History Film / AntManAndTheWaspQuantumania

** The Wombats, Scott's friends who have been the primary source of PluckyComicRelief within the Ant-Man movies, are nowhere to be seen throughout ''Quantumania''. In turn, this emphasizes just how big the stakes are for Scott this time around. However, Creator/DavidDastmalchian, who played Kurt, still appears in the film, [[YouLookFamiliar albeit as a different character]].

* FreudianExcuse: When Cassie first realizes who M.O.D.O.K actually is, she briefly looks utterly terrified, cowers behind her dad, and says with fear "the bee guy?" It would seem "having a guy in a bee costume trying to kill her in her bedroom when she was six" as she flippantly commented earlier in the movie affected her more than she let on.

* MesACrowd: Surrounding the core of the enlarged power source to Kang's ship is a "Probability Storm" that multiplies anyone approaching it to [[DuplicateDivergence manifest every choice they could possibly make]]. Acknowledging the duplicates and arguing with them only compounds the effect. Scott almost gets buried under millions of copies before Cassie's plea for him to return galvanizes them into cooperating. Hope enters and experiences the same thing but when she and Scott reunite all their possibilities collapse into one as they work together to shrink Kang's power source.

* SelfDuplication: Near the core of the size-increased power source to Kang's ship, Scott multiplies into millions of alternate selves, which are explained as different possibilities of him for every choice he has made. When Hope comes to Scott's aid, she also generates alternates.

* UnusualUserInterface: The controls to the ships of Kang's forces are two translucent, gelatinous worm like protrusions that envelop the pilot's arms past their elbows to be operated.

** The flashbacks reveal Janet faced one after learning Kang's true colors. Despite this, he still offered to send her back to the point in time she'd entered the Quantum Realm as he'd promised. So, Janet could accept his offer and go home to her loved ones... which would then doom countless timelines and trillions to Kang once he followed her out and resumed his conquests. If Janet chose to sabotage Kang's Chair, neither of them would be getting out of the Quantum Realm -- thereby removing what she thought was the only way home and ensuring she'd never see Hank or Hope again. She chose the latter -- though of course, her sacrifice was ultimately averted once Hank and Scott found the way to safely enter and exit the Quantum Realm in the Present Day.

* YourCheatingHeart: PlayedWith. Janet and Hank have always been HappilyMarried and never stopped loving each other during the time they were forcibly separated. However, both had flings with other people in that 30 years. Hank isn't pleased to find out that Janet had a relationship with Krylar, but eventually relents and understands that his spouse had needs when neither was sure a reunion was possible. Hank eventually confesses that he also had a fling or two as he wasn't even sure Janet was ''alive'' during those 30 years, and says that his heart wasn't really in it as no-one could come close to matching Janet. The fact that Janet came clean, admitted her shame, and has no interest in rekindling things with Krylar is what allows both of them to be honest with each other and avoid any sense of betrayal. Hope, meanwhile, is [[ParentalSexualitySquick grossed out over the frank discussion]].

* {{Polyamory}}: Janet and Hank have always been HappilyMarried and never stopped loving each other during the time they were forcibly separated. However, both had flings with other people in that 30 years and understand that their spouse had needs when neither was sure a reunion was possible. Hank, for his part, says that his heart wasn't really in it as no-one could come close to matching Janet. Hope, meanwhile, is [[ParentalSexualitySquick grossed out over the frank discussion]].

* TookALevelInBadass: Having grown much older since ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'', Cassie is much more active in this movie and gets to become a superheroine in her own right. She not only is able to build a machine that analyzes Quantum energy, but also participates in action scenes with her dad and the the Pym-Van Dyne family in a super-suit of her own. She's also gained a bit of a rebellious streak, getting thrown in lockup in jail ForGreatJustice because she stood up to some PoliceBrutality.

** [[spoiler:Kang and Scott end up duking it hand-to-hand; Scott does his damndest and lasts an impressively long time against the multiversal conqueror, but is simply no match for him. But as Kang prepares to leap through the portal back to Earth and leave Scott there, Hope emerges from it, guns a-blazing, and keeps him on the ropes long enough for Scott to get up so they can defeat him together.]]

** At the end of the film, Scott spiraling into a panic over the idea of Kang coming back is similar to how Tony's fear of another alien invasion coming back to Earth after the events of ''[[Film/TheAvengers2012 The Avengers]]''.

* WholePlotReference: A signal sent between dimensions causes the hero(s) to be unwillingly beamed into another realm where a dictator needs to acquire a technology from them which will enable said dictator to take his massive ship and army with him to other worlds to conquer, and the dictator delivers a speech to his army just before preparing to depart. Consciously or not, ''Quantumania'' has an awful lot in common with ''Film/TronLegacy''.

* GiantEqualsInvincible: [[spoiler:In the climax, Scott attacks Kang's citadel as Giant Man and it takes Kang's entire army to subdue him -- and they barely even scratch him.]] Of course, given this whole scene plays out in [[spoiler:the [[RussianDollWorld Quantum Realm,]]]] it's ambiguous whether he is actually giant, or just ''slightly less microscopic'' than his surroundings.

* GiantEqualsInvincible: [[spoiler:In the climax, Scott attacks Kang's citadel as Giant Man and it takes Kang's entire army to subdue him- and they barely even scratch him.]] Of course, given this whole scene plays out in [[spoiler: the [[RussianDollWorld Quantum Realm,]]]] it's ambiguous whether he was actually giant, or just ''slightly less microscopic'' than his surroundings.

* GiantEqualsInvincible: [[spoiler:In the climax, Scott attacks Kang's citadel as Giant Man and it takes Kang's entire army to subdue him, and they barely even scratch him.]]

* ChekhovsGun: Scott once again brings up his experience of fighting alongside Captain America in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''. During the assault on Kang's citadel, Scott, as Giant-Man, takes a page out of Cap's book and uses the circular top of a building as a shield.

** Scott is named "Employee of the Century" at the Baskin Robbins franchise he was fired from in ''Film/AntMan''.

** After being captured by Kang, Scott muses that this is his fourth time in jail, referencing both ''Film/AntMan'' and ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The film, while it still has moments of levity, is much thinner on humor compared to the [[Film/AntMan previous]] [[Film/AntManAndTheWasp movies]]. There's a greater sense of urgency, [[ShooOutTheClowns comical characters are reduced to momentary cameos or outright don't show up in the film]], and Kang, though FauxAffablyEvil, is an unrelenting, genocidal threat. Considering the fact that Kang is being built up to be the next GreaterScopeVillain for the MCU, the tonal change makes perfect sense -- though introducing him in an ''Ant-Man'' movie was an interesting choice.

* PutOnABus: Nearly all of the supporting cast members of the first two ''Film/AntMan'' movies are cut out of this one. Scott and Cassie mention the latter's mom a few times, but neither Maggie nor Paxton actually appear, and, in a case of ShooOutTheClowns, all three of the Wombats are also absent. [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/ant-man-director-peyton-reed-talks-1235326760/ Justified]] by Peyton Reed, who felt that given the Quantum Realm focus and the size of the sequel's case, there regretfully was no room for them.