Marvel released a new trailer for the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania on Tuesday, ahead of the superhero sequel’s February debut. This is the third solo Ant-Man movie, following 2015’s Ant-Man, and 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp. It will also serve as the starting-point to Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Like its predecessor, Quantumania has been designed as a pivotal entry in the 30-film-old MCU. While Ant-Man and the Wasp gave fans a primer about the Quantum Realm ahead of Avengers: Endgame, Quantumania will properly introduce the primary villain of the new phase of the franchise. Played by Jonathan Majors, Kang the Conqueror was first introduced in the Disney+ series Loki. He will be developed over the next few years, culminating with the two-part Avengers five and six — Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Watch the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania trailer here:
Kang appears prominently in the new trailer, luring Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang with the promise of recovering lost ‘time’ with his daughter, Cassie, who is now played by Kathryn Newton. Scott essentially became an absent parent during the Blip. Kang puts Scott under some kind of trance, and despite his friends’ warnings, Scott continues to do Kang’s bidding.
Quantumania appears to be much bigger in scope as compared to the two previous Ant-Man movies. Director Peyton Reed, who has now helmed all three Ant-Man films, said in an earlier interview with Entertainment Weekly that he asked Marvel to give the franchise more importance this time around, because he wasn’t content with it being just the ‘palate cleanser’ of the MCU. The trailer teases visuals of the Quantum Realm, which seems to have been expanded majorly this time around. The film also features returning characters such as Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer).
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will be released in theatres on February 17. It comes after a disappointing couple of years for the MCU, with most films drawing muted fan response, despite being dependably successful at the box office.