Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
The first season of Loki ended with a lot of questions still up in the air. When it comes to queries like what was Sylvie’s fate, concocting a plausible solution has been easy (she is still in the Citadel at the End of Time, captured by a Kang variant, etc.). The same has not been afforded to the other loose ends the show didn’t bother to wrap up. However, it looks like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania may have taken the liberty of explaining at least one of them — the identity of the smashed fourth Timekeeper statue on the floor of the Citadel’s hall.
Spoilers ahead.
If anyone missed the statue in the chaos of the Loki finale, its presence was further highlighted when the show’s concept artist, Kasra Farahani, dodged Vanity Fair’s questions about the significance of the broken statue and instead claimed that the answers were forthcoming. Judging by the revelations made in Quantumania, looks like he was indeed telling the truth.
Unless the MCU has another twist up its sleeve, it appears that the statue was of Kang’s, and the reason it was smashed was probably that he was exiled to the Quantum Realm by the other time-traveling conquerors, effectively dethroning him from his position on the council. You have to remember that even though He Who Remains was in control of the Sacred Timeline and the Time Variance Authority when we met him, there was a time when he convened with his variants, and it was only later that he chose to snip any and every branch to protect the OG timeline.
In the film, the time-traveling villain says how he has seen the future, and it ends with “a lot of me,” an outcome he didn’t like. While he didn’t elaborate much, he did share how he killed millions and destroyed timelines via incursions to ensure the future he saw never comes to pass. His agenda earned him the wrath of the other variants who trapped him in the Quantum Realm, hoping that he would be rendered powerless enough to never pose a threat to them ever again.
If this Kang really did perish in the Quantum Realm, any plot thread related to him doesn’t matter anymore…or does it? The film’s post-credit scene did try to establish that the real danger is the countless Kangs itching to tangle with the Avengers and take over the Multiverse. Having felt the spark of madness coursing through the Kang we first met, we wouldn’t be surprised if still ends up being the big bad of Phase Five.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is now in theaters.
Published: Feb 17, 2023 12:54 pm