Whilst the film opens up the world of the Quantum Realm and sees Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton) start her journey to becoming superhero Stature, the real headline here is that Kang The Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) has arrived, something which only spells trouble for our heroes.
A threat even more dangerous than Thanos, Kang is the MCU's next big bad, set to dominate this chapter in the build-up to the next Avengers movie - The Kang Dynasty.
Quantumania's two credits scenes introduce us to more Kang variants, teasing the chaos to come and emphasising how powerful a villain he is - especially since the film closes with the words "Kang The Conqueror will return" - chills!
Let's dive into it all.
Mid-Credits Scene
The mid-credits scene picks up after the events of the movie, taking us to a different world where hundreds of Kangs have assembled, gathering in what appears to be some sort of stadium.
Following the victory of Scott Lang and co., this council of Kangs have been summoned to plan a counter-attack against Earth-616, the main universe in the MCU.
They aren't exactly happy that the exiled Kang has been defeated as that meddles with their vast multiverse, so are now plotting to strike.
Three variants stand out here: Rama-Tut, Immortus, and a third who could either be Iron Lad or Scarlet Centurion.
Who Is Rama-Tut?
Rama-Tut is the first iteration of Kang The Conqueror that we meet in the comic books and is arguably one of the most dangerous, given that his inexperience can lead to rash decisions.
In the comics, the human Nathanial Richards uses a time machine to travel back to ancient Egypt, being sick of the harmonious peace that dominates his world.
There he becomes the Pharaoh Rama-Tut, ruling the land and developing a taste for battle, something which will then define Kang.
This variant of Kang is actually responsible for creating one of the most dangerous mutants the world has ever seen, Apocalypse - you may remember Oscar Isaac portrayed this villain in the 2016 movie X-Men: Apocalypse.
Rama-Tut became fascinated with the young En Sabah Nur, with his never-ending pursuit of the mutant resulting in him transforming into the dangerous Apocalypse.
Who Is Immortus?
Rama-Tut became Immortus upon discovering the realm of Limbo, a timeless place where he masters how to use and master time.
In doing so he becomes a Time-Keeper - you may remember these from season one of Loki, where they were androids created by He Who Remains, used to serve as his mouthpieces and figureheads.
As a Time-Keeper, Immortus is put in charge of the timeline but since he's a Kang variant, instead the character likes to go to war.
Being one of the older versions of Kang The Conqueror, Immortus is incredibly bitter, which also makes him dangerous.
Then there is also the small matter that this iteration is also immortal, existing forever, thanks to Kang now being able to manipulate time.
Who Is Iron Lad?
The third main Kang variant we meet in the mid-credits scene could be a redesigned Iron Lad, arguably one of the most fascinating iterations of the character in the comics.
Upon discovering that he will turn into the villainous Kang The Conqueror, a young Nathanial Richards decides he wants to try and avoid this fate, stealing a suit of armour from his future self.
He uses this to travel into the past which is where he becomes the superhero Iron Lad, one of the founding members of the Young Avengers.
However, no one can escape destiny, with Iron Lad being chased down by the Kang variant he stole from, wiping the young Richards' memories, helping set him back on the path to villainy.
In the comics we see Iron Lad work alongside Kang and Immortus, so it's no surprise to see him in this mid-credits scene.
Especially since we have been building to the Young Avengers for a while now in the MCU, as several key members have been introduced including Kamala Khan, Kate Bishop, and Cassie Lang, who in Quantumania is on her way to becoming the hero Stature.
Who Is Scarlet Centurion?
If this Kang variant isn't Iron Lad, it could perhaps be a redesigned Scarlet Centurion.
In the comic books, Scarlet Centurion manipulated the Avengers of Earth-616, getting them to commit horrible crimes, something which came to an end after they managed to fight back.
As a result of this defeat, another Kang called him a failure, which led to Scarlet Centurion resuming his identity as Rama-Tut, wanting to go back to square one.
However, this created a divergent Scarlet Centurion who did become a successful ruler, eventually taking on the name of Kang The Conqueror.
Many years later this Kang had a son called Marcus, who then adopted the identity of the Scarlet Centurion until his death.
What Does This Mean For The MCU?
This only gives us a flavour of the Kang variants we will meet as the MCU journeys further into Phase Five and beyond.
We know that the Kangs are p*ssed off and heading to our universe, which isn't good news at all for our heroes who will have to assemble as they have quite the battle on their hands.
This of course will build and build until the next Avengers film, appropriately titled The Kang Dynasty, which will host this climatic fight.
Post-Credits Scene
Quantumania is the first MCU project to directly tie to season one of Loki, so it only seems right that it would set up the upcoming second season of the hit show, which it does with the post-credits scene.
The short clip picks back up with Mobius (Owen Wilson) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) as they attend a show together in what appears to be the Victorian era or the early 20th century.
Is this another universe which happens to be stuck in this era or have they travelled back in time?
As you may recall, the last time we saw the pair Mobius had no memory of his time with Loki, so this seems to confirm that they have reconnected.
But what's really interesting about the scene is the show they are seeing, which is presented by a man named Victor Timely, portrayed of course by Jonathan Majors.
Who Is Victor Timely?
Whilst Mobius thinks Victor Timely doesn't seem scary at all, Loki warns him that he is more dangerous than you can ever imagine - and he's right!
Victor Timely is the name taken on by Nathaniel Richards (a.k.a. Kang The Conqueror) when he travels back in time to the early 20th century, setting up base there after losing to the Avengers.
In the comics he becomes mayor of a town in Wisconsin called Timely, ruling the place over decades, using robots as stand-ins whilst he continued to conquer the multiverse.
The town of Timely was a base Kang used to develop new technology and inventions, which allowed him to reshape the world - instead of running on the likes of Stark tech, it runs on Kang tech.
That isn't exactly good considering how dangerous he is and, of course, it allows Kang to be better prepared to battle the Avengers, which has clearly been on his mind travelling to this era after his defeat.
What Does This Mean For The MCU?
It's important to note that the Victor Timely seen in the post-credits scene doesn't appear to be a mayor but instead a showman of sorts, which could be a neat twist on the comic book lore.
As a showman, this Timely could still be an inventor, perhaps here presenting a scientific experiment - and in fact, we may have already had a brief glimpse at this universe in the first season of Loki.
You may recall that in The Void we saw a world where the Stark Tower had been replaced by the Qeng Tower - those who read the comics will know that Qeng Enterprises is what Kang named his base on Earth.
Could the universe seen in this post-credits scene then be the same as the one glimpsed at in The Void? Could Victor Timely's show here be the start of what will become Qeng Enterprises?
The tower is destroyed in Loki, so maybe we have already seen how this universe's Kang will meet his end.
This post-credits scene may also hint towards the introduction of the Fantastic Four too. In the comics, Victor Timely worked with a scientist called Phineas Horton who created the original Human Torch.
Whilst that was an android, the character was then repurposed to become the human Johnny Storm, the member of the super-team who uses the alias the Human Torch.
Only time will tell...
Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania is out in UK cinemas now.
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