SPOILERS for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Consider yourself warned. Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe officially kicked off with the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and the sequel also introduced audiences to the MCU’s next big bad: Kang the Conqueror.
As Kang is being set up at the next Thanos, some fans expected that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania would feature a few major character deaths, but those didn’t happen. While speaking with THR, Quantumania screenwriter Jeff Loveness revealed that they did initially consider some significant deaths but thought that would feel too obvious.
“They were,” Loveness said of potential Quantumania deaths. “We certainly gamed out a ton of scenarios, but it just felt a little obvious. It’s up for debate, but it just felt like we’d be copying the Thanos approach where he comes in pretty heavy and wipes the floor with everybody. I certainly see the critiques and all that, but this is a multi-step story that we’re telling. It’s also an Ant-Man movie. (Laughs.) I think people say they want that, but do you really want to see Paul Rudd get murdered in his third movie? It was all debated, all discussed and all gamed out, but in The Wizard of Oz, you don’t want to see Dorothy die and never go home. It’s supposed to be one of these classic adventure movies. If everyone gets eaten in Jurassic Park, I don’t know if you’ll want to see the next Jurassic Park.” If you’re worried that Kang won’t be showing any teeth as the franchise movies forward, Loveness said that the character is “going to rack up some kills as he goes along.“
Speaking of Kang, audiences were also surprised to see the character defeated at the end of the movie, but Jeff Loveness said that it’s all part of the plan to make you root for the villain. “Well, I think you root for someone who knows defeat. Thanos says that he knows what it’s like to lose, but we never see him lose until the end of Endgame. All he does is toss away the people that he loves and beat Thor’s ass,” Loveness said. “But yes, it’s a risk, and we certainly took some heat for it. But I am willing to bet that we are going to root for a guy that we’ve seen stumble and fall, much like Chris Claremont’s Magneto from those X-Men comics. That guy loses a lot, and we see how much pain he’s been through. And so by the time he really unleashes that rage, we’re on his side and we kind of get it. So I think we’re allowed to have a villain that takes a few shots along the way as [Kang the Conqueror or his variants] make their rise.“
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is now playing in theaters, so be sure to check out a review from our own JimmyO and let us know what you thought of the film as well. Do you think Quantumania should have included some more significant deaths?