Here'southward Where Ant-Man and the Wasp Fits Into the Marvel Timeline

Flying into the future. Or is it the past? Photograph: Film Frame/Curiosity Studios 2018

Major spoilers for Ant-Human being and the Wasp beneath.

The population of the Marvel Cinematic Universe volition probable go rid of the abbreviations "BC" and "Advert" and replace them with "BS" and "Every bit" — Before Snap and After Snap. At the conclusion of this leap's Avengers: Infinity War (Jesus, at that place take been a lot of Marvel movies this twelvemonth), indigo heartthrob Thanos holds aloft the Infinity Gauntlet later it'southward been festooned with the galaxy's diverse Infinity Stones and brings a thumb and a finger together to make one trivial click. In that moment, everything changes: 50 percent of all life in the universe (well, at least 50 per centum of the sentient life, we don't actually know what happens with, similar, emus) blows abroad into oblivion like Hoovered detritus released into a tornado. RIP Black Panther, Bucky, Spider-Man, and a whole mess of other merry Marvel protagonists. Cue a bajillion memes.

After fans got their weeping done, they collectively came to a curious question: Where the hell was Ant-Human being? Old thief Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) was nowhere to exist found in the movie, despite having already crossed over with the Avengers in 2016's Captain America: Civil State of war. (Call up? He embiggened and everyone in your theater lost it?) What's more, a trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp was released soon thereafter … and it made no mention of The Snap. When, exactly, was this size-shifting sequel supposed to exist prepare? If it was before, and then why wasn't Antsy recruited to fight Thanos? If it was after, then why did it seem like no one in the trailer was particularly concerned with the disappearance of one-half of their pals?

Well, if yous're willing to exist spoiled, we have the reply. This is the point of no return. Read no further if you lot're planning to come across the film. This is not a drill.

Still here? Groovy, let's get to it. The curt answer is: 99 per centum of the film takes place earlier the events of Infinity State of war, but the credits scenes accept place during and later it.

Wanna exist spoiled even further? And then the bargain is that Scott returns to the teeny-tiny Quantum Realm — which he previously visited in Pismire-Man — virtually the climax of the moving picture in guild to remember Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer, who is in an infuriatingly small portion of the movie). He and the residual of Squad Emmet acquire that the Quantum Realm contains things called "healing particles," which, well, heal yous. They contribute to an centre-rolling deus ex machina involving the villain, and later on, the good guys all decide they should enquiry and retrieve more of 'em.

In the mid-credits scene, we see Scott embarking on his third journey to the Quantum Realm, supervised by Janet, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly). However, while he's inside that wild and wacky place, The Snap occurs and his cohort all blow abroad. Exiting the Breakthrough Realm evidently requires aid from Scott's friends, and when their comms become dead, he realizes he'southward stuck. He shouts for his life and the screen goes black. In the postal service-credits scene, a man-sized ant plays electronic drums (it'll brand sense if you see the residue of the movie) while the streets of San Francisco are silent and a TV shows the post-Thanos destruction. And scene.

So at that place you have it. However, I have to say that the timeline still doesn't quite brand sense to me for one big reason: The Snap just occurs after at least a twenty-four hour period or 2 of Earth-wide mayhem. Why the hell were our plucky heroes but hangin' out and having experiment fourth dimension during this time of apocalyptic crisis? Sure, SF is a bubble, but it's non literally in a bubble, cutting off from the balance of the globe. It's a somewhat major plot pigsty made all the more obvious past the fact that Marvel density has reached a point where these movies are still in very recent memory by the time we see the next installments. Anyway, information technology's certainly possible that Pismire-Man will bring together the as-yet-unseen Captain Marvel in playing crucial roles in the still-untitled Avengers fourquel next twelvemonth. (Information technology's actually likewise bad that Left Behind and The Leftovers are already taken equally titles.) Mayhap the healing particles will exist the key to restoring all of the lost folks? Come back next yr and nosotros'll spoil that for yous, also.

Where Ant-Man and the Wasp Fits Into the Marvel Timeline