Jeff Loveness, the writer behind both Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, offered some comments on how both the Multiverse and the Quantum Realm are connected.
In the MCU, time seems to be intrinsically intertwined with the Multiverse—which is not necessarily the case in the comics.
Time travel was first set up back in Avengers: Endgame, both to help save half of existence and also to tease the next MCU saga. To utilize the concept, however, the Avengers had to learn how to navigate the Quantum Realm.
So, if the Quantum Realm is how one manipulates time itself, then, given the MCU's added technicalities, there has to be a link to the Multiverse somewhere in there.
But when will audiences figure it out?
The Link Between the Quantum Realm and the Multiverse
In an interview with Marvel.com, Ant-Man and the Wasp writer Jeff Loveness and producer Stephen Broussard discussed how the Multiverse and the Quantum Realm are linked.
Broussard made it clear that the Quantum Realm is "a world unto itself not unlike Asgard or Wakanda:"
“The Quantum Realm is just as big an idea as any of the things in any of the other worlds we’ve explored in the MCU to date... It’s a world unto itself not unlike Asgard or Wakanda or the world of the mystic arts in Doctor Strange. Getting the chance to establish something that big, and that big in part three of a film has been really, really fun."
Loveness chimed in, stating that they considered the place to be "like the basement of the Multiverse," which is still vastly "unexplored:"
“We really wanted to build it from the ground up and we thought how do we make this different from just outer space, how do we make this different from underwater like Namor’s kingdom Talokan?... We came up with [the idea] that basically, it’s like the basement of the Multiverse. It’s this connected limbo outside of space and time.”
The Multiversal Basement
Thinking of the Quantum Realm as the basement to the Multiverse is certainly an interesting way of looking at the concept.
Does that mean there is only a single Quantum Realm? And not one per timeline, or possibly for a certain set of timelines?
Either way, there are still plenty of questions to be answered. Hopefully, Quantumania will have some more explanations for fans—though there'll undoubtedly be plenty left for The Kang Dynasty to explore.
Additionally, there's Loki's second season, where it would be natural to touch upon these same questions.
Also, when it comes to time travel, The MCU could throw a wrench into everything and add some complications; what if there is another way to manipulate time other than the Quantum Realm? After all, in the source material, Kang does have the ability to time-travel with his suit.
Villains such as Doctor Doom have even built their own time machines. All that to say, there's a precedent for utilizing alternative methods.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters on February 17.
