This article contains major spoilers for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.With the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has officially begun. And with it, the buildup towards the inevitable climax of the Multiverse Saga is now underway, inviting no shortage of fan speculation.
The story of Quantumania most obviously serves to set up the upcoming Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, currently slated for a May 2025 release. However, there’s one specific plot point that also heavily foreshadows the plot of the Multiverse Saga’s grand finale, Secret Wars. And although it’s a subtle detail, it may be very revealing for the story of the final Phase 6 film.
What Are the Incursions?
In one scene, the film’s main antagonist Kang the Conqueror (played by Jonathan Majors) reveals the motivation for his conquest to Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer). To hear him tell it, he seeks complete dominion over the multiverse in order to prevent his many variants — who we see in the film’s mid-credits scene as the Council of Kangs — from destabilizing the multiverse and causing more Incursions. The exact nature of these Incursions is never elaborated upon within the film itself, as it doesn’t really affect the story at hand. However, the term “Incursion” will likely ring a bell to those who have seen Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
In Multiverse of Madness, the concept of Incursions is first introduced by the Illuminati of Earth-838, who reveal to Doctor Strange that prolonged meddling with multiversal travel can result in the walls between universes breaking down. This event, known as an Incursion, results in two Earths literally colliding with one another, causing one or both of them to be completely destroyed. Later in the film, Strange travels to an Earth devastated by one such Incursion, where he faces off with his villainous variant known colloquially as Sinister Strange.
These repeated hints towards the threat of the Incursions hold special significance to the future of the MCU — in the comics, it was these very Incursions that served as the inciting incident for the 2015 Secret Wars storyline by writer Jonathan Hickman. Hickman’s preceding run on New Avengers focuses on the Illuminati of the main Marvel Universe as they attempt to protect Earth-616 from destruction by the Incursions, which are eventually revealed to be caused by the nigh-omnipotent aliens known as the Beyonders. But in the end, the true enemy of Secret Wars isn’t the Beyonders, and it certainly isn’t Kang the Conqueror.
Does Quantumania Set Up Doctor Doom?
Before long, the main antagonist of Hickman’s Secret Wars proves to be none other than Doctor Doom. The final arc of New Avengers reveals that unbeknownst to the Illuminati, Doom has been working together on his own plan to defeat the Beyonders. In the first issue of Secret Wars, while Earth-616 is destroyed by the final Incursion, Doom executes his plan, killing the Beyonders and stealing their vast cosmic power for himself. Using his new power, Doom fuses the remnants of the destroyed multiverse into a single patchwork Earth, known as Battleworld, which he rules as its almighty God-Emperor.
Much like the Kang featured in Quantumania, Doctor Doom presents himself as a benevolent savior who wishes to save reality from the Incursions, but he does so by destroying worlds and ruling through fear and death. Despite their good intentions, their methods make them nothing more than megalomaniacal tyrants. Kang’s motivation in Quantumania skews far closer to Doom’s than that of his comic counterpart, who is driven solely by his love of conquest and battle — more akin to the variants who this Kang sought to destroy. As such, Kang’s characterization in this film could be intended as foreshadowing for the motives of Secret Wars’ true villain.
As of yet, there’s been no news regarding when fans can expect to see Doctor Doom’s debut in the MCU. Some fans have theorized that he may not appear in Secret Wars at all, and that Kang — or one of his variants, such as Immortus — will take his place as the villain of Secret Wars. But even so, Secret Wars is arguably Doom’s most iconic comic book storyline. The arc is practically synonymous with Doctor Doom, so leaving him out of its live action adaptation would be a grave misstep. It’s possible that The Kang Dynasty could feature Doom allying with the Avengers against the Council of Kangs, only to eventually betray the heroes and become the villain of Secret Wars.
There’s currently no way of knowing exactly what the future holds for Avengers: Secret Wars. On the one hand, there’s still no sign of Doctor Doom making an appearance in the MCU, and it’d be a bit far-fetched for him to ascend to the throne of Battleworld’s God-Emperor in his debut role. But at the same time, it’d be surprising for a film adaptation of Secret Wars to not include Doom at all. At this point, neither option is out of the question. But one thing’s for sure: by hinting at the continued threat of the Incursions, Quantumania brings the MCU one step closer to Secret Wars.