‘Quantumania’ end-credits scene connects Kang to the Human Torch, but not in the way you’d expect

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

Going into the third film in the Ant-Man franchise, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, you might have been expecting some cameos or references to the wider Marvel universe. After all, entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe often share characters or refer to things that have occurred in other projects. While Quantumania contained a few of these references, such as the post-credits scene tying into the second season of Loki, it barely contained any. 

While it did contain some throwaway references, it was not stuffed full of them like some other MCU films are. Out of all the Marvel projects the film could have referenced, the upcoming Fantastic Four is easily amongst the most anticipated on everyone’s list. While there wasn’t a reference to Marvel’s first family, there was a hidden connection to the Human Torch, just not in the way you might be thinking. 

How does Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania connect to the Human Torch?

As we mentioned previously, the last post-credits scene of the film teased the second season of Loki. Owen Wilson and Tom Hiddleston reprise their roles of Mobius and Loki respectively, and they come upon a variant of Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), with Loki seemingly confirming that he is the version of Kang that escaped from the Quantum Realm. Named Victor Timely, this Kang lives around the year 1900. 

Victor Timely’s connection to the Human Torch lies in his comic book origins. In the comics, Timely was the result of Kang escaping to a time when the Avengers did not exist so they could not defeat him. His name is most likely a pun based on his time-traveling powers, but also a reference to the beginning of Marvel Comics back when it was called Timely Comics. While he was in that time period he founded the town of Timely, and he also founded a company called Timely Industries. 

Through Timely Industries, Kang was able to introduce robotics and technology that was advanced beyond their time. But, Kang could not stay there forever, as unlike the people around him, he barely aged. So, pulling a Kingo and posing as his own son and grandson he grew Timely Industries for decades. In 1929 he recruited someone into his company, somebody whose name has already been seen in the MCU, Professor Phineas T. Horton.

Phineas T. Horton might not ring a bell too quickly, but he is the creator of the original Human Torch, the android later known as Jim Hammond. Both the android and Horton have already appeared in the MCU, all the way back in Captain America: The First Avenger. If you recall, the film featured the first Stark Expo, or the World Exposition of Tomorrow, as it was then known. Like his son Tony, Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) gathered all of the best futuristic technology to put on a show for the public. 

The Human Torch was a part of that expo and Horton’s name can be seen on the stall as Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) are walking through the Expo, except at the time he was called the Synthetic Man. It might not be the same character, possibly due to Marvel Studios not having the rights to the name Human Torch at that time, so it makes sense that they would swap the name out. This version of the character has nothing to do with Johnny Storm, the member of the Fantastic Four that also goes by the name Human Torch.

So, it might be that Kang the Conqueror was partially responsible for something that we saw in Captain America: The First Avenger, which was released in 2011. There might even be the possibility that we see the creation of the Human Torch in the second season of Loki. Although, the Synthetic Man is shown off in 1942, which is decades after the time we assume Kang is in right now. 

Still, Loki is all about traveling through time, we could get an episode where they chase Victor Timely through the Stark Expo. If we’re lucky we could even get a cameo of a pre-Winter Soldier Bucky. However, there’s always the chance that Kang won’t be Victor Timely for that long in season two of Loki, and we won’t know more until it releases later this year.

You can catch Victor Timely for yourself by watching Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in theaters now.