Marvel fans were thrilled to see Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, but the movie’s writer, Jeff Loveness, revealed that there was much more of Kang’s backstory that didn’t make the cut in the threequel.
Loveness confirmed that these scenes were removed from the film, but he also noted that they would be better suited for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. He explained that including Kang’s backstory in Ant-Man 3 could have slowed the pace of the movie. Loveness also revealed that the film’s original ending, which involved Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne getting trapped in the Quantum Realm, was changed to avoid repeating a plot point from Avengers: Endgame.
According to Loveness, Avengers 5 needs Kang’s backstory even more. He confirmed that Kang is the protagonist of the upcoming film and noted that Kang “has to be his own hero” as he travels through the Multiverse. The scenes that were removed from Ant-Man 3 may include Kang’s fascination with the Multiverse and his conquest of other worlds, ultimately earning him the title of “Conqueror.” Knowing Kang’s backstory would allow fans to understand his motivations before he faces off against the Avengers. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he revealed:
“That was all stuff we debated, and on paper, it seemed thrilling. But at the end of the day, we’d literally be copying the exact same beat from the end of the last ‘Ant-Man’ movie. There also weren’t a lot of ways to go that were different from ‘Endgame.’ If Scott gets trapped in the Quantum Realm as he does in the last movie’s ending, then the only way to go is that he gets out of the Quantum Realm as he does in ‘Endgame’.'”
While fans may have missed out on Kang’s backstory in Ant-Man 3, it seems that it will be worth the wait to see it in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.