A new international trailer for Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania featured archival footage from the biggest Marvel Studios to date, Avengers: Endgame.
Paul Rudd's pint-sized Avenger is back for this third solo adventure of the MCU in just a matter of weeks, in what has been described as "a hard left turn" for the Ant-Man franchise.
Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp were fairly small (pun totally intended) comedies when compared to the Mutliversal fare of other Marvel Studios blockbusters. Quantumania is promising to be the biggest film of the trilogy more akin to "[a] big Avengers movie" rather than the "palate cleansers" the other two films have been.
And with these Avengers-sized superlatives being thrown around, it seems befitting for Ant-Man 3 to play up its connections to Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
Ant-Man & Endgame Sitting in a Tree
Marvel Studios posted a new promotional teaser sporting moments from Avengers: Endgame as a part of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania's Japanese marketing campaign.
Showing up on the Marvel Studios Japan Twitter page, this 15-second spot seems to be connecting the upcoming Ant-Man threequel to Endgame's Time Heist.
The shots from the Infinity Saga closer include Paul Rudd's Scott Lang walking alongside the Avengers, Lang suiting up before traversing the MCU timeline, and the now iconic 'fists-in' send-off before the team of heroes head on their quest to save everyone who was Blipped.
The full promo can be seen below:
Explaining the Endgame-Quantumania Connection
As Marvel Studios heads toward its latest MCU blockbuster, it is interesting that it is drawing comparisons to arguably its most beloved (and most important) film in franchise history.
It has been mentioned that Phase 4 was a foundation-builder for the MCU, and now that Phase 5 is here, it is time to kick things back into high gear. So calling back to the last time the perceived stakes were this high makes sense.
Throw in that Quantumania is being built up as the first steps toward the next Endgame-esque event in the one-two punch of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars, and it starts to make sense why this footage is here.
But could it mean something more?
Seeing as Ant-Man and the Avengers utilized the Quantum Realm in Endgame for their Time Heist, perhaps there is some deeper meaning here.
Did the events of Endgame directly lead to Ant-Man 3? Could the use of Quantum-based tech have set off Jonathan Majors' Kang the Conqueror unbeknownst to Earth's Mightiest Heroes?
In the same way that Captain America: Civil War felt like a direct follow-up to Avengers: Age of Ultron, it is starting to feel like Quantumania is being built up to be exactly that for Endgame.
Whether this is just a clever marketing tactic, showing fans moments from one of their favorite film ever, or if it holds some sort of deeper meaning remains unclear. Either way, fans seem to be in for something special with the Ant-Man threequel.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania comes to theaters on Friday, February 17.
