Warning: Contains spoilers for Ant-Man and The Wasp
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Despite the general assumptions that Paul Rudd would appear in Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man was a no show in the big battle against Thanos.
His new film Ant-Man and The Wasp is widely considered to be a comedic distraction from the heavy themes of Infinity War – but it might also pave the way for the events of Avengers 4.
The mid-credits scene in the movie links Ant-Man and The Wasp to the goings on in the wider MCU, with Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) being reduced to ash by Thanos's use of the Infinity Gauntlet while Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is on a mission in the Quantum Realm.
But it's what happens before that moment that might have a bigger impact on the untitled Avengers sequel. Prior to Ant-Man's departure, Janet – the original Wasp, who was lost for decades in the Quantum Realm – warns him not to get trapped in a time vortex.
It's a seemingly throwaway but potentially very significant line. There is no elaboration on what time vortices are, but we can assume that they have some effect on the passage of time or a person's place in it.
And now we get to Avengers 4, which is rumoured to have a time-travel plot. Fans have speculated that the sighting of actors in their original costumes on set (plus some evidence that Iron Man will return to the period of Loki's imprisonment at the end of the original Avengers) means that the surviving heroes will travel into the past to prevent Thanos from eradicating half of life in the universe.
Another theory has Avengers 4 jumping forward in time, fueled in part by unconfirmed rumours that actress Emma Fuhrmann has been cast to play an older version of Ant-Man's daughter Cassie Lang.
Could Ant-Man – currently adrift in the Quantum Realm – access different time periods using a time vortex? (Spider-Man actor Tom Holland seems to have spoiled the Quantum Realm's role in Avengers 4 already.) If this is the case, Scott might end up playing a central role in the events of the upcoming movie.
Sadly, this still doesn't explain where Hawkeye has got to, but one mystery at a time, eh?
Avengers 4 will arrive in the UK on April 26, 2019 and in the US on May 3, 2019.
Ant-Man and The Wasp is out now in the UK and US. Book tickets here.
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