Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania kicks Phase 5’s door wide open

The Marvel Cinematic Universe kicks off Phase 5 with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. And although it’s not a groundbreaking movie, it effectively introduces a great new villain: Kang the Conqueror, who will be terrorizing our favorite superheroes for years to come.

Jonathan Majors and Paul Rudd perfectly embody their characters, Kang the Conqueror and Ant-Man, and guide us through what is the most serious Ant-Man movie to date. Yes, we still get the silly, deadpan humor Scott Lang is known for, but the tone overall is surprisingly somber.

Before we dive in, I will say that, to fully understand Kang and his history, it helps to watch the Disney+ show Loki and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. And with that, let’s get to the good stuff. Here’s a SPOILER WARNING: I will discuss the whole movie, including post-credits scenes!

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania review

Quantum worlds, completely separate from our universe and multiverse! Quantum civilizations! Quantum everything! When watching Ant-Man 3, I caught myself thinking this was a Marvel Star Wars movie, and it kind of put me off for a minute.

Much like how movies in Phases 1-3 were all connected by the Infinity Stones, Phase 4 set up the multiverse and Phase 5 will establish Kang the Conqueror as the new threat to all life. It all starts in Quantumania. And what a start it is!

Many have said that Marvel has lost its magic, but I disagree. Now, this was in no way Marvel’s best movie. I enjoyed the movie overall, as I enjoy 99% of MCU movies, but there were definitely some things that left me scratching my head or that I found annoying and unnecessary.

I rate it a 6/10 as a movie, and I put it in my MCU movie ranking as number 23/31.

What’s good in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania?

Quantumania takes the goofiness we love from the Ant-Man franchise and adds a Thanos-level threat to the equation, delivering an excellent albeit imperfect start to the Kang Dynasty arc. Paul Rudd is at his absolute best in this movie. He brings the deadpan humor we all love and turns up the heroism to 11.

Jonathan Major delivers a solid performance as Kang the Conqueror, leaving us terrified of seeing him again. But we know we will be seeing him again, as the first post-credits scene warns us that the Council of Kangs is now coming for Earth 616, wanting revenge for Ant-Man killing Kang the Conqueror. Yes, they want revenge for his killing even when they were the ones who exiled him to the Quantum Realm in the first place.

Speaking of the Council of Kangs, we got to see two, possibly three of its leaders in the mid-credits scene: Rama Tut, Immortus, and a variant who could very well be Scarlet Centurion, even though they do not resemble each other.

Another variant we got to see, this time in the post-credits scene with Loki and Mobius, was Victor Timely. Loki is, understandably, terrified of him, and I wonder if this is a snippet of an actual scene from the second season of Loki.

These will be the four variants to remember; there’s a really good chance we’ll be seeing them again soon. And maybe a Loki appearance in another MCU movie?

M.O.D.O.K. (short for Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing) was an excellent surprise, and very nicely done. His… suit? Mask? Helmet? Whatever the proper term is, it looked good, unlike the CGI for his face. It literally looked like they had just stretched out actor Corey Stoll’s face.

M.O.D.O.K. actually has an arc in this movie. We learn that he used to be an ordinary guy named Darren. Even after he became M.O.D.O.K., he didn’t entirely lose his old personality, and at one point starts to question who he is. M.O.D.O.K. is introduced at a good point in the story. He has a purpose, and his final moments are actually pretty touching.

The bond between Scott Lang and his daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) grows stronger in this movie as they realize they’re not so different from each other. Meanwhile, Scott’s relationship with Hope (Evangeline Lilly) seems to be going well, as well as his relationship with her parents, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer).

The Ant Fam is getting along and becoming a tighter group…except Janet, who has been keeping some big secrets from everyone else. And this is where my issues start.

What’s bad about Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania?

Janet was one of biggest problems with the movie. Michelle Pfeiffer’s acting was really forced and emotionless, even worse than in Ant-Man and the Wasp (it physically hurts to type this as I am usually a big fan of her work). She didn’t sell me a single scene. Everything that goes wrong in this movie is Janet’s fault, and it doesn’t make sense to me. Why would Janet keep Kang a secret, especially after Thanos? Why wouldn’t she tell her own family about it? Janet is apparently a known badass in the Quantum Realm and never told them anything, not even that there’s a multitude of civilizations and life in there. To me, that’s lazy writing, and it’s unforgivable.

I didn’t like how the many civilizations of the Quantum Realm were introduced. With the Quantum Realm being entirely separate from the MCU proper and the rest of the multiverse, I wouldn’t expect there to be any humans present (unless they ended up trapped in there) and nothing that’d resemble anything from our world.

It felt like I was watching a Star Wars movie. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge Star Wars fan, but I wanted to see a Marvel movie, not a bunch of alien species in a bar (insert the Cantina Band song here). I did love Katy O’Brian as Jentorra, though. Freaking queen.

I love Bill Murray. I actually have his autograph safely tucked away in my things. But I just can’t take him seriously when I see him in movies I’d never think I’d see him in, especially one where I’m supposed to be thinking about this destroyer of worlds who’s coming for Earth 616. Murray plays the hedonistic Lord Krylar, and he breaks the immersion for me. Also, he and Michelle Pfeiffer had zero chemistry in their scene together. It was painfully cringey.

Verdict

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Sparta-kicked the door to MCU’s Phase 5 wide open, and introduced a solid, terrifying, and seemingly inescapable villain: Kang and his variants. It had its silly moments, its cringey moments, and its intense moments. But, most importantly, it has started to connect the Phase 4 MCU movies together. This is the beginning of the end of the MCU’s Multiverse Saga.

With Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 coming out in May, it gives us all time to go back and rewatch the movies and try to connect the dots even more. What are you hoping or expecting to see next?

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