Marvel viewing order: What to watch before ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’

The Marvel Cinematic Universe, that epic project that brings huge, interconnected narratives about magical people into the mainstream for fun and profit, is now in its 15th year, and yes, at times it has been may feel like homework.

As the MCU continues to expand outward, key plot points and character development take place not only in team-up films of the franchise tentpole Avengers, but also in smaller Disney+ TV shows that span a range of genres and gamut of quality cover – and so we all know there’s just too much content already. It’s perfectly fine to play catch-up to maximize your knowledge before heading out to catch a highly-anticipated new installment such as: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

In Quantumania, Ant-Man, aka Scott Lang (Paul Rudd); Hope van Dyne, aka the Wasp (Evangeline Lilly); Scott’s daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton); and Hope’s parents, Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne, aka the original Ant-Man and Wasp (Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer), are all being sucked into the Quantum Realm, a sprawling, tiny world that resides somewhere in the interstices between our matter exists own. It is the first film in phase 5 of the MCU and introduces the audience to our new galactic scale great evil, the one big bad thing in the comics – so there will be an exhibition. Here’s what to check out if you want a refresher before heading in.

Mandatory (not really, but you know it will help a lot): Ant-Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp

Scott Lang is getting arguably the best Origin story movie in the MCU — at least since Captain America: The First Avenger. Peyton Reed, who directed all three films in the trilogy, brings brash action, pace and visual flair to both the snappy first film and the (unfortunately bulkier) second. Watching the first one again will give you a good basis on Scott’s relationship with Cassie and Hank’s decades of ant research, as well as how resizing works.

Ant Man and the Wasp zooms in on the relationships (and the repressed trauma!) in the Pym-van Dyne family — and it’s worth remembering that by the end of this film, Hank, Janet, and Hope are all victims of the Snap, and Scott was trapped in Quantum Realm for every five years of the blip. Like Peter Parker and his blipped classmates, the events of the Thanos era are still fresh for our insect hero team. Speaking of…

Options: Avengers: Endgame

If you’re invested in Scott’s character arc, it’s worth revisiting his pivotal role in the launch of the Time Heist – and after Ant Man and the Waspthis was the second film to rely on the Quantum Realm as a key plot driver.

Highly recommended: loki, Season 1 (or at least the finale)

Photo credit: Disney+

If you haven’t already seen the Mischief God spinoff series on Disney+, you don’t need to beat all six episodes before re-entering the Quantum Realm. But if you have the time, do it! It pulls a bit in the middle, but it’s still extremely shatterable – and Tom Hiddleston’s sizzling chemistry with Sophia Di Martino (as the Loki variant known as Sylvie) keeps things interesting even as the narrative rolls its wheels turns.

If you just have time for a quick refresher and/or don’t plan to invest in anything Loki Season 2, just watch the first, second and sixth episodes. You get a superbly produced introduction to the Time Variance Authority, the reality-hopping bureaucracy that oversees the proper running of the timeline (and looks like Wes Anderson designed your local DMV…in space). The second introduces Sylvie and illustrates in a practical way how timelines “branch” – but if you are Really If you’re short on time, you can skip this.

If you don’t watch anything else in the prep Quantumaniawatch the finale of Loki Season 1. It’s not technically A crucial backstory these days due to the multiversal nature of the MCU, but this talkative, performance-filled episode is a deeply momentous preamble to Phase 5 as a whole, adding a whole heap of context for a character we’ve yet to get to know by the end AM&TW:F.

Ant-Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Avengers: Endgame and Loki Season 1 is available to stream on Disney+.