Every Cameo In Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania Ranked
The Marvel Cinematic Universe, by the kick-off of Phase 5, has begun feeling a bit like the first day of high school. Each project is a mix of familiar faces and newly introduced ones, youngsters trying to make a mark and BMOCs still holding onto their past glories. You almost need a yearbook to keep track of everyone.
Like walking, talking Easter eggs, characters from the now-vast library of Marvel movies and Disney+ shows make appearances before, during, and after the credits. Even if you've only seen a few MCU movies, you'll probably spot more than a few characters that you "went to school with," evoking fond memories of past adventures together.
The "Ant-Man" movies in particular have enjoyed sneaking fun faces into small parts, from "Saturday Night Live" vet Garrett Morris (the "original" Ant-Man") to the obligatory Stan Lee cameo. So, how does "Quantumania" measure up? Even though it spends most of its time in the Quantum Realm, the third film in the trilogy still manages to fold in plenty of characters both old and new. Here's a (spoiler-heavy) ranking of every cameo in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania."
12. Corey Stoll as M.O.D.O.K./Darren Cross
While there has been an endless variety of MCU villains, in "first" movies they tend to fall into a particular category: An adversary broadly similar to the hero. Typically they have the same power or technology, but want to use it for evil instead of good. Think of Iron Man versus Iron Monger, the Hulk versus Abomination, Black Panther versus Killmonger, and so on.
The first "Ant-Man" was no exception, as hero Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) found a counter balance in Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), who essentially possessed a souped-up version of the same suit. In the end, Cross was shrunk beyond perception, seemingly never to be seen again.
He has a pretty substantial role in "Quantumania," so it's technically cheating to call it a cameo, but the revelation that he's still alive and has been transformed into the grotesque "Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing," or MODOK (an eccentric fan favorite character, most recently realized as a Patton Oswalt stop-motion animation series), is a pleasant surprise for those not obsessively following MCU casting news or studying trailers. In proportional terms, you could consider Stoll's performance a "cameo" insofar as viewers can only see his giant, presumably motion-captured head.
11. William Jackson Harper as Quaz
"Quantumania" introduces some characters never before seen, not even in the Marvel Comics version of the Quantum Realm. One of the more prominent faces among the many freedom fighters is played by Chidi from "The Good Place," a.k.a. William Jackson Harper. A telepath and a member of an unknown non-human (but pretty human in appearance) race, Quaz's ability to read minds saves a lot of time in getting everyone to trust Scott and Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton) when they're first captured.
Telepathy has its drawbacks; Quaz is exposed to what seems to be a disturbing thought Scott has when they first meet, which preoccupies the latter. But it also provides a useful advantage when the freedom fighters need the passcode to a bridge during the final big battle. Harper's performance in a handful of scenes is a comedic highlight of the film. The MCU has been relatively light on telepaths thus far, cameos from Patrick Stewart as Professor X notwithstanding. MCU fans would likely welcome the character back for additional adventures.
10. David Daltmaschian as Veb
A mild bummer about "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" is that it spends almost the entire movie in the Quantum Realm, which means there are no scenes with any of Scott's X-Con Security crew.
In the previous two movies, Lang's buddies were a reliable source of comic relief, one that perhaps deserved its own workplace sitcom on Disney+. Fortunately, "Quantumania" throws fans a bone by re-casting David Daltmaschian (who played the wide-eyed, twitchy Kurt in the last two movies) as Quantum Realm resident Veb.
Veb (or at least his bodily fluids) is an important plot point: He is the source of "the ooze" that allows visitors from the regular-sized world to understand what everyone else is saying. He's also one of the more uniquely designed life forms in the MCU to date; he has a few visible organs that exist in an amorphous, transparent pink body that changes shape at will.
Not much is known about Veb, except that he's comically obsessed with how many holes the non-bloblike lifeforms he meets possess, and delighted when some laser-guns give him holes of his own.
9. Owen Wilson as Mobius M. Mobius
Patient viewers (with strong bladders) will be rewarded for sticking around through the credits of "Quantumania" to see multiple cameos in a post-credit scene that includes Mobius M. Mobius, Owen Wilson's character from the "Loki" Disney+ series.
One of the delights of the first season of "Loki" was Wilson's performance as the Time Variance Authority agent who went from Loki's captor to his ally, and it's a pleasant surprise to discover that he'll be appearing in other MCU projects (in addition, presumably, to "Loki" Season 2, although we'll have to wait a while).
The ending of "Loki" Season 1 implied that his timeline had been irrevocably altered. During the course of the show, Mobius came to distrust the mysterious founders of the TVA and began to look into it with Loki; the season concluded with his memory seemingly wiped and a statue of "He Who Remains," a variant of Kang (Jonathan Majors) prominently shown in a quasi-homage to "The Planet of the Apes." His brief appearance in the stinger to "Quantumania" raises more questions than it answers — undoubtedly Marvel's plan to keep viewers coming back for more — but it's sure great to see him again.
8. Tom Hiddleston as Loki
Sitting right next to Mobius in the post-credit scene is Loki himself. At this point, with many of the original stars of the MCU moving on, Hiddleston's Loki is one of the longest-tenured characters, and a valuable reminder of how the entire "universe" ties together.
Over the past decade he has served as the main antagonist in "The Avengers," popped up as his step-brother Thor's eternal frenemy again and again, died in one timeline but escaped from another. In his own Disney+ series "Loki," the character even became something of a hero.
He's also one of the few characters who has any insight into the grand machinations of Kang and the overall scope of the multiverse. His appearance at the end of "Quantumania" is perhaps an indicator that experience with his own variants and the Time Variance Authority will make him a key figure in navigating the coming conflict — so, it's fortunate that he has gone from world-conquering villain to well-intentioned protagonist.
7. Jonathan Majors as Victor Timely
In the post-credit scene, Mobius and Loki have re-teamed to pursue yet another Kang variant, although since they've only met a variant going by "He Who Remains," they might not even know the name of their new target.
Jonathan Majors, sporting the wild hair of an inventor, gives a public lecture in the 1920s about how time can be harnessed for the good of mankind. Mobius and Loki sit in the audience, discussing how threatening this man going by the name "Victor Timely" will turn out to be.
It appears safe to assume this Timely is similar to the one in Marvel Comics: a Kang variant who goes back in time to get a head start on conquering, establishing a small town called Timely, Wisconsin to serve as a home base where he can bend the world to is whims through the advancement of technology. It's not clear how Victor Timely, Kang the Conqueror from "Quantumania," and He Who Remains from "Loki" will turn out to be connected, but it'll be fun to theorize in the meantime.
6. Paul Rudd as Baskin-Robbins employee 'Jack'
During a key moment in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," Scott is suddenly surrounded by an infinite number of alternate selves, the result of a "probability storm." Every possible movement or decision creates another Ant-Man, and suddenly the movie screen is covered in Ant-Men, all wearing the same black and red suit. Except for one single "possibility," a version of Scott who still works at Baskin-Robbins. He even still has a nametag that says "Jack," a reference to Scott lying about his criminal past to get a job serving ice cream.
Although it isn't the most character-driven movie, "Quantumania" still asks some pointed questions about Scott's character: Now that he's famous for saving the world, what does he want to actually do with his life? Although he has a successful memoir, he's spinning his wheels compared to daughter Cassie (a passionate activist) and girlfriend Hope (a humanitarian). Seeing "Jack" in his pink and blue glory is both a fun visual gag during an otherwise intense action sequence, and a reminder for the character that it wasn't that long ago he was an ex-con just trying to make an hourly wage.
5. Randall Park as Jimmy Woo
One of the more heartwarming moments in Scott's opening voice-over is a brief "Quantumania" moment when he's getting lunch with FBI Agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park), who was in charge of keeping him under house arrest in "Ant-Man and the Wasp." It's both exciting to see Jimmy again, and a frustrating waste of a cameo to limit the interaction to such a quick, dialogue free scene. Paul Rudd and Park rank among the most gifted comedic actors in the MCU, so it feels borderline criminal not to let them play off one another.
At least the characters lunching together pays off a funny improvised scene from the last movie. Misunderstanding Jimmy attempting to appear official and menacing by saying "I'll be seeing you," Scott asks if he meant that he wanted to hang out, and an awkward fumbling clarification ensues. With Scott's time under house arrest over, it appears the duo finally did see one another socially.
4. Ruben Rabasa as Ruben
Even though it was given away in the first trailer for "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," Ruben Rabasa's cameo as a coffee shop owner who misidentifies Scott as Spider-Man is still a delightful early moment in the movie. Rabasa became something of a viral sensation when he appeared in an "I Think You Should Leave" sketch. Here, he doesn't scold anyone for not having good car ideas or loving their mother-in-law, but he does offer a humorous reminder that there are multiple superheroes named after bugs.
Ruben brackets the film with a second cameo; later, he's learned that it was actually the other bug-named superhero that patronizes his cafe. Somehow, even though Ant-Man lives in San Francisco, he's much more impressed with the reputation of the New York City-based Spider-Man, because he no longer lets Scott get his coffee for free.
3. Gregg Turkington as Dale the Baskin-Robbins manager
The "Ant-Man" franchise has a history of alternative comedians appearing in small parts. The first two movies had Tim Heidecker ("Tim and Eric"), Tom Kenny ("Spongebob Squarepants"), and Tom Scharpling and Jon Wurster of "The Best Show" fame briefly appear. "Quantumania" continues this tradition by having Gregg Turkington reprise his role from the first "Ant-Man" as Scott's one-time boss at Baskin-Robbins, the corporate drone manager Dale. Despite casually firing Scott when he found out he was an ex-convict in "Ant-Man," two movies later Dale (along with Baskin-Robbins corporate headquarters) have changed their tune and named their former employee-turned-Avenger "Employee of the Century."
Turkington is known in alt comedy circles for appearing in the "On Cinema" series alongside Heidecker, and also for an alternate persona known as "Neil Hamburger." He tours the country as an acerbic, confrontational comedian known primarily for absurdly "bad" jokes. Hamburger is essentially a modern-day version of Andy Kaufman's "Tony Clifton," a caustic character who Kaufman was so committed to that it helped get him fired from "Taxi." Turkington has generally kept his acting career separate from his Neil Hamburger shows, which seems like a better way to end up in major movie franchises on the side.
2. Jonathan Majors as the Council of Kangs
Thus far, MCU alternate characters typically have involved additional actors. "Loki" featured variants that were female and crocodile. John Krasinski played an alternate universe Mr. Fantastic; Spider-Man now has three different actors in the suit. Upcoming MCU storylines, however. have already planted the flag on Jonathan Majors — and only Jonathan Majors — as Kang.
Having already played a key role in the "Loki" finale, he gives the most dynamic performance in "Quantumania," then tops himself by appearing as an untold number of Kang variants in the film's mid-credits scene, as the Council of Kangs meets to discuss how to proceed after the events of the movie.
Viewers get tantalizing glimpses of comic book Kang variants like Immortus and Rama-Tut, and the camera pans over to what appears to be millions of other Kangs assembled in a giant arena. It's fortunate that Majors is so dynamic in this film, because it's clear that he'll be carrying the next few years of an entire universe on his back.
1. Bill Murray as Lord Krylar
For filmgoers, few things are as exciting as a Bill Murray cameo. Even though his presence in "Quantumania" was given away by the actor himself (and then later by the trailers), his work as Lord Krylar of the Quantum Realm was every bit as delightful as his appearance as the mayor of Pawnee in "Parks and Recreation" or as himself in "Zombieland." The value of casting Murray as a character like Lord Krylar, who only appears in one scene of "Quantumania," is that his presence immediately infuses the character with the playful, bemused persona Murray has been perfecting for decades; only an actor of Murray's stature can wield such cinematic shorthand.
Murray manages to capably imply a long history with Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer); there's even a hint that the history may have been romantic, a rare instance of the MCU admitting that people "have needs." In her time away from the Quantum Realm, Krylar has turned on the freedom fighters and joined forces with Kang, but he gets his comeuppance. Although not shown, it is strongly implied that he gets eaten by a Pym-particle-enlarged creature he was just about to eat moments earlier. Murray's one scene in "Quantumania" truly has it all: humor, romance, betrayal, and an implicit advertisement for veganism.