Film Phase 4 — Multiverse Opens (2024–2025)

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Name: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Released: 2023-02-17
Duration: 124 min
Rating: 6.2
Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jonathan Majors

"Witness the beginning of a new dynasty."

Released February 17, 2023 2h 4m ★ 6.2TMDB ★ Essential to the MCU

Super-Hero partners Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne, along with with Hope's parents Janet van Dyne and Hank Pym, and Scott's daughter Cassie Lang, find themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on an adventure that will push them beyond the limits of what they thought possible.

Watch note

Scott and Cassie fight Kang the Conqueror in the Quantum Realm. Kang is defeated — and a mid-credits scene shows a council of his variants planning a multiversal uprising. The Kang threat is fully unleashed.

Why It Matters in the MCU

The third Ant-Man film stakes the franchise's smallest hero against its largest threat — Kang the Conqueror, the MCU's post-Thanos replacement-level villain — and the mismatch is both the film's appeal and its central problem. Jonathan Majors' performance brings genuine menace to a character who needs to feel like a credible threat across the entire multiverse, and the film makes that case more successfully in the quieter scenes than in the spectacle. The Quantum Realm as a fully realised environment rather than a corridor is the production's most significant visual expansion in the sub-franchise.

Watch These First

23 titles lead into Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania — 50 hours in total. All 23 are essential.

Captain America: The First Avenger Essential 2h 4m ★ 7.0
Captain Marvel Essential 2h 4m ★ 6.8
Iron Man Essential 2h 6m ★ 7.7
Iron Man 2 Essential 2h 4m ★ 6.9
The Incredible Hulk Essential 1h 52m ★ 6.3
Iron Man 2 (Post-Credit Scene) Essential 0h 2m
Thor Essential 1h 55m ★ 6.8 +2 before this
Captain America: The First Avenger (Credits) Essential 0h 2m
Thor (Post-Credit Scene) Essential 0h 2m
The Avengers Essential 2h 23m ★ 8.1 +2 before this
Iron Man 3 Essential 2h 10m ★ 6.9
Thor: The Dark World Essential 1h 52m ★ 6.5
Captain America: The Winter Soldier Essential 2h 16m ★ 7.7 +3 before this
Guardians of the Galaxy Essential 2h 1m ★ 7.9
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Essential 2h 16m ★ 7.6
Avengers: Age of Ultron Essential 2h 21m ★ 7.3
Ant-Man Essential 1h 57m ★ 7.1
Captain America: Civil War Essential 2h 27m ★ 7.5
Eyes of Wakanda (Season 1) Essential 2h ★ 6.2
Black Panther Essential 2h 14m ★ 7.4
Spider-Man: Homecoming Essential 2h 13m ★ 7.3
Doctor Strange Essential 1h 55m ★ 7.4
Thor: Ragnarok Essential 2h 10m ★ 7.6 +2 before this
Ant-Man and the Wasp Essential 1h 58m ★ 6.9
Avengers: Infinity War Essential 2h 29m ★ 8.2 +4 before this
Ant-Man & The Wasp (All Credits) Essential 0h 3m
Captain Marvel (Post-Credits Scene) Essential 0h 2m
Avengers: Endgame Essential 3h 2m ★ 8.2 +7 before this
Avengers: Endgame Encore Essential 3h 5m +7 before this

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Where It Fits in the MCU

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania sits at position 135 of 158 in the MCU's story-chronological order, placing it within the Phase 4 — Multiverse Opens (2024–2025) era. It is rated Essential — must-watch for following the main MCU narrative. Watching in story-chronological order provides the most coherent character development experience — individual arcs build naturally toward the franchise's major crossover events, with each film's post-credits scenes carrying forward into what follows.