Ant-Man 3 Director Confirms Which Version Of Kang Will Appear
Ant-Man 3 will debut a darker, more dangerous Kang the Conqueror.
Marvel comic’s biggest villain since Thanos is set to hit the cinema screen in February of 2023. Kang the Conqueror, sometimes known simply as Kang or He Who Remains, is one of the most long-awaited villains in the MCU’s rogues gallery. Ant-Man 3 director Peyton Reed sat down for an interview with Empire this week to give us a sneak peek into which version of Kang Scott Lang and The Wasp will be up against in this latest superhero installment, and it sounds like we are getting a much more dangerous version than previously introduced in Loki.
“Kang The Conqueror in our movie is a very different character,” the Ant-Man director teases. “He’s someone who has dominion over time, and he’s a warrior and a strategist.” Ever since his first foray into the Kevin Feige-led universe in the final episode of the Disney+ Loki show, people have been on the edge of their seats to see more of Jonathan Majors’ portrayal of the iconic conqueror.
During his brief but memorable Loki appearance, Kang warned that trouble was around the corner, as many of his alternate universe variants had planned to combine their forces and wreak havoc across the multiverse like a chaotic evil Rick and Morty.
Reed also warns that Kang’s arrival will signal more than just a one-off threat to Ant-Man and the remaining Avengers, but will have a significant ripple effect across the Marvel multiverse for years to come. Die-hard MCU fans will note that the public knows very little about the upcoming 2025 Avengers film other than its title, which bears Kang’s moniker, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
MCU titles teased this far in advance have a small chance of changing during the ebb and flow of the upcoming phase, but either way, Marvel wouldn’t put all their eggs into this basket unless they were certain they had a bonafide blowout on their hands.
So what kind of evil tricks could Kang the conqueror have up his sleeve in Ant-Man and the wasp Quantumania? For starters, Kang has leapt across space and time throughout his run in Marvel comics enough that he’s kidnapped and raised Black Bolt’s son, constructed a council of thousands of his strongest and most powerful variants, and, true to his name, conquered planet Earth.
Sometimes in the comics the only way to stop Kang’s nefarious universe-melting mania is to recruit alternate Kang’s to put him in his place.
Jeff Loveness is the screenwriter for both Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania as well as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, so we can certainly expect the films to share more than just an antagonist, as Marvel films tend to be at their best when multiple films are helmed by visionary writer-director teams such as the Russo brothers.
Director Peyton Reed has been sure to sing Loveness’ praises, particularly in regard to the Conqueror’s inclusion within the series, stating “There’s been a lot of discussion about the impact that this appearance of Kang The Conqueror makes. There are big things in store.”
No matter how you slice it, it surely seems as though Ant-Man has his work cut out for him, as his previous solo missions have had him facing off against fairly low-level villains such as Ghost and Yellowjacket. Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang has certainly proven himself to be a powerful and necessary addition to the Avengers crew in his last few MCU appearances, but how will he faire against such a diabolical threat without the help and support of the core Avengers such as Iron man and Captain America? Only time… and space will tell.
