The first film of Phase 5 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) launches on February 17 as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters nationwide. It is the third installment in the Paul Rudd-led Ant-Man series, and comes with high expectations as Jonathan Majors reprises his role as “He Who Remains” from Loki as new big baddie Kang the Conquerer.
We haven’t seen our pal Scott Lang since the adventures of Avengers: Endgame when Lang returned from the quantum realm and helped organize the time heist that un-did Thanos’s half-the-world-erasing snap.
Whether you’re a Marvel fan that hasn’t had a chance to re-watch everything in anticipation of the new release, a movie-goer that wants to jump in blind or a casual observer of MCU that can’t quite remember all the details of the story, we’re here to help.
In Ant-Man, we meet Scott Lang. He’s getting out of prison after a stint behind bars for essentially running the Office Space scheme and skimming pennies off the top from a company called Vista Corp. Lang is determined to stay clean and above board for his daughter, Cassie.
When he can’t find a job — Baskin Robbins always finds out — Lang’s friend Luis (Michael Peña) ropes him in for a heist that leads to him finding and wearing an elaborate suit created by Hank Pym (Michael Douglas). The suit allows Lang to shrink (or later get much, much larger) and uses the power of his ant-friends to fight the diabolical Darren Cross (Corey Stoll).
We see Ant-Man in Captain America: Civil War when Falcon enlists Scott’s help to assist Cap’s team in the battle against Iron Man and the other half of the Avengers. Lang ends up under house arrest as a result of breaking the Sokovia Accords, leading us to Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), the daughter of Pym, teams up with her dad and Lang to attempt to retrieve her mother, Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), from the quantum realm. Janet has been lost in space and time since a mission to save the world decades earlier. The mission was successful, and the ensuing experiments with the quantum realm gave Scott Lang the background to come up with the beginnings of a plan to go back in time to retrieve the Infinity Stones and foil Thanos’s plans.
As Scott spent time in the quantum realm during the five year span following the blip, his daughter Cassie (now played by Kathryn Newton) continued to grow, meaning he returned to essentially (and actor-wise) a whole new person.
That’s the quick and dirty recap getting us to now, but let’s dig into a few of the characters a little more.
Scott Lang (Paul Rudd)
Scott Lang an engineer-turned-criminal that joined the Avengers after assuming the mantle of Ant-Man. He has an ex-wife named Maggie (Judy Greer) and a daughter, Cassie. Defeated Darren Cross by going subatomic to destroy his Yellowjacket suit, taking Lang into the quantum realm and creating a subconscious connection to Janet Van Dyne.
Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly)
Hope, also known as the Wasp, is the daughter of Dr. Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne. She has worked with her father and Ant-Man to help retrieve her mother from the quantum realm and also battled Thanos and his army to save the world.
Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas)
Hank Pym is the creator of the (aptly named) Pym Particle that allows Ant-Man to shrink and grow using the suit. He long fought giving the Avengers his tech, but hand-picked Scott Lang for the mission to retrieve the Yellowjacket suit from Darren Cross.
Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer)
Wife of Hank Pym and mother of Hope. Spent 30 years in the quantum realm after shrinking down to diffuse a bomb. Was found and returned from the quantum realm after creating a connection with Lang when he went subatomic to defeat Darren Cross.
Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton)
Daughter of Scott Lang. Survived Thanos’ snap and shows her father’s aptitude for science and adventure. Saw her father fight Yellowjacket in her bedroom in the first Ant-Man.
Kang the Conquerer (Jonathan Majors)
Kang in the MCU was exiled to the quantum realm where he met and collaborated with Janet Van Dyne. In Loki, Kang appeared as “He Who Remains” and was in charge of both the Time Variance Authority and the Sacred Timeline. He is the main villain of both Phase 5 and Phase 6 of the MCU.
Darren Cross (Corey Stoll)
Cross looked up to Hank Pym as a mentor before pushing him off the board of Pym Technologies. His desire for power and money drove him to endlessly work to try and make a working Yellowjacket Suit using Pym Particles. Scott Lang defeated him by going subatomic and destroying the suit. Everyone thought he was dead, but was he?
