What ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’s Shocking Ending Means for ‘Avengers 4’
The following post contains SPOILERS for Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp. And also Exorcist II: The Heretic, for some reason.
Every single hero who has his own standalone Marvel Cinematic Universe movie is in Avengers: Infinity War — except one. Poor Scott Lang, otherwise known as the astonishing Ant-Man, got left out. A few other Avengers and supporting characters were M.I.A. in Infinity War, including Hawkeye, Jane Foster, and Nakia, but as far as headlining Marvel characters, Ant-Man was the biggest omission. (Bad Ant-Man Size Pun Count: 1.) The dude needs a better agent.
But Ant-Man also stars in the first post-Infinity War movie, Ant-Man and the Wasp, which is now playing in theaters. And it does explain why Ant-Man (and his partner, the Wasp, and their mentor, Hank Pym) were no-shows in Infinity War, and whether we will see the in the sequel, the still-untitled Avengers 4. To some extent, those answers are exactly what we expected them to be.
Most of the movie is set before the events of Infinity War, which isn’t referenced in any way until Ant-Man and the Wasp’s first post-credits scene. We can assume, I think, that when Thanos first starts messing around in New York City, Scott, Hope, and Hank have their hands full with the phasing super-villain Ghost and trying to rescue the long-missing Janet Van Dyne from the subatomic “quantum realm.” Finally, Scott, Hope, and Hank retrieve Janet from the quantum realm, and she’s able to heal Ghost. (Convenient!) The movie ends on a happy note, with Scott clear of his legal trouble and reunited with his daughter and Hope, and Hank and Janet enjoying a vacation on a desert island.
Then the post-credits scene begins.
Hank has now shrunk the “quantum tunnel” he used to retrieve Janet so that it fits in the back of Scott’s X-Con Security van. (I guess that kind of thing isn’t that hard when your power is shrinking stuff.) Hank, Janet, and Hope send Scott on a mission into the quantum realm to retrieve “healing particles” which they will use for their “new Ghost friend.” (Apparently, her condition wasn’t permanently fixed by Janet placing her hands on her temples, and she needs quantum booster shots from time to time.)
Scott gets zapped into the quantum realm. He retrieves the healing particles and sticks them in a canister. He radios to Hank to bring him back. But there’s no response. Then the camera cuts back to the normal-sized world, and we see that Hank, Janet, and Hope have all been turned to ash by Thanos’ snap of his fingers in Infinity War that wiped out half of the universe. As the post-credits scene ends, the camera zooms in on the radio receiver, while Scott pleads for someone to bring him out of the quantum realm.
It’s a sure thing will Scott escape and make his way to Avengers 4; he got out of the quantum realm on his own in the first Ant-Man, which means he could do it again. (Boy is he going to be confused when he gets out of there.) So we can officially add Scott to the list of Marvel heroes who survived Infinity War and will have to figure out a way to beat Thanos in Avengers 4.
These “healing particles” are an interesting wrinkle. Realistically, there was no reason to put them in here; as far as we know before the post-credits scene, Ghost is healed permanently. They could have just said Scott and Hank were making an expedition into the quantum realm as part of an experiment. The only reason to specifically mention healing particles in here is if they’re needed for the story of Avengers 4 (or as a red herring for Avengers 4). Could this be part of the way the dead Avengers come back to life? These healing particles look pretty strong, but I don’t know if they’re that strong.
Ant-Man and the Wasp’s second post-credits scene is mostly just a cute joke; Scott Lang’s pet giant ant is still banging away on Scott’s drum kit while the emergency broadcast system plays on the television in the next room. The more interesting part comes after the scene ends, when a title card reads “Ant-Man and the Wasp Will Return.” But then the period at the end of the sentence turns into a question mark. W did just see the Wasp die (both Wasps, technically.) And everyone involved in Infinity War has insisted that the deaths in the film were real and permanent. So how could they come back?
One thing we know for sure now is Ant-Man will be in Avengers 4. Unless he’s really stuck in the quantum realm forever this time. Actually, that’d be a funny post-credits scene for Avengers 4. After all the adventures are over and Thanos is defeated, you cut back to the quantum realm and Scott is still just floating there asking for someone to pull him out.
Here’s ScreenCrush’s Ryan Arey with his own theories about what Ant-Man and the Wasp’s post-credits scene means for Avengers 4 and Ant-Man’s future.
Gallery - Marvel Cinematic Universe Plot Holes That Make No Sense: