Ant-Man 3 has managed to make MCU history thanks to the inclusion of one of its post-credits scenes.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has been promoted as a game-changer for Marvel as it kicks off the studio's Phase 5 slate and introduces the Multiverse Saga's major villain, Kang the Conqueror.
Kang had the unique honor of first being teased in a Disney+ project, popping up as He Who Remains in Season 1 of Loki. Jonathan Majors' Multiversal villain popping up in the series was one of the first indications of just how important these streaming series were going to be to the overall MCU.
This TV-to-movie storytelling is something Marvel Studios has only continued to brandish, forming stronger and stronger bonds between their streaming and theatrical output.
Whether it's setting up the return of characters like Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin, or teasing the next big screen blockbuster for Brie Larson's Captain Marvel, Disney+ has been a fantastic spot for Marvel to build out its on-screen universe.
Ant-Man 3's Second Post-Credit Scene Makes MCU History
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has made history by being the first MCU movie to feature a full scene from a Marvel Studios Disney+ TV series!
Ant-Man 3's second post-credits scene features a clip from Loki Season 2, which sees Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Mobius (Owen Wilson) attend a presentation by Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors).
Usually, Marvel movies will film scenes specifically for inclusion as post-credits stingers. However, this isn't the first time an Ant-Man movie has used a scene from another Marvel project after the credits.
In 2015's Ant-Man a trimmed-down scene from Marvel's next film at the time, Captain America: Civil War, was included as one of the film's post-credits scenes.
The scene featuring Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), and Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) was later included in full when Captain America: Civil War was released in 2016. Paul Rudd's Ant-Man also starred in Civil War, but did not feature in the post-credits scene.
The second Ant-Man 3 post-credits scene will be included in Loki season 2 when it releases, where fans will get to find just what makes Victor Timely so terrifying.
While Quantumania is the first big-screen blockbuster to include a full Disney+ series scene, it was not the first to reference one of Marvel's streaming projects. That honor goes to Spider-Man: No Way Home, whose post-credits scene (a teaser for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) featured a direct reference to WandaVision.
Not including nearly as overt of a reference as a scene directly from a Disney+ series within its theatrical runtime, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever did a similar thing for Dominique Thorne's Riri Williams/Ironheart. The young hero is set to get her own Disney+ series titled Ironheart, with many of the seeds for her streaming adventures being laid in Ryan Coogler's Wakandan epic.
What will be interesting to see is how this interconnectivity looks moving forward for Marvel Studios. The intrinsic connection could prove valuable with series like Secret Invasion potentially setting up The Marvels, or Loki Season 2 laying the Mutliversal groundwork for Deadpool 3.
The addition of Disney+ titles to the MCU formula offers up all sorts of new possibilities for teases to the future to happen.
Ant-Man 3 Further Connects The MCU Movies With Disney+
Marvel's post-credits scenes are known to connect different projects in the wider MCU. Linking Ant-Man 3 and Loki season 2 together in the post-credits scene only reaffirms Marvel Studios' commitment to connecting the MCU across both its theatrical and streaming projects.
It makes sense for a number of reasons that Ant-Man 3 would include a reference to Loki. Not only is Loki season 2 expected to be one of the next MCU projects in the release slate, but both titles also share one actor, that being Jonathan Majors.
Majors has a big future in the MCU, playing all the various variants of Kang.
So far his work in the MCU has included a version of Kang in both Loki, with He Who Remains, and Ant-Man 3, with Kang the Conqueror. This post-credits scene has now also set up the actor's next MCU appearance in Loki's second season as Victor Timely.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is in cinemas now.
