The MCU is yet to pay off a major Pym Particle tease set up in 2015's Ant-Man. Despite starting out as a low-level burglar, Scott Lang has risen to become one of the Avengers' most important , having the key to time travel in Avengers: Endgame and meeting Kang the Conqueror before anyone else in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. In his first MCU appearance, however, Scott Lang faced more grounded threats such as Darren Cross and, secretly, Hydra.
The MCU's Earth is already acquainted with the vast variety of superpowers, special abilities, and high-tech weaponry that the Avengers and their enemies have brought to the world. Iron Man's suits of armor and Stark technology, the Super Soldier serum, and vibranium are only a few of the Avengers' tools that often become both a blessing and a curse to Earth. Ant-Man and his family have also popularized Pym Particles, but they haven't posed a direct threat to the world because only Hank Pym and Scott Lang's closest allies have used them — or, at least, as far as they know.
Hydra Got Pym Particles In The First Ant-Man Movie
Scott Lang has plenty of reasons to worry about his victory over Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, but there's another previous triumph that may come back to haunt him. In 2015's Ant-Man, undercover Hydra agent Mitchell Carson intended to acquire the Yellowjacket suit from a pre-MODOK Darren Cross, but Cross was too fixated on inflicting pain on Hank Pym and his family, which motivated Scott Lang to fight Cross. Amidst the ensuing battle, Mitchell Carson grabbed a suitcase full of Pym Particles and escaped. Up until the events of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the MCU hasn't acknowledged this event.
How The MCU Can Pay Off Ant-Man’s 2015 Pym Particle Tease
While Hydra is no longer the threat it used to be back in Phases 1 and 2 of the MCU, the missing Pym Particles from Ant-Man can still cause problems later down the line. Surviving Hydra scientists could reverse-engineer Hank Pym's greatest invention — possibly in the same way that Thanos may have reverse-engineered Pym Particles in Avengers: Endgame — and create an army of evil Ant-Men. On a more optimistic note, it's also possible that the missing Pym Particles ended up in benevolent hands, which could result in the birth of a new heroic Ant-Man.
In Marvel Comics, SHIELD agent Eric O'Grady accidentally ends up wearing a state-of-the-art Ant-Man suit, which angers Mitchell Carson, who intended to become the next official Ant-Man. After Eric O'Grady injures Carson, Carson tortures O'Grady and reveals his evil intentions with the suit. Fortunately, Iron Man arrives and saves O'Grady, who keeps the suit and remains active as the Irredeemable Ant-Man. The MCU could adapt Eric O'Grady's story in a future movie, where Scott Lang or Kathryn Newton's Cassie Lang could take Iron Man's role and on the Ant-Man mantle directly to him.
