Paul Rudd’s arc as Marvel’s tiniest Avenger aka Ant-Man has been rumored more than once to be coming to an untimely end with the latest upcoming Marvel installment, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. With Kang the Conqueror being introduced in the film, kicking off Phase Five with a major death seems like a step too far. But not only is Ant-Man 3 being positioned as too good of a narrative, but the threat of impending doom is already hard-hitting as it is without having to weigh the MCU audience with the added tragedy of a beloved superhero’s death.

The teasers and trailers and subsequent breakdowns that have ensued in the aftermath of the final curtain setting on Phase Four have dealt the MCU fandom with a massive blow to the chest – one that hurls them back to the days of larger-than-life events setting up scenarios where a supposed character’s life hangs in the balance. The stakes have never been this high in a film that is only supposed to serve as an introductory peek and a mere appetizer for what’s to come.

However, popular opinion dictates that Paul Rudd, the people’s superhero and everyone’s favorite, has served too much good in the MCU narrative to escape unscathed after the events of Ant-Man 3. With his life at stake, the Marvel family will then be delivered the catalyst to rise up to the occasion to do what they were united to do: avenge. But even without the added reason, it seems unlikely that Ant-Man could survive such a close brush with a fully developed Kang quantum army – not to state that Kang himself unleashes his hellfire fury on the Avenger, once he fails to keep his end of the deal.

Much isn’t left up to the imagination of the audience when Rudd’s superhero then delivers the Ant-Man equivalent of Robert Downey Jr.’s gut-wrenching “I am Iron Man” from Endgame as he claims, “I don’t have to win, we both just have to lose” – after Kang crushes his him under his boot, like a literal enactment of stomping an ant.

Ant-Man 3 Set to Witness the Rise of an Iconic Supervillain

Jonathan Majors’s Kang the Conqueror has been conquering hearts already with his chilling entry and breathtaking performance as the calm, collected, intelligent, and highly dangerous Multiverse-decimating villain. Already chalked up to be one of the most feared and ruthless adversaries to go up against the Avengers, the impossibly powerful and time-conquering being has built a formidable army during his imprisonment within the quantum realm. With that soon about to be over, it’s not long until Kang gets to set foot out into the universe and put into motion his plan of dominating all time.

Michelle Pfeiffer’s Janet van Dyne additionally delivers the needed exposition stating how the being has the power to alter and extinguish entire realities. Considering how Kang was also the one responsible for the TVA coming into being, his presence acts as a direct antithesis to the organization’s sole purpose. If Jonathan Majors’s villain ever deserved a worthy entry after an imposing performance as powerful as this, it has to be whatever Ant-Man 3 is offering. And after Majors is done with what he has planned for the MCU, the fandom might not even need the extra jolt to shock themselves into crying out for active vengeance against the enigmatic yet terrible supervillain.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania premieres on February 17, 2023.