'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' director confirms the identities of Jonathan Majors' Kang variants in the post-credits scenes
- Warning: Major spoilers ahead for "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania."
- "Ant-Man 3" director Peyton Reed discussed the film's post-credits scenes.
"Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" formally introduces Marvel fans to a brand new big bad, Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), who has his sights set on the entire multiverse. With films like "Avengers: The Kang Dynasty" and "Avengers: Secret Wars" on the horizon, Kang is a key figure for the future.
Although "Quantumania" is getting the worst reviews in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since "Eternals," the one thing everyone is obsessed with is Jonathan Majors' performance as Kang. And because Kang is so closely tied to the multiverse, the actor is getting the chance to play a number of alternate versions of the villain. Now be warned, there are spoilers ahead.
Director Peyton Reed recently spoke to IndieWire about Kang, explaining that there was plenty of discussion about how many variants should show up in "Quantumania."
"[Kang] talks about his variants in the film, and obviously [Jonathan Majors] was playing He Who Remains in season one of 'Loki,'" he said. "So it's been discussed, and it's like, 'Well, at what point do we actually show some of the variants and that Kang is a nexus being?'"
The director went on to confirm which variants show up in the first "Quantumania" post-credits scene, naming the pharaoh Rama-Tut, the armored Scarlet Centurion, and the elder Immortus.
He explained: "And then it was like, 'Well, what if we give them a little taste of a version of Rama-Tut, a version of a Centurion, a version of Immortus?' In the movie, there's a specific reason he's been banished and exiled into the Quantum Realm, so it sort of begged the question of, 'Well, who exiled him?'"
Reed added that he was trying to give fans background context about Kang's history in the MCU, and who the Council of Kangs are.
The director said: "I was trying to set up some version of a 'Godfather'-esque mafia thing of like, 'Oh, who's triumphant? Who's discussing the guy who's no longer with us? And what does it mean to the larger sort of political body of the Kangs?'"
The "New Girl" and "The Mandalorian" director noted that the "potential of playing all these different versions" of the villain is why Majors is excited about the role. Although he pointed out that the ones seen in the post-credits scenes may not be the same variants that show up later down the line.
"Are these necessarily the ones that we're going to see later? Who knows? But there are variants of each one, and we got really whacked out with it," said Reed.
Reed noted that there's a "weird sort of bionic, futuristic Rama-Tut," which is different from the pharaoh's ancient Egyptian origins in the comics.
The director also confirmed that the second scene introduces Victor Timely, and it's actually a scene from "Loki" season two.
He clarified: "It's a scene from season two of 'Loki,' and Victor Timely is yet another variant from the comics. I love Jonathan's look and his sort of period voice and his Frederick Douglass hair. That scene, there was just another glimpse of sort of, 'OK, there are all these variants and here's maybe the next one you might meet.' We liked that idea."