Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania tackles a major MCU theme

Superhero movies often have a fairly binary perspective on morality. While characters like Thanos may have ideals that resonate with some, it's pretty clear that the vast majority of antagonists in these films are clearly wrong. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania may be changing that, as new main antagonist Kang the Conqueror might have a valid point halfway through the film.

A recurring theme in the MCU, especially around Avengers: Infinity War, is sacrifice. The heroes lost to Thanos in this movie because, as Captain America said, "we don't trade lives." Thanos, on the other hand, was willing to sacrifice others and potentially himself for his goals. Only the sacrifices of Iron Man and Black Widow made possible the defeat of the Mad Titan in the sequel, Avengers: Endgame, as the Avengers wouldn't have obtained the Soul Stone or pulled off their own snap without them. gave their lives.

In Quantumania, Kang says essential ment to Ant-M an/Scott Lang to sacrifice other timelines and worlds to stop "what is happening" and save his daughter. The Conqueror wants revenge on those who exiled him, which he believes would stop the danger from coming - though freeing him may cause other timelines to be erased. The ones who exiled Kang, it turns out, are Kang, as he was exiled by the menacing Council of Kangs we see in the post-credits scene who are all eager to tear the multiverse apart anew.

Scott and the rest of his crew follow the usual routine of ignoring these warnings - which is fair, since they come from an otherworldly megalomaniacal tyrant - and proceed to defeat Kang and return home. them to savor the hard-earned peace they now have. This is all pretty standard for a Marvel movie, as it looks like it's all gone hunky-dory again.

But this time the movie ends a little differently. Amid his careless storytelling, Scott begins to panic about whether he did the right thing. He beat the villain, like he and his allies did before, but this villain seemed pretty adamant that there were worse versions of himself out there and that killing him would mean nothing could stop them from causing multiversal havoc.

The Loki season 1 finale featured He Who Remains, u a Kang variant, giving Loki and his counterpart Sylvie a similar warning, saying that killing him would unleash a multiverse of powerful and tyrannical Kang variants. When he's killed, we learn he was right - thus, Kang from Quantumania. This sets a precedent for Kang variants to be truthful in regards to "the greater good", which may mean hard times ahead for the next generation of Avengers.

Should Scott have trusted Kang? Should he have sacrificed other people and deadlines for the greater good? Is it more heroic to sacrifice a million to save a billion, or to sacrifice no one, regardless of the consequences? These are all questions that Quantumania introduces and which will (hopefully) be revisited in more detail in...