The last year, 2023, was a rough phase for the MCU since it started with the studio’s first flop of the year, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. The movie greatly underperformed both financially and critically since it only managed to earn a total of $476.1 million at the global box office. Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania also received highly negative reviews on how it dealt with the appearance of Kang, with some critics even saying that Marvel should have let Kang kill Ant-Man in this movie.
Either way, Marvel had high hopes for this movie since it was set to kickstart the Kang saga in the Marvel movies. Since its flop, Paul Rudd had not made another appearance in the MCU until now. The second season of Marvel’s popular TV series, What If...?, shows Paul Rudd voice a 17th-century version of Scott Lang.
The eighth episode of What If…? Season 2 shows Scott Lang in the year 1602, where he and his team have to team up with Captain Peggy Carter, who is tasked to save the universe. Together with Bruce Banner and Tony Stark, he storms Thor's castle and steals his scepter, while this timeline’s Ant-man shows off his skills as a swordsman.
Will Ant-Man return to the MCU?
Paul Rudd is among the many other MCU actors to reprise his live-action role in Marvel’s What If…? Season 2. However, now many fans are busy wondering where the actor is headed when it comes to future MCU projects. Rudd hasn’t spoken up on the possibility of Ant-Man 4 happening yet, only claiming that he doesn’t know if it’ll happen or not. However, he might appear in another MCU project before that movie happens.
In case the Kang storyline continues after Jonathan Majors was fired from the role after his domestic assault court case, there’s a high chance that Rudd will be an essential part of the upcoming Avengers movie, The Kang Dynasty, especially considering his rich history with the villain. Since the film’s launch has been delayed until 2026 possibly, there might be some time before fans see Rudd’s hero as the center of attention once again in another MCU project.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is currently streaming on Disney+.
