What You Need to See to Understand Ant-Man Quantumania (Five shows that are a must-watch)

Here are the five things you MUST watch before seeing Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania. This is based on the trailers and posters available at press time. It’s due out on the 17th of February, 2023. Which is, like, soon! So this will give you time to prepare. Buckle up, because all signs point to this Ant-Man — unlike the other Ant-Man films — will not just be fun diversions, but instead crucial to getting Phase Four’s big bad underway.

MCU spoilers from here on through Dr. Strange: Multiverse of Madness.

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The five shows to watch to be up to date with Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania

One thing to understand is that (Legally, at least!) you need to have or get access to Disney+ to see Loki. I won’t tell you to sail the high seas, but you could buy Disney+ for one month, catch up on a lot of good content, and walk away happy.

Ant-Man

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Loki(CRUCIAL)

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Spider-Man: No Way Home

Dr. Strange 2: Multiverse of Madness

Bonus material:

The Ant-Man End Credits Scene of Infinity War

Most of Avengers: Endgame

WandaVision (Disney +)

Marvel’sWhat If…?(Disney +)

Okee dokee, let’s start in production order with what you need to know:

1. Ant-Man – This is where it all begins, is a load of fun, and teases the Quantum Realm. If you want to know why and how the Quantum Realm fits into all of this, start here.
2. Ant-Man & The Wasp: A direct continuation of the original Ant-Man, you get a dramatic example of how weird and important this strange sizing technology is to the world above.
3. Loki (Disney+ TV show): I’m going to go out on a limb and say you need to watch Loki most of all. Even though it doesn’t even have Ant-Man or the Wasp in it. Kang the Conquerer — or at least one variant of him — finally shows up to confuse the heroes and ruin the universe/multiverse. Then BOOM, story ends. We’ve been waiting for so long on what this means and why we should care. The subsequent Marvel movies only teased the viewer about the multiverse. Loki is the only Marvel showing that completely and utterly explains any of this, plus Kang  (He Who Remains) ends up right there at the end, explaining everything (in excruciating detail). He talks longer than the Architect in the Matrix. Dang. But it’s all important. Why should you care? Loki is an outstanding 6 part series that can’t be missed. I would ensure I saw Loki before anything else because you can probably follow along with the exposition the rest of Quantumania will undoubtedly provide.
4. Spider-Man: No Way Home: After Spider-Man: Far From Home only teased the multiverse concept (it was a fakeout!), No Way Home deals with the problem directly. And includes multiverse master Dr. Strange, to boot. If you did see Marvel’s: What If…? you’ll better understand Strange’s deep connection and terrible issues with the multiverse, but seeing Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness does most of the heavy lifting on its own.
5. Dr. Strange 2: The Multiverse of Madness: There is no Kang, no Quantum Realm, but Strange 2 does a nice job of showing the complexities and complications of multiverse travel. It’s also really amusing, especially if you’re a fan of Sam Riami’s Evil Dead/Army of Darkness. I’ll add this: Strange 2  is also a big vehicle for Wanda/The Scarlet Witch, as she was last seen in the main movies as a hero. If you really want to understand Wanda and her turn to darkness, you should watch WandaVision (Disney +). But for the sake of Quantumania, what Wanda does probably isn’t really important. One assumes.

This is all just speculation at this point, and I don’t want to send you down too many rabbit holes if you’re not a die-hard fan, keeping track of who goes where and why. For example, I’d suggest anyone wanting a deep dive of Strange to watch the What If…? episodes. The same goes for understanding Wanda via WandaVision for when she shows up as a bad guy in said Dr. Strange 2.

But to grasp Quantumania, I’m guessing an understanding of the Quantum Realm and the multiverse concept are what’s important here. With 20+ movies and tons of new Disney shows to view, it’s way too tall an order to keep track these days, especially with the seeming overlap between the TV and movie crossovers. I’m not even going to mention the Netflix Marvel shows or the X-Men universe because it’s become a free for all, anything-goes, whole new era following licenses ending and Disney playing Hungry Hungry Hippos with anything Marvel-related.

Just focus on Ant-Man, the Quantum Realm, and bits of the multiverse. But you can’t miss Loki.

Jill Florio

Co-Creator of RunPee, Chief of Operations, Content Director, and Managing Editor. RunPee Jilly likes galaxy-spanning sci fi, superhero sagas, fantasy films, YA dystopians, action thrillers, chick flicks, and zany comedies, in that order…and possesses an inspiringly small bladder. In fact, that little bladder sparked the creation of RunPee. (Good thing she’s learned to hold it.)