Did Jonathan Majors' Kang the Conqueror die at the end of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania? Director of the MCU threequel, Peyton Reed, told all in a recent interview.
Marvel Studios' quantum adventure has just started its run in theaters, with fans getting the first real taste of Majors' Multiversal villain.
While the future of Kang was teased within Ant-Man 3, many are wondering what exactly happened to the "warrior [Variant]" that caused Scott Lang and his family so much trouble in the super-powered blockbuster.
Warning - the rest of this article contains spoilers for Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.
Being sucked into his very own Multiversal Power Core, it is currently unknown if this particular Kang is dead and gone or a threat that could come back down the line.
Is Kang Killed In Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania?
In an interview with The Wrap, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania director Peyton Reed addressed if the Kang Variant at the center of the film is in fact dead after his climactic battle with Paul Rudd's pint-sized protagonist.
When asked if this version of Kang the Conqueror died in Ant-Man 3, Reed played coy, pondering "I think that’s the real question."
He pointed to the end of the movie and how audiences can see Paul Rudd's MCU hero "struggling with that question" as well:
“Well, I think that’s the real question. I think you see Scott Lang struggling with that question. And I think it’s, you know, I didn’t actually know that that was a hard, fast rule that if you don’t see the body that doesn’t mean —"
The filmmaker lamented, "I think Kang, or the Kang variants, are going to be a presence" throughout Phase 5. The heroes "prevent[ed] [this Variant] from getting out of the quantum realm" and that is all that matters for now:
“I think Kang, or the Kang variants, are going to be a presence, I mean, in this whole Phase 5. There is a movie coming out called ’Avengers: Kang Dynasty,.’ What does that mean? I’m not sure, I’m not doing that. We’ll find out. But to me, it was all about Kang the Conqueror, and coming up against these heroes and sort of, you know, them preventing him from getting out of the quantum realm.”
Then when pressed one last time on if this Kang was dead, Reed critically noted "You don’t really want an answer to that question:"
“You don’t really want an answer to that question! You don’t really want an answer to that question. You think you do, but you don’t."
Is Ant-Man 3's Warrior Kang Dead?
As fans have learned over the past 15 years of MCU storytelling, unless there is a body, nobody is officially dead. And even then plenty of characters presumed dead and gone have come back to have fruitful careers under the Marvel Studios banner.
And that feels like the case with the Kang Variant seen in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.
It is not as if Jonathan Major's Multiversal villain was shredded to bits, giving off the impression that his reign was officially done. Instead, he was sucked into his Multiversal Power Core, which audiences have already seen inside.
So, could this version of Kang come back to haunt Scott Lang and the Ant-fam?
The answer is yes, and it's probably likely he does. Peyton Reed even alludes to that fact in the film's closing moments with Paul Rudd's MCU hero questioning if Jonathan Majors' big bad was actually taken care of.
Maybe 'Warrior' Kang will somehow come back and be seen alongside his other Variants from the Council of Kangs post-credits scene. Or could this be the Kang that has been teased to take down some Avengers in The Kang Dynasty?
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is in theaters worldwide now.
