Did you see Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania this past weekend? A lot of people sure did, as the third film to be headlined by Paul Rudd as Scott Lang was number one at the box office, and managed to outperform the previous two films opening weekends, bringing in $103 million over three days and $120 million over four days.
The child and I went to Quantumania on Thursday night, and we both enjoyed the film well enough. I found some of the scenes too visually dark at times, but I enjoyed how the story went pure sci-fi. Paul Rudd is always a joy to watch as the character, and the appearance of M.O.D.O.K was a definite highlight (no spoilers here).
The big piece of the film, though, was the arrival of Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror, the big bad of the MCU’s Phase Five, which kicks off with Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. Majors is compelling as the character, which is important, since so much is riding on audiences embracing the threat of what Kang can do the multiverse as a whole.
In the ongoing symbiosis between the film and comics arm of Marvel, a few weeks back the House of Ideas released a large trade paperback titled Kang: The Saga of the Once and Future Conqueror. For fans looking to delve deep into the comic’s history of the character and the impact he’s hand on multiple teams and heroes, you can’t do any better than this book. Over the course of 500+ pages, everyone from the Avengers to the Fantastic Four do battle with Kang in in his various time-spanning incarnations.
Among the creators featured in Kang: The Saga of the Once and Future Conquerer are Stan Lee, Mark Waid, Peter David, Cullen Bunn, Jack Kirby, Adam Kubert, Mike del Mundo, and Brian Level.
Kang the Conqueror, the time-traveling despot determined to rule the timestream, has menaced the Avengers and Fantastic Four for years. But when the Vision tries a new strategy against their longtime nemesis, he ignites a temporal war — and Kang’s first strike is a killer! Can team of Avengers gathered from across time save history? Plus: Kang sends Kamala Khan back to the Avengers’ earliest days; battles symbiotic threats with Spider-Man, Rocket Raccoon, the Black Knight and Monica Rambeau; and targets Moon Knight’s patron Khonshu! And can the FF survive when Kang’s many personas — from Rama-Tut to Immortus — unite against them?
COLLECTING: Fantastic Four (1961) 19; Avengers (1963) 8; All-New, All-Different Avengers (2015) 13; Avengers (2016) 1-6; Avengers: Back to Basics (2018) 5-6; Moon Knight Annual (2019) 1; Symbiote Spider-Man: King in Black (2020) 1-5; Fantastic Four (2018) 35 (A story); Timeless (2021) 1
