescue her using her newfound powers. This episode also introduced audiences to Ant-Man's podcast about the Avengers - where he has apparently been dishing on the group and telling the public all he knows about their exploits. In Ms. Marvel episode 2, Kamala tells Bruno that she tested her powers to see if she could shrink, fly, or talk to ants because both she and Ant-Man are charming and look younger than they really are. Ms. Marvel episode 4 shows a full mural of Ant-Man complete with the phrase, "You can start small and still be larger than life."
It's possible that Ms. Marvel's creators are merely drawing some Easter egg-style parallels between Ms. Marvel and Ant-Man, given the overlap of their powers in the comics. Yet with the series' changes to Kamala's powerset in Ms. Marvel, this feels less and less likely. Maybe the powers that be at Marvel see the similarities in tone between the two properties and are giving the duo a sort of test run to see how audiences would like them together. It's perhaps most likely that the writers didn't foresee their show underperforming in viewership and saw an opportunity to get audiences excited about the next Ant-Man film, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Is Ms. Marvel's Ant-Man Hype Setting Up Kamala's Quantumania Appearance?
While Kamala and Scott Lang share some powers in the comics, Kamala can't change her size at will in the MCU. Instead, the Disney+ series has essentially replaced all of those similar powers with Kamala's connection to the Noor in Ms. Marvel. This may have potentially connected her to Scott in the MCU, perhaps explaining the decision to reference him so frequently. Even with this lost connection, Kamala's growing understanding of the Noor and its realm might make her invaluable to Ant-Man in Quantumania, suggesting that Kamala might cameo there.
It isn't clear exactly why Marvel is hyping Ant-Man so much in Ms. Marvel — just as it isn't entirely clear why a show with such good reviews is getting such bad viewership. Perhaps the powers that be at Marvel thought Ms. Marvel would reach more viewers, and it made sense to begin building more hype for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania as it releases in 2023. Whatever the reason might be, Ant-Man is all over Ms. Marvel and it feels likely that audiences will see more of him in its final two episodes.
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