Marvel’s first official trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania dropped today, mere minutes after slipping through the cracks and leaking online. While fans were over the moon to finally have a first look at the long-awaited threequel, enthusiasm was quickly quelled once they homed in on the trailer’s use of a specific song and the ominous theory it suggests.
Resurrecting the title track from Elton John’s 1973 masterpiece Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, the trailer opens up with a jolly Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) trotting merrily down a busy sidewalk. After learning that his daughter, Cassie Lang, now played by Kathryn Newton, created a deep space satellite that sucked him, Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), and her parents Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) into the quantum realm, we then end on a much more somber note. That of Scott staring into the foreboding eyes of the MCU’s newest villain, Kang the Conqueror.
It wasn’t long before fans started calling out exactly what they believed the use of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” implied. Many are under the impression Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will be Scott Lang’s final MCU outing.
It’s a hard pill to swallow, to be sure, but the use of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” while undeniably sad, is simply the epitome of a chef’s kiss to several others.
The song itself doesn’t carry the message of death in its lyrics, but instead the longing for a simpler time, written by Elton John collaborator Bernie Taupin, who wished he could turn back the hands of time before superstardom took over his and John’s world.
It’s clear the MCU is in the process of tectonic shifts, what with the Young Avengers and Thunderbolts looming in the distance. That being said, it may be a little while longer until we see the departure of our favorite ex-convict, especially since imminent death has been a common theme among the Avengers who still remain post-Endgame, Thor being the first that comes to mind. Similar theories of his untimely passing precluded Thor: Love and Thunder, but the God of Thunder made it out alive, as fans hope Scott Lang will too.
Nevertheless, it’s clear the MCU is gearing up for the climactic ending of Phase Four, of which Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ushers in, and the even more exciting kick-off to Phase Five, of which Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania signals. Times are a’changing over at Marvel. Fans of Ant-Man can only hope Scott Lang will be brought along for the ride.