Quantumania: Why the MCU Is Emphasizing Young Avengers Characters (Exclusive)

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is officially in theaters and Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has now begun. Early reviews for the film have been pretty mixed, with the film receiving a rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the second MCU movie to do so. While critics have been loathing the movie fans have been loving it, and the verified audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is pretty good. Quantumania does a lot of things like introduce us to Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) and a new Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton) who comes equipped with her very own super suit. Fans of the comics know that Cassie Lang is playing the Stinger character from Ant-Man lore, and she’s also a part of the Young Avengers, which the studio has been hinting at for quite some time. ComicBook.com’s Brandon Davis recently got the chance to have a chat with Marvel producer Stephen Broussard and he revealed why the MCU has been putting an emphasis on the Young Avengers. 

“Well, there’s always been a generational quality to Ant-Man, which is what’s cool. There was the original Ant-Man in the Wasp and Hank and Janet, and then those titles have been passed down and we’re seeing it passed down again to a certain respect to Cassie. So, that’s fun. It does feel like that’s unique to the MCU, that there’s a torch passing quality to that. I think one of the themes of this movie that I like is that the race is never over. The fight is never over. And Scott has earned his right to take his victory lap and sit back and relax. But this young woman that’s no longer the little girl that he remembers is in his life is there to remind him and say, ‘No, the fight isn’t over. The next generation needs help. We all need to step up. We need to do our part,’” Broussard told us. “I think seeing a little of that generational conflict, I think is interesting and it sort of plays out in our own lives. I think it speaks to us as the people that work at the MCU and how long we’ve been here. Just on a fan level, looking at people that have grown up with these movies and kind of stepping into them, what is that like for them? We’re lucky to have been doing this for as long as we have, and we don’t take that for granted.”

The most recent Marvel Studios film to be released will be Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quatumania. Empire Magazine recently had a chat with director Peyton Reed about how the stakes have risen going into Quantumania. “People felt like, Oh, these are fun little palate cleansers after a gigantic Avengers movie,” Reed told the outlet. “For this third one, I said, ‘I don’t want to be the palate cleanser anymore. I want to be the big Avengers movie.’”

“I grew up a real Marvel comics nerd, and there are a handful of antagonists in the Marvel comics universe who are all-timers,” Reed continued. “Loki, obviously. Doctor Doom from the Fantastic Four. And Kang the Conqueror. In conversations with Kevin Feige and Marvel, it was like, I want to put Ant-Man and Wasp up against a really formidable villain in this movie, and so we’re doing Kang the Conqueror.” 

“In the comics, Kang has dominion over time, he’s a time traveler. His situation is a little bit different in this movie, which I won’t spoil for you, but he’s someone who, [while] we live very linear lives, from childhood to death, Kang doesn’t exist that way,” the director smirked. “It struck me as interesting to take the tiniest Avengers — in some people’s minds maybe the least powerful Avengers — and put them up against the most powerful force in the multiverse.”

The studio describes the film as follows: “In the film, which officially kicks off phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Super-Hero partners Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) return to continue their adventures as Ant-Man and the Wasp. Together, with Hope’s parents Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), the family finds themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on an adventure that will push them beyond the limits of what they thought was possible. Jonathan Majors joins the adventure as Kang.”

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is in theaters now!

Are you excited to see the Young Avengers? What did you think about Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania? Let us know in the comments below or by hitting up our writer @NateBrail on Twitter!