Quantumania

Honestly, I just want to have a place to put these thoughts instead of bothering every human being around me about them.

The trailer for the new Ant Man & The Wasp film came out and I got into a longish fun conversation with a friend about what's gonna happen.

So here's a bunch of conjecture that I can get out of my head while there is a staff meeting happening that I have zero interest or stake in, and am trying to ignore as much as possible. Spoilers for shows, if you haven't seen them.

What we already know: Loki is responsible for the appearance of the new Kang. He Who Remains (old Kang) was killed, and now Loki is back at the TVA and he's the only one who remembers what things were like before the timeline got tweaked. 

I postulate that Loki feels responsible, and is going to try and undo this. 

What we have: The new Kang is the heavy in Quantumania and is offering Scott some kind of devil's bargain at the end of the trailer. I am reading A LOT into the delivery of the last line in the trailer, but what it sets up for me is a lose-lose situation for Scott. 

Which is perfect. Because we need Kang to be threatening now. In three years Avengers: Kang Dynasty is coming out and to be honest, the whole MCU is a muddled thing. 

There have been solid solo efforts (Shang-Chi, Dr Strange, Loki, Spider-Man NWY), middling solo efforts (Hawkeye, Ms Marvel, WandaVision, Falcon & Winter Soldier) and ones that missed the mark (She Hulk {siiiiiiiiiiigh}, Moon Knight, Black Widow, Thor: L&T) and at least one outright baffling effort (Eternals).

And hooooooooooly shit is that a lot of content. Worse, it's a lot of less than awesome content-things that mostly feel like spinning plates instead of character growth or plot movement. That doesn't mean they weren't enjoyable but when it's over how do I feel about it all? 

I feel kinda bored. 

So let's fucking kickstart this thing, right?

Bringing me back to: Loki feels responsible for the appearance of the new Kang.

However, Scott will also feel responsible for this. Whatever bargain is made, it's going to be a lose thing for Scott. 

I postulate that this will take one of two forms: Scott will lose something incredibly dear, it could be his girlfriend, could be girlfriend's parents it could be his autonomy. 

It could also be his life. 

But something big, because the audience needs to know that Kang isn't fucking around. He's worth an Avengers movie. (It could also be enough to feed into one of the substories of the MCU, the creation of the Young Avengers. Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Cassie's appearance in Quantumania all directly point to it, with possible threads from She Hulk and Falcon & Winter Soldier.)

Here's why; Thanos was built up over ten years. Kang will have two. We need to a) know who Kang is and b) hate him, and we need to do it starting now. There isn't time to build up the threat in the same way and there isn't enough focus on Kang over the next few years. All the other threads are being pulled! If you look at the slate of movies, it is only The Marvels and Fantastic Four that could have cosmic connections (Guardians 3 is, presumably, about wrapping up that storyline.)

Everything else is about stuff happening on Earth! 

Where do you build Kang into something the audience wants to see crushed? Where's the time? 

I postulate that Scott (if he isn't killed off) and Loki end up joining forces, in order to rally the troops to bring down Kang. They're the only ones who know he's a problem, and Scott will have the authority to call the Avengers in, with possibly the moral authority to get them to work with Loki.

And one thing that I think the Avengers films need is someone with moral authority. Whatever else was going on in Avengers and Age of Ultron, Captain America made a point of protecting and saving civilians. He gave the team direction-a real purpose beyond revenge or 'defeat bad guy because bad'. 

He was about protecting people. What I don't know is who, on the new Avengers team or who in the MCU at large, cares about protecting people. 

Superheroes without a moral compass are bullies. I don't want to watch movies about bullies.

So I'm hoping that someone fills that void, and soon. Scott might have that chance, weird as it might be.