Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is Phase 5's opening chapter and a movie that introduces us to Kang the Conqueror. He's not the first Kang Variant we've met in the MCU (that would be Loki's He Who Remains), but this specific villain is who we anticipated being the shared world's new big bad.
Things didn't exactly play out that way, but a mid-credits scene introduced us to an endless number of Kangs, including Immortus, Rama-Tut, and a character based on Scarlet Centurion.
That's great and all, but it's not hard to see why many fans walked away from the movie unsatisfied, especially as the threequel provided little to no insights into Kang's past and how he'll factor into the Multiverse Saga. Talking to Vital Thrills, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania writer Jeff Loveness confirmed a lot of material ended up on the cutting room floor.
"Lots of stuff [was deleted]. One in particular, there’s a little more Kang backstory that I think is probably better served for 'Avengers," he explains. "Where he’s going, where he’s been, all that kind of stuff."
On the plus side, that likely means Avengers: The Kang Dynasty will provide some long-overdue answers about the time-travelling baddie. Loveness would know considering the fact he's writing it, and he'd go on to tease additional deleted scenes revolving around Corey Stoll's divisive M.O.D.O.K.
"My favorite deleted scene is the one with me! I got killed by M.O.D.O.K. It was my debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe! There were many scenes. There’s one with Michelle Pfeiffer just berating him. There’s a lot of just like him being broken up along the course of the movie that leads to his redemption later. But some of that got cut out."
"But yeah, I back-talked to MODOK and he blows me up with his little crystal head laser," Loveness adds. "That’s the scene I want at the front of the movie. I want that on the poster."
Marvel Studios has become increasingly stingy with deleted scenes in recent years, so it remains to be seen how much, if any, of what Loveness is talking about we actually get to see.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is currently playing in theaters.