Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is easily the most important installment in the Ant-Man trilogy for a Lang, er, long list of reasons. It’s kicking off Phase Five, it’s introducing Kang the Conqueror, it’s diving deeper into the Quantum Realm than ever before… And it’s this last point that could lead to the movie picking up yet another way in which it’s significant. It’s thought that the incoming threequel could spell the arrival of the MCU’s next powerhouse superhero, Quasar.
Quasar is a character with a rich history in the pages of Marvel Comics, but to put it briefly, Wendell Vaughn is comparable to Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel (or even DC’s Green Lantern) in that he was a human everyman who became a cosmic hero once he bonded with the Quantum Bands – yet more overpowered arm accessories to add to the universe’s ever-growing collection. There’s already enough quantum quaziness going on in Ant-Man 3 as it is, but there might still be room for Quasar, too.
William Jackson Harper’s character has a very loaded name
Exactly how The Good Place veteran William Jackson Harper fit into proceedings was something that kept Marvel fans up at night for months, until it was finally revealed in an official cast list in the wake of last week’s trailer that he would be playing the role of Quaz in Quantumania. While there isn’t a character of that name in the comics, the familiarity of that moniker has folks betting their life savings that Harper will be unveiled to be playing Quasar in the movie.
In the comics, Wendell Vaughn uses the Quantum Bands to draw energy from the “Quantum Zone” and can also use them to teleport around space by hopping in and out of the zone — very much like the Avengers and their use of Pym Particles to travel through time. It’s easy to envisage, then, how Team Ant-Man could encounter an MCU version of Wendell who’s become stuck in the Quantum Realm. Or perhaps the Quantum Bands are the MacGuffin that Kang wants Scott Lang to find for him?
Quasar debuting at the same time as Kang would make so much sense
Some more skeptical sorts out there might be reluctant to believe that the filmmakers would practically give away the truth about Harper’s role by handing him such a weak alias. However, it should be remembered that Marvel has a history of trying to hoodwink the fans with incredibly transparent fake names — e.g. Agnes for Agatha in WandaVision — so it really could be as simple as Quaz being a codename for Quasar.
What’s more, it would make perfect sense for Quasar to enter the fray in the exact same project as Kang. It just so happens that Wendell Vaughn plays a key role in the original The Kang Dynasty comic book event. In fact, he goofed so badly on a mission he was undertaking for the Avengers that he inadvertently allowed Kang to take over Earth. While we know that Marvel changes much when it adapts comics events for the screen, there’s every chance Quasar could still factor into 2025’s Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
We’ll find out if William Jackson Harper really is our Quasar when Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania arrives in theaters on Feb. 17.
Published: Jan 16, 2023 01:46 pm