Why Marvel is kicking off Phase Five with ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’

The anticipation is growing amongst Marvel fans with ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ hitting theaters on February 17.

While the movie is the third instalment in the Ant-Man series, it marks the beginning of Phase Five in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Why Phase Five is kicking off with Ant-Man

Phase Five is the second part of The Multiverse Saga, and will feature six films and seven series over the next year-and-a-half, ending with ‘Blade’ in September 2024.

While Phase Four was all about experimenting, introducing, and reintroducing fans to characters and settings, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige says it’s no coincidence Phase Five is beginning with a group of characters fans are familiar with.

“We wanted to kick off Phase 5 with a team of heroes that you already know. We knew that if we were going to do another Ant-Man film, it was always the idea to spend the majority of time in the Quantum Realm, this place you’ve heard about in various movies and seen glimpses of,” said Feige.

“We wanted to actually explore it. When we were making the earlier films, we saw the visuals of the Quantum Realm, like, “See that back there? That’s a city. See that over there? That’s a whole civilization.” We were hoping that one day we could explore more of it.”

Where the MCU is headed

Phase Four, Five and Six all make up The Multiverse Saga, which will lead to ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’ in 2025 and ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ in 2026.

Asked whether there is any overarching theme that links the three phases, Feige said the focus is more on leading the MCU in a certain direction.

“It’s really a classification system for the audience that’s following along. It’s to keep track of how the pieces fit in place,” said Feige. “I didn’t really talk a lot about the overarching themes or direction of Phase Four until afterward - in large part because we are always adapting and weaving as creative demands and new ideas come up.

“But I would say in very generalized terms, as you see in Quantumania, it’s about setting up the big overarching thread that will go through the next phases.

“Not every film in the Infinity Saga focused on the Infinity Stones or Thanos, and it’ll be the same across Five and Six. But we’re gearing up. People will get a taste of this in a big way in Quantumania as we lead to Avengers: Secret Wars, which I’m extremely excited for.”