“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” post-credits scenes explained

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantum Mania landed in theaters on Friday beginning Phase 5 from Marvel Cinematic Universe sending size-shifting superhero Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and his family on an intense journey into the Quantum Realm. It’s Ant-Man’s third standalone outing, the 31st MCU film overall, and there are post-credits scenes that might blow your mind.

“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a lot of fun, led by a lovable band of goofy heroes who find themselves in a weird and wonderful world to face off against a villain big enough to change the entire franchise,” Rich Knightwell of CNET writes in his review. “The plot may not be anything groundbreaking, but the great visuals and interesting themes prove that bigger isn’t always better.”

The mission puts Scott Lang in the crosshairs of Khan the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), a time-traveling supervillain from the distant future who has been teased as the next big danger for the Avengers. Let’s try to decipher the extra scenes and what they mean for the MCU. Versatile SPOILERS forward.

Mid-credits: Kang’s advice

Following this film’s Kang being sucked into the malfunctioning Multiverse Engine Core, a trio of Kang variants discuss reuniting their Multiverse counterparts. Two of these guys look like the ancient Egyptian ruler Rama-Tut and the timeline-slasher Immortus as they appear in the comics, while the cyborg-looking human may be based on the armored Scarlet Centurion.

They are unhappy that the Avenger has killed Kang, whom they have exiled to the Quantum Realm, and that the heroes are touching the multiverse – possibly a reference to the stupidity of the Spider-Man: No Way Home timeline. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and What if…?

“And if we let them, they’ll take everything we’ve built,” says the hoarse Imortus, who appears to be the leader of the trio. “So let’s stop wasting time. We’re running late.’

He notes that he called “all of us.” Their room opens to reveal a vast arena filled with Variants – Kangi from branching timelines – of seemingly endless temperaments and types, with even more arriving through the portals of time.

It looks Kang-tastic. What does this mean?

Our heroes will face off against an army of kanga who want to dominate the multiverse. However, the variants of Kang we met in the Loki season 1 finale and this movie suggest that these guys really don’t get along, possibly due to their megalomaniac tendencies, so any alliance is likely to be shaky.

The same goes for the comic source material, where one Kang — Kang Prime — works with some variants to eliminate their counterparts. He then killed these allies and replaced them with robot doppelgangers to ensure his control over all timelines. It didn’t really work out for him, though, because schemes that involve managing multiple realities tend to get out of hand.

The same will likely be true of the MCU, but the fact that The Avengers: The Kahn Dynasty is slated for a May 2025 theatrical release suggests he (or they) will have some success. The Kang from that movie could come back since the Multiversal Engine Core could spit him out somewhere (or somewhere) else instead of killing him.

Post Credits: The Hunt for Loki

We jump to the early 1900s to find our old friends Loki and Mobius (Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson) looking dapper as they attend the stage show of one Victor Timely – a man who looks exactly like Kang.

“Timing is everything,” Timely says with super villainous gravitas. “It shapes our lives, but maybe we can shape it.”

Loki seems smitten with this guy, but Mobius isn’t that impressed.

“You’ve made him sound like a terrifying figure,” says the Time Variance Authority (TVA) agent.

“He is,” Loki replies.

Loki, hooray! Why is he in it?

When we last saw Loki the Season 1 finale of his Disney Plus show of the same namehis female version Sylvie threw him into a time portal and killed the One Who Remains, a variant of Kang who controlled the flow of time and prevented any ramifications.

The timeline dictator’s death restored the multiverse, and He Who Remains’ own Variants, which had been kept in check by his efforts, were able to run amok again.

Loki ended up back in the gloomy TVA offices where he tried to warn Mobius about the threat of many Kangis.

“Someone is coming. Countless different versions of a very dangerous man,” he tells Mobius and company. “And they are all ready to fight.” We have to prepare.

However, this version of Mobius does not remember Loki. There’s also a statue of Kang in his comic suit towering over the TVA – it looks like the God of Mischief has been sent to a timeline where the agency is controlled by a variant of Kang who’s great at letting the timeline branch out .

This film’s post-credits scene suggests that he convinced Mobius to join him in his pursuit of Kang.

But why is Loki after Victor Timely?

It is unclear why Loki is chasing this particular version of Kang, but it is possible that he is a version of the character from earlier in his career. It can try to stop a villain’s career before it’s even started.

Once again, the upcoming movie Avengers: The Kang Dynasty suggests that it won’t go smoothly. We will probably find out more in Loki season 2which is scheduled to be released on Disney Plus this summer.

In the comics, it’s Victor Timely an identity assumed by Kang Prime after traveling back to 1901 and establishing the town of Timely, Wisconsin as a safe haven from which to hatch his plans. He also implanted his futuristic technology into all kinds of machinery, planning to take control of it later in the timeline. It also gave him a pivotal role in the development of the Marvel Universe.

The name is also a bit meta, as the company we know as Marvel Comics was founded as Timely Publications in 1939. It didn’t start coming from Marvel until the 1960s.

It’s possible that the MCU Timely is also this continuity’s Kang Prime and is hidden away in an era where he can plan villainous acts long before the Avengers exist to bother him. That would explain why Loki was after him.

This guy could also be the same Kang we met in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (the final battle left his fate unclear) — it would be more narratively satisfying if the version of the character we spent time with (ha) Khan Prime proved.

Another wrinkle is that comic Kang may be a descendant of Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic Four. Fantastic and main villain Doctor Doom (in-universe records are fuzzy though). As the super team is slated to make its MCU debut in 2025can rely on this connection.

It’s kind of hard to know what the deal is with all these Kang when they all have the same face. At least it keeps the door open for Jonathan Majors’ MCU excellence.