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Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's ending might be difficult to unravel, considering just how much happens in the Marvel Phase 5 movie's final moments.
The film follows Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) as he takes an accidental trip to the Quantum Realm, accompanied by the Ant-Family. There, he clashes with Kang the Conqueror, played by Jonathan Majors, and MODOK. So much goes on in the film that you're probably left with multiple burning questions once the credits have rolled (and you've watched that post-credits stinger), but that's where we come in.
We've sorted through the fates of the major characters and what's going on with the multiverse to break down the Ant-Man 3 ending, with all your biggest questions explained and answered. Naturally, there are huge Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania spoilers ahead! Turn back now if you haven't seen the movie yet!
What happened in the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ending?
Kang, with the multiverse core engine for his ship now recovered, seeks to "conquer eternity" and strike back at the Kangs who exiled him across timelines and universes and "played with time like children."
Unfortunately for Kang, Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton) escapes captivity in his fortress and enlists the help of rebel leader Jentorra (Katy M. O'Brian) to help send a message out to the people across the Quantum Realm: "Fight back."
As they storm the gates, Scott Lang transforms into Giant-Man to turn the tide. He helps take down an energy shield surrounding the fortress. Hank also arrives with his army of technologically advanced ants to swarm Kang's guards.
In the chaos, Kang descends into the battle and obliterates multiple retreating rebels. MODOK also chases Cassie, who also turns giant and knocks the villain out with a single punch.
MODOK, now repentant and told to "stop being a dick" sacrifices himself by blowing up Kang's forcefield. The ants when overwhelm the Conqueror. As MODOK lay dying, he asks if he's now an Avenger; Scott and Hope sheepishly say he is.
Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), meanwhile, has opened up a portal back to their earth. She, Hank (Michael Douglas), Cassie, and Hope (Evangeline Lilly) head through the portal but Scott is stopped by Kang. The pair fight, with Scott declaring that it doesn't matter if he doesn't win, they just both have to lose.
As Kang gets the upper hand, he heads for the portal. He is immediately stopped in his tracks by a returning Wasp. The pair take down the Conqueror, pushing him into the exposed core engine, which explodes and engulfs him.
The portal briefly disappears then returns thanks to Cassie's sub-atomic satellite locating the heroes in the Quantum Realm.
In an epilogue, Scott undergoes an existential crisis about stopping Kang because he was set to stop something that would kill everyone. But it's something to worry about another day: the movie ends with the family celebrating Cassie's 'birthday' - because Scott has missed a few.
In the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania post-credits scenes, a colosseum's worth of the Council of Cross-Time Kangs congrerate. Three of their leaders discuss the fate of the "exiled one" and warn about the MCU's heroes meddling with the multiverse. They say they need to stop wasting time: they have called all the Kangs together for the next step.
In the second after-credits stinger, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Mobius (Owen Wilson) are in the early 1900s and watching a stage show by a new Kang variant: Victor Timely.
Is Kang dead?
By Quantumania’s end, Ant-Man and the Wasp stopped Kang from heading into the Earth-616 universe. Instead, Wasp shoots him and pushes him into his multiversal ship’s core, which explodes and drags him in.
But is Kang dead? The golden rule is: if you don’t see a body, they’re not dead. So there’s still a possibility the Conqueror is still alive and can find a way out of the Quantum Realm.
However, the Council of Kangs certainly think he’s dead and, because of that, are now moving forward with plans to stop the MCU’s heroes before they meddle with the multiverse any further.
If we had to guess, this Kang is probably dead, but there’s definitely some wiggle room if Marvel wants to write itself out of a corner in future. If the Conqueror returns, it’ll likely be in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, set for May 2, 2025.
Why was Kang exiled?
Kang was exiled by the Council of Kangs because, in the Conqueror’s words, he was trying to "fix time." That may have involved wiping out entire universes and timelines but, in his mind, it was the price to pay for other Kang variants playing with time "like children." The other Kangs, naturally, saw him as a threat and decided to remove him from the board.
As for how he was exiled: the Council of Kangs sent the Conqueror away and sabotaged his ship, causing him to fall into the Quantum Realm.
What is Kang trying to stop?
"We did beat him, right? I think. He also said something big was coming and everyone would die if he didn’t get out," Scott Lang says during his existential closing voiceover.
The answer? "Me. A lot of me," Majors’ Kang the Conqueror reveals of what’s coming down the road after Quantumania. He may have lost his Kang War with the Council of Kangs but now wants to retaliate and "burn [them] out of time" for how they’ve affected the multiverse.
It’s not just a lot of Kangs the MCU needs to worry about, however. Kang has seen how it ends: endless incursions (the collision of universes, first seen in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) and a dying multiverse. So now no one is powerful enough to stop the Kangs running amok in the multiverse. Which is bad news for everything, everywhere all at once.
What happens to MODOK?
MODOK/Darren Cross has a sudden change of heart – courtesy of a well-timed punch to the face from a now-giant Cassie during the final act of Quantumania.
"I don’t know what to be," MODOK cries during a heart to heart with Scott's daughter. The reply? "Don’t be a dick."
Those are words that MODOK takes to heart, turning on Kang and sacrificing himself by blowing apart the Conqueror’s energy shield and turning the tide of battle. MODOK, confessing he felt "like a brother" to a bemused Scott flatlines and dies.
And, no, he’s not an Avenger. Even if he did stop being a dick.
What can Kang’s Time Chair do?
Described as being "neurokinetic" and having the ability to link to Kang’s thoughts and memories, the Time Chair (described only as Kang’s "ship" in Quantumania) is a vehicle that can travel to anywhere in the multiverse. In essence, it allows Kang to go anywhere in time and space, across any universe.
How did the ants become intelligent?
Throughout Quantumania, Hank Pym receives a handful of mysterious signals. As we discover, they’re from the ants in his lab’s ant farm who also fell into the Quantum Realm.
Fortunately for the Ant-Family, the ants fell further than the humans, underneath the sub-atomic layer that makes up much of the Quantum Realm’s civilizations. Because of that, the ants underwent the effects of time dilation, essentially living thousands of years in a single day. They made rapid leaps in technology and knowledge, allowing them to build a class-2 civilization and eventually have the knowhow to defeat Kang.
How did the Ant-Family escape the Quantum Realm?
Thanks to Kang's multiversal core engine, Janet was able to provide "one shot" and a single portal for getting everyone home. It went down once the engine exploded, but those on the other side (Hank, Janet, and Cassie) were able to use Cassie's sub-atomic satellite to locate Ant-Man and the Wasp and bring them home.
Why are there so many Kangs in the post-credits?
First introduced in Avengers #292, the Council of Cross-Time Kangs were a group of entities who took on the mantle of Kang the Conqueror. Here, the Council (with Immortus, Rama-tut, and one other figure as its leaders) consists of the entire multiverse of Kang variants. They include Skrulls, scarred Kangs, and more erratic Kangs if the colosseum glimpsed in the first post-credits scene is any indication.
They have seemingly ruled over the multiverse since it was created and have sought to stop others, including Kang the Conqueror and anyone else, from meddling in their creation.
Where is Loki?
Judging by the look of the vaudeville-style show put on by Victor Timely, it seems that Loki is in the early 1900s and hunting Kang through time. Why he ended up there is anyone’s guess, but it’s likely going to be something that Loki season 2 will immediately answer.
What next for Ant-Man?
Ant-Man 4 could be next for Scott Lang and the Ant-Family.
"We're already thinking about it," Marvel producer Stephen Broussard said in an interview with ComicBook.com. "I don't want to say anything about specifically what those are, but yeah, you can't help yourself. Those conversations, those whispers have already started to happen between myself and Peyton Reed and Kevin Feige."
"I do think this is a guy who really just wants to spend some time with his daughter," Paul Rudd told Yahoo on the subject of more. "That would be nice. Maybe a nice quiet road movie. Just Scott and Cassie taking in a coastal city and just spending time [together]. Maybe like The Trip with [Steve] Coogan and just those where there’s no threat. There’s nothing wanting to kill them. I don’t know if Marvel would want to make that movie but it would be fun to shoot."
While there’s nothing official, Ant-Man should show up again in either of the pair of Avengers movies in Marvel Phase 6.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is in theaters now. For more on the latest Marvel release, check out:
- Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania review
- What Marvel movies and shows to watch before Ant-Man 3
- All of the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Easter Eggs we spotted
- When will Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania be on Disney Plus?
- When does Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania take place on the Marvel timeline?
- All of the Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania cameos
- Our guide to the Marvel Timeline
- Sub-Atomica explained
- How to watch the Marvel movies in order
