Warning: This article contains spoilers for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
When Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania begins, the first character we meet is Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer). She is clad in a hooded garment and equipped with tools for survival, indicating that some time has passed since her mission on Earth with Hank Pym in Ant-Man and the Wasp that ultimately got her stuck here.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a ship in the sky crash-lands in the distance and Janet goes to investigate. When she does, she meets Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), who crawls out of the ship battered and bruised. This is obviously a flashback. Present-day Janet is safely back on Earth, having been rescued by Scott (Paul Rudd), Hope (Evangeline Lilly), and Hank (Michael Douglas) in the previous movie.
Soon we discover that Kang’s ship has been wrecked. Or, more importantly, a specific piece of equipment has been broken: the Multiversal Power Core. Without it, Kang can’t travel the multiverse; without it, he’s stuck in the Quantum Realm forever. Janet, who’s been alone for several years, as she says, is eager for companionship; she helps Kang repair the Multiversal Power Core. However, in doing so, she gets a glimpse into Kang’s mind and just as quickly discovers that his ship didn’t just crash-land here. He was exiled. In fact, he’s a multiversal madman hell-bent on destroying complete timelines to get revenge on those who trapped him.
Clearly, there was more to Janet’s life in the Quantum Realm than she led on.
Exactly how long was Kang trapped in the Quantum Realm?
It’s never explicitly spelled out how long Kang was trapped in the Quantum Realm, but because Janet was trapped there for over three decades it’s assumed Kang was too. However, as noted in the opening sequence of Quantumania, Janet was already getting by on her own for quite some time before Kang came around.
It’s never made clear whether one, three, or five years passed before Kang arrived, but somewhere between 25 and 30 years is likely the best bet. Possibly even 20. After all, Kang didn’t just camp out in the Quantum Realm twiddling his thumbs. He built an entire empire and colonized complete communities during his time there.
The passage of time is a shaky conception when referring to the Quantum Realm. As we know, Scott Lang aged entirely differently during his brief time stuck in the Quantum Realm. Kevin Feige himself once said, “various levels” of the Quantum Realm react to time differently, per his interview with Slash Film – meaning Scott and Janet had two very different experiences. According to Feige, the deeper you go, the closer it resembles Earth years, made clear by the fact that Janet aged in a similar fashion as she would if she’d been on Earth for 30 years.
All that to say, Kang the Conqueror’s time in the Quantum Realm was anything but brief. Likely around 25 to 30 Earth years.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is now playing in theaters.