Earlier this morning, leaked promotional artwork for tie-in action figures for Thor and Rocket Raccoon in Avengers 4 was posted online showing both heroes wearing matching new outfits with a smaller image of Captain America wearing a similar outfit also included with the leak.
In addition to the costume change, it indicates many of the surviving heroes from the events of this year's Avengers: Infinity War will join together on a mysterious new mission but also suggests the sleek, futuristic uniforms have a common origin that may hint at the Avengers' secret weapon in defeating Thanos and reversing the devastating loss at the hands of the Mad Titan: Hank Pym and the Quantum Realm.
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The new Avengers costumes resemble the outfits Pym constructed in order to venture into the Quantum Realm and rescue Janet Van Dyne in Ant-Man and The Wasp, worn by Pym himself as well as the film's antagonist Ghost. Earlier fan theories and reports had suggested the Quantum Realm would provide the centerpiece for the Avengers' strategy in their rematch against Thanos but it was unknown in what capacity. The new promotional artwork not only confirms the importance of Pym Tech in the upcoming film but also offers clues on how exactly the scientist's work may play role.
While Pym and his family were among those lost to Thanos' climactic snap at the end of Infinity War, Scott Lang was spared, albeit trapped within the Quantum Realm with no one to extract him. Given that Lang has since been seen in various set photos alongside Captain America and Iron Man, it's a sure bet that the size-changing superhero will escape back to Earth to help his fellow Avengers, though that rescue may perhaps take as long as five years. And while Lang is no scientist himself, his lack of high-tech savvy may not be a huge impediment in reverse-engineering Hank Pym's technology.
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Previously seen in Ant-Man and The Wasp was an entire mobile lab able to join Pym and his associates in the Quantum Realm to give them a base of operations of sorts within the alternate dimension. Stuck in the Quantum Realm with him, Lang would presumably use the lab as a makeshift home and, upon his rescue, the lab would contain enough the technological means for Tony Stark, Bruce Banner and Shuri to decipher Pym's scientific advances.
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The other common theory regarding the Avengers' plan of attack against Thanos heavily involves time travel. While several fan theories have posited that the team somehow recovers the Time Stone from Thanos to make this possible, perhaps the Quantum Realm itself offers an alternate method of traveling back to the past for the MCU. Janet Van Dyne reveals to Pym and Lang that time functions differently within the Realm without providing specifics. She also warns Lang not to get sucked into a time vortex during their attempt to stage their own rescue operation for her.
While just a passing reference in Ant-Man and The Wasp, the time vortices may provide the key for the team to devise a means of traveling throughout the timeline and revisit key points of MCU history involving the Infinity Stones. And the new, Pym tech-based suits would allow Captain America, Thor and Rocket to join Ant-Man on their own size-changing adventures into the Quantum Realm to explore these vortices.
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While it's unclear if fellow surviving Avengers Iron Man, Captain Marvel, War Machine, Black Widow and the Hulk join them, set photos of Tony Stark seemingly traveling to the past would suggest he will undertake his own reality-changing odyssey, while the new Hulk outfit seen in previous leaked concept art may provide the jade giant the means to venture into the Quantum Realm as well.
Infinity War saw the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy bring out the big guns to stop Thanos from using the Infinity Gauntlet and still ultimately resulted in their defeat. With the untold secrets of the Quantum Realm and its reality-bending possibilities, perhaps the true salvation for the fate of the MCU lies in the hands of its smallest, most unassuming hero.Thoguh Scott Lang has been stranded in the Quantum Realm since the events of Ant-Man and The Wasp, the next time he returns to the extra-dimensional world, he may not be alone. And he and the team have Hank Pym to thank for all of that.
The untitled sequel to Avengers: Infinity War will release on May 3, 2019. Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Marvel’s Avengers 4 stars Robert Downey Jr., Josh Brolin, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Olsen, Sebastian Stan, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Bettany, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Benedict Wong, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Holland, and Anthony Mackie.