REVIEW -- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
REVIEW -- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
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Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a 2023 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the characters Scott Lang / Ant-Man and Hope Pym / Wasp. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the sequel to Ant-Man (2015) and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) and the 31st film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Peyton Reed, written by Jeff Loveness, and stars Paul Rudd as Scott Lang and Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne, alongside Jonathan Majors, Kathryn Newton, David Dastmalchian, Katy O'Brian, William Jackson Harper, Bill Murray, Michelle Pfeiffer, Corey Stoll, and Michael Douglas. In the film, Lang and Van Dyne are transported to the Quantum Realm along with their family and face Kang the Conqueror (Majors).
Plans for a third Ant-Man film were confirmed in November 2019, with Reed and Rudd returning. Loveness was hired by April 2020, with development on the film beginning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The film's title and new cast members were announced in December 2020. Filming in Turkey began in early February 2021, while additional filming occurred in San Francisco in mid-June, ahead of principal photography starting at the end of July at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire and ending in November.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania premiered in Los Angeles on February 6, 2023, and was released in the United States on February 17, 2023, as the first film in Phase Five of the MCU.
Plot
Plot
During her days of entrapment in the Quantum Realm, Janet van Dyne encounters Kang, an exiled traveler who claims that they can both escape from the Quantum Realm if she can help him rebuild his multiversal power core.
In the present day, after the Battle of Earth, Scott Lang has become a successful memoirist and has been living happily with his girlfriend, Hope van Dyne. Scott's now-teenage daughter Cassie has become a political activist, resulting in her spending some time in jail before being bailed out by her father, whom she has become estranged from since he started focusing more on his celebrity than his duties as Ant-Man. While visiting Hope's parents, Hank Pym and Janet, Cassie reveals that she has been working on a device that can make contact with the Quantum Realm. Upon learning of this, Janet panics and forcefully shuts off the device, but the message is received, resulting in a portal that opens and pulls the five of them into the Quantum Realm. Scott and Cassie are found by natives who are rebelling against their ruler, while Hope, Janet, and Hank explore a sprawling city to get answers.
Hope, Janet, and Hank meet with Lord Krylar, a former ally of Janet's, who reveals that things have changed since she left, and that he is now working for Kang, who is now the Quantum Realm's ruler. The three are forced to flee and steal Krylar's ship. The Langs, meanwhile, are told by rebel leader Jentorra that Janet's involvement with Kang is indirectly responsible for his rise to power. The rebels soon come under attack by Kang's forces led by M.O.D.O.K., who is revealed to be Darren Cross, having survived his apparent death at Scott's hands. Aboard Krylar's ship, Janet confesses to Hope and Hank why she wanted nothing to do with the Quantum Realm again; after they managed to repair his power core, Janet saw a vision of Kang conquering and destroying entire timelines. Kang revealed he was exiled by his own variants out of fear, which drove Janet to turn on him. Outmatched, Janet used her Pym Particles to enlarge the power core and render it unusable. Kang eventually conquered the Quantum Realm some time afterward.
The Langs are taken to Kang, who demands that Scott helps get his power core back or else he will kill Cassie. Scott is taken to the core's location and shrinks down. He is nearly drowned in a sea of variants of himself, but Hope arrives and helps him acquire the power core. However, Kang reneges on the deal, capturing Janet and destroying her ship with Hank on it. After being rescued by his ants, who were also pulled into the Quantum Realm, rapidly evolved, and became hyper-intelligent, Hank helps Scott and Hope as they make their way to Kang. Cassie rescues Jentorra and they commence an uprising against Kang and his army. During the fight, Cassie convinces Cross to turn sides and fight Kang, though he sacrifices his life in the process.
Janet fixes the power core as she, Hank, Hope, and Cassie jump through a portal home, but Kang attacks Scott, nearly beating him into submission. Hope returns and, together with Scott, destroy the power core and knock Kang into it, causing him to be pulled into oblivion. Cassie reopens the portal on her end for Scott and Hope to return home. As Scott happily resumes his life, he begins to rethink what he was told about Kang's death being the start of something terrible happening, but brushes it off.
In a mid-credits scene, numerous variants of Kang are concerned by Earth-616's increasing interest in the multiverse and plan their uprising. In a post-credits scene, Loki and Mobius M. Mobius locate another Kang variant, named Victor Timely, on Earth in the 1900s.
Cast
Cast
Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror
Majors also portrays numerous Kang variants within the Council of Kangs including Immortus, Rama-Tut, and Scarlet Centurion, as well as the variant Victor Timely.
The character was previously portrayed as a child by Abby Ryder Fortson in the previous Ant-Man films and as a teenager by Emma Fuhrmann in Endgame.
David Dastmalchian as Veb
Dastmalchian previously portrayed Kurt in the first two Ant-Man films.
Additionally, Randall Park briefly reprises his role as FBI agent Jimmy Woo from previous MCU media, along with Gregg Turkington as Baskin-Robbins store manager Dale from Ant-Man. Ruben Rabasa appears as a coffee shop attendant. A man asking Lang for a picture with his dog is played by Mark Oliver Everett, frontman of the rock band Eels, whose father was quantum physicist Hugh Everett III and the originator of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum theory. The film's post-credits scene features uncredited cameo appearances by Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson, reprising their respective roles as Loki and Mobius M. Mobius from Loki.
The Verdict:
The Verdict:
As usual, I saw this film during it's Thursday afternoon premiere after work before "officially" releasing to the masses that following Friday. For the most part, I thought this film was fine for what it was worth. From a narrative perspective, I was impressed and blown away at exactly how much of this film's total runtime is spent in the Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm has been something that has been referenced and called back to time and time again throughout several Marvel Cinematic Universe projects (especially during the conclusion of the Infinity Saga), so I thought it was more than appropriate that audiences were finally treated to seeing this location in-depth after being told about it for so long without really seeing it. Unfortunately, this is where all of the problems and criticisms on this film start at.
There are a lot of unfair opinions on the usage of CGI in this film, with some viewers and critics saying that aspects of this film look worse than or just as bad as She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. You guys know how I felt about the outlandish claims about the visuals in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and even shared the reasons with the VFX team concerning why it did look "off" in some portions of the show.
I will admit that there was some poor decision making in terms of the lack of lighting in some scenes or the usage (or lack thereof) of colors that makes it extremely hard to follow the action in other scenes since the characters' costumes blend into the environment. Did it ruin my overall experience with the film though? No, it absolutely did not, but I can admit that this film would have benefited from a little more time in post-production to clean-up and sharpen the visuals. The truth has already came out in a recent interview that most of Marvel Studios' VFX team were tasked with working on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever instead of this film, which was deemed more of a higher priority. I laugh at that knowledge when I thought there were a lot of things in that film that looked worse than what people were criticizing visually here.
Overall, I think this film is getting an unfair reception across the board, especially from people who look at Rotten Tomatoes as the go-to measuring stick in terms of a proper evaluation of determining whether or not a feature film is worth watching. Then a lot of people are frowning upon this film because they didn't "get it". A part of me feels like that the film isn't the blame when the this is 31st Marvel Cinematic Universe project and the third film in a trilogy no less, yet there is a section of the viewing audience made the conscious decision not to follow these characters in their other appearances in this shared universe. This is the start of Phase Five. If you are a viewer who hasn't kept up with the story up to this point, then I hate to say it, that's more of personal problem rather than a problem to fault this film on. On one hand, it would not have hurt to offer some sort of a recap at the start of the film following what has happened to the Ant Family up to this point following the events of Ant-Man and the Wasp. Luis would have been perfect in that role. On another, it's not the film's responsibility (nor any medium's) to lead its viewers throughout a narrative as if they cannot think for themselves. I see it all the time across several mediums where audiences will complain about the creators treating them like children and won't allow them to think for themselves when all of the finer details are presented to them in a simplified manner, with the complexities all removed. Then the common complaint becomes, "I have a brain, so I don't need to have my favorite thing (insert medium of choice here: video games, books, anime, comics, film, television, etc.) to treat me like a child as if I can't think on my own and need to held by the hand throughout these experiences/narratives/spectacles." I know people will hate to hear this but you can't have it both ways.
It feels like whenever one of these new MCU projects come out, whether it has been television over on Disney+ or film following the wake of the Infinity Saga, it's met with controversy or widespread notion that this cinematic universe is flawed. Apparently people haven't gotten the memo as they have been watching the MCU since Phase One with rose-tinted goggles on - this has been a flawed cinematic universe from the start. It was built on the foundation of a few passable (read: mediocre, save for the original Ironman film which was the only standout above the rest in Phase One IMHO) superhero origin story films followed by the original Avengers team-up that brought all of those heroes together to close off Phase One. Phase Two was a lackluster effect to follow up what a tactical nuke of surging popularity for the Marvel brand under Disney's umbrella, except for an excellent sequel (specifically Captain America: The Winter Soldier that is still my personal pick for the MCU's best film to date) and risky gambles with both Guardians of the Galaxy and the orignal Ant-Man. This phase also ended with another Avengers team-up with Avengers: Age of Ultron.
The more I think about that film, the more I can compare Ultron to Kang in this film if I could go on a bit of a sidebar tangent briefly. Both Ultron and Kang were two major Avengers villains that were staples from the comics that comic book fans were excited to see in live-action, but when their live-action debuts finally came up in the MCU, both hardcore comic book fans and casual fans were left feeling both underwhelmed and disappointed from how these villains were handed. Ultron was merely another excuse for one of these films to have a major villain commanding an army of disposable, easily forgettable lackeys and henchmen (much like the Chitauri in Avengers) that the Avengers could toss around for a CGI spectacle. Kang the Conqueror essentially does the same thing in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. He commands an army of literal faceless soldiers and the film culminates into a huge CGI battle with the titular heroes facing off his army. Ultron talks a big game but never comes across as a major threat in that film except for when he was ready to drop an entire city onto an unsuspecting populace. Kang's threat is marginalized to most casual viewers as he doesn't do anything that is threatening in this film. To casual fans, all of this hype that this new villain that they have never seen before who is being told to them that this guy is going to be the next Thanos-level threat has gone out of the window, especially when they see him bested by not only an army of (future) ants and then later Ant-Man/Scott Lang himself during the film's climax. In that regard, this film didn't do the Multiverse Saga any favors. The MCU has gone into this pattern of hyping up a new big bad only for that major comic book villain (who is typically a big deal in the source material) ends up being nothing to sneeze at in their onscreen debut - at least to the casual viewers. Fortunately for Ultron, he would get his proper representation as a force to be reckoned with as the main antagonist in the first season of Marvel's What If..? It's a shame that one of Marvel Studios' animated projects had to do damage control in terms of how that character was marginalized in his only live-action appearance. In the case of Kang, I'm highly optimistic in what he will be capable of in his future appearances in this continuity.
Let's get back on track... Phase Three would conclude with the formal introduction of Thanos with the villain being essentially the main character in Avengers: Infinity War as he is on his quest to obtain all of the Infinity Stones. He succeeds in his mission, despite running into some roadblocks from both the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy on multiple fronts and battlefields. Their efforts prove to be fruitless as Thanos wipes out half of all life in the universe with a snap of his fingers with the power of the Infinity Gauntlet and the six Infinity Stones housed within it and they were powerless to watch those individuals fade away as they were rendered to dust. Note that the events of Ant-Man and the Wasp take place either simultaneously or shortly before that film as the ending saw Hank Pym, Janet van Dyne, and Hope van Dyne all get dusted while Scott Lang was trapped within the Quantum Realm. Avengers: Endgame saw the Avengers attempt to avenge their fallen allies, only to come to the realization that there's no way to bring anyone back to life after Thanos used the Infinity Stones to destroy the Stones, thus preventing anyone from undoing his life's work. The Avengers, like the rest of the world, were left to live with their failure(s) until Scott Lang (after a freak accident released him from the Quantum Realm) devised a plan to use the Quantum Realm to go back in time to acquire the Stones again and reverse what Thanos had done. This plan works, but without hiccups as their time travel meddling allows a past version of Thanos to come to the present day to obtain the Stones as well. Tony Stark/Ironman sacrifices his own life to use the Stones to snap Thanos out of existence with the rest of his forces. After all of that played out, there's a lot of people who consider that to be the conclusion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe right there as there's no conceivable way that they could reach those heights of storytelling again, despite Endgame having it's share of faults considering in how it uses and explains time travel. For Christ's sake, the Avengers were getting their asses kicked by a Thanos who didn't even have any of the Infinity Stones in Avengers: Endgame for as much sense that made in hindsight for as much we would like to sugar coat that fact (i.e. most of the core Avengers being out of practice/fighting shape, Thanos being more desperate/hungry for victory, etc.) but yet it's such a detriment to this film that this version of Kang the Conqueror was "defeated" by Ant-Man? I went on a long enough tangent about the problems in Avengers: Endgame in that review to clearly acknowledge that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been flawed for quite some time.
Characters:
Characters:
Scott Lang / Ant-Man
(Paul Rudd)
Scott Lang / Ant-Man
(Paul Rudd)
After everything that has transpired in the Infinity Saga, Scott Lang is largely unchanged as a character. He's still an upbeat guy (basically an "everyman" than anyone can identify with) who just wants to do the best for his daughter. Let's not forget how much time Scott has lost while being stuck in the Quantum Realm following the events of Ant-Man and the Wasp until he escaped that prison during the events of Avengers: Endgame. Cassie Lang grew up during those five years after the Snap and Scott is never going to get that time back with his daughter (coupled with the five years that he spent in jail prior to that at the start of the original Ant-Man film), which was mere minutes for him in the Quantum Realm. Scott worked with the remaining Avengers to pull off the time heist and bring everyone back to life with the Infinity Stones, but his life didn't change too much after that. He wrote an autobiography of his exploits, becoming a bit of a local celebrity as a result, but he pretty much stayed off the radar in terms of heroic exploits. It's ironic that Scott's book talks about "helping out the little guys" but Scott hasn't been doing much to reflect that in terms of any heroism. That's where he and the now teenage Cassie have begun butting heads. She wants to be a hero like her father while at the same time, she wants him to continue doing something to help people, especially when he has the means to do so. Scott has seen the horrors first hand what this life leads to. He saw heroes die, sacrificing their lives without a second thought, fighting Thanos in the climax of the Infinity Saga, so naturally, he wants to protect his only daughter from following in his footsteps in terms of becoming a costume hero. On the surface, it comes across as your clichéd overprotective father trope (and it is), but on top of that, it's adding onto the themes of legacy and psychological trauma that these tenured heroes have been dealing with that were brought up in Phase Four.
It's still maddening to me that there's still people out there that are convinced that Phase Four didn't have a point. Just because they didn't end with a big team-up/crossover film doesn't mean that Phase Four didn't have a purpose. Phase Four was about legacy, issues of identity (self-discovery, self-worth, and acceptance), and most importantly, processing the overall trauma following the events of the Infinity Saga as a whole. Phase Four was about painting the picture that a lot of these characters, mostly all human beings are psychologically damaged individuals and those wounds aren't just going to go away until they are properly addressed and explored. We already seen damaged people like the Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff ultimately destroyed by her own grief and trauma. Shuri almost became the thing that her beloved brother fought against in the wake of her mourning and would have destroyed her home from the war that followed. Peter Parker/Spider-Man erased his identity not just from the entire world, but from the entire Multiverse, just to save the world - sacrificing everything he had left following his questionable decisions that led to tampering with the Multiverse in the first place. This film dips its toe in terms of having Scott Lang coming to terms with how much precious time that he has lost with his daughter. She has been growing up in this terrifying world that he has had a hand in protecting on multiple occasions, but is gun shy about having her follow in his footsteps. In a weird way, Scott Lang is like Kang the Conqueror in a sense as he understands the value of time after losing so much of it in his life thus far in the MCU. Unlike Kang, Scott cherishes and values it instead of wanting to manipulate and bend it to his will.
The events of this film forces Scott's hand in a sense as he has to literally help the little guys of the Quantum Realm against the tyranny of Kang the Conqueror. I've seen people tear this film apart merely on the notion that Scott Lang isn't a serious enough of a character to face Kang, who is being obviously set up as the next Thanos-level threat in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If we're going by seriousness, what about Spider-Man who always manages to find a reason to quip and trade banter with whoever and whatever danger he is facing on that particular day of the week? I don't have a problem with Scott being the first one to encounter Kang as it forces Scott Lang into unfamiliar territory and it creates a complete tonal shift for this film. Scott can't joke his way through this ordeal. Kang challenges Scott in a manner where he can't approach this problem like he always does. Kang is a foe that challenged Scott physically and mentally to the limit of his abilities. Even when this film is over and they are back home, he's left still questioning whether or not that he did the right thing.
Kang the Conqueror
(Jonathan Majors)
Kang the Conqueror
(Jonathan Majors)
Following the debut appearance of Jonathan Majors' He Who Remains in Loki, Kang the Conqueror really had a lot to live up to, especially when he is being billed and presented as the next major antagonist on the same tier as Thanos in the Infinity Saga.
I appreciated that Kang was presented here as a character whose journey parallels a lot of the Ant-family's own, whereas he has grown to cherish and value the importance of time, especially after having it robbed from him in his life. The difference being that Kang wants to weaponize this instrument that has been devised as a prison for him to control and conquer just one timeline but all timelines across the Multiverse. He sees time as a tool to be exploited as he sees fit.
I think a lot of viewers are underestimating the potential of this character after this single appearance since he was bested by the combined efforts of Ant-Man, Wasp, and Stature - along with their allies (Hank Pym, Janet van Dyne, the future ants, a reformed M.O.D.O.K., and the Freedom Fighters). I'm personally not sure if this is the right Kang that we should be afraid of. Sure, he's the one that the Council of Kangs exiled in the Quantum Realm, but who says that he's the most powerful variant at this moment in time? Then there's the matter of Kang constantly mentioning throughout this film to multiple characters that their perception of time is wrong.
I personally can't get the image of him showing Janet the timeline with multiple branches on it's path, but there's on major difference on this display in comparison to what He Who Remains showed Loki and Sylvie in the season one finale of Loki - Kang the Conqueror's timeline is in a CIRCLE instead of in a flat straight line as shown throughout that series. Who says that this is even the right timeline that he's supposed to be in or even if this is the end of his story at all? We could be watching a Kang variant in this film who was already defeated by the Avengers in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and the Council of Kangs exiled him there as a result of his failures before taking matters into their own hands. I don't even think Kang is "dead" at all, but instead, he's looping back to the start of his exile upon every defeat, forced to continue reliving these "mistakes" over and over again until he properly escapes back into the Multiverse. That's when we will see the unstoppable Kang the Conqueror that will require an Avengers team-up to stop him and his army of variants.
Sadly, I got ahead of myself there in terms of theorizing. Let's go back to Kang's origin that was revealed in this film. He describes himself as a scientist that stranded here in the Quantum Realm at the same time that Janet van Dyne was stranded there. They work together to attempt to put his ship back together after several failed experiments until Janet was able to get his power core to start working again. Since his ship has a neutral-link interface, she was able to see a vision from Kang's mind that showed him conquering and destroying entire timelines. Kang reveals to her that he was exiled by his own variants fearing him and now he had the means to escape this prison that they have constructed for him. I like to think that his variants were smart enough to know that just exiling him to the Quantum Realm wasn't enough to keep him out of their way. I honestly think that Kang's true prison is an infinite time loop, where he is forced to play out these events in this timeline over and over again. This would explain why Kang is so adamant to get the Multiversal Power Core restored to escape the Quantum Realm. He could escape not just the Quantum Realm, but this timeline as a whole and escape into the Multiverse, where the army that he has amassed in the Quantum Realm would be a pivotal piece in conquering alternate timelines and other universes as a whole.
Let's not forget the fact that Kang was only granted a faction of his power, namely his advanced, futuristic armor only after Janet restored his power core. In the few action scenes that Kang actively participated in, I found his armor to be eerily similar to Ironman/Tony Stark's own, even down to a similar sound effect for his blasters that sounded like Ironman's repulsors. I know that SFX definitely wasn't a coincidence either.
Since I know that I'm going to get this question from a few of my readers/followers, I'll chime in with my thoughts concerning Kang and Scott's battle here. Of course, I don't think Kang is dead and not by a long shot either. Scott Lang has every right to be worried in the final moments of this film. We saw Kang's body disappear after making contact with his Multiversal Power Core, but who said he was "dead"? As far as we know, he got exactly what he wanted. The instability of the power core could have had him merge with its essence, giving him the power to manipulate time and travel the Multiverse as he sees fit. Scott thought he was laying his body on the line to make sure that Kang "loses" along with him, but I think a lot of people are failing to see the bigger picture here. Even if Scott died fighting Kang there, what purpose would him being a martyr would have done? It would have been a noble sacrifice, yes, but at the same time, Kang could have probably used whatever Pym particles was left in his Ant-Man suit and repaired the damage to his Multiversal Power Core anyway. Going into this film, I was convinced that this film was going to kill off Scott Lang from the tone of the trailers, especially when Kang taunted him with the line, "Did you really think you could win?" After seeing this moment play out in the finale, I have to admit that I was a tad disappointed while watching it in the theater at the time. Now that I've had time to reflect on this, I have to come to terms with respecting the writers' decision NOT to kill Scott Lang at this time. The common majority mindset has adamantly expressed their dissatisfaction with the lack of weight to Kang's actions in this film. Whenever Kang comes back, I think his first act of aggression will be to kill Scott Lang and remedy his previous "mistake". That's going to be the shocking moment that will show audiences that this guy means business... following the thrashing he will more likely give Thor too after that line about asking whether or not Scott Lang was the one with the hammer. Kang is more likely getting his timelines crossed from how many times he's been stuck in exile. I wouldn't have any problems with Thor getting his ass kicked in a similar show of force like how Thanos thoroughly beat the Hulk at the start of Avengers: Infinity War. Here's the kicker on having Kang the Conqueror kill Scott Lang in a future confrontation: Kang would essentially take the one thing above all else that Scott cherishes having left with Cassie - time. Killing Scott would rob him of all of that - no more time with Cassie, Hope, or anyone else he holds dear in his life. I could easily see Kang mocking him afterwards, "Is that the best you could with the time I granted you to enjoy the remainder of your days?"
I know, I know. I'm going a little overboard with my fanboy theorizing here, but I can't help it with the introduction of Kang the Conqueror. The possibilities are endless here with both time travel and the Multiverse in play.
Cassie Lang / Stature
(Kathryn Newton)
Cassie Lang / Stature
(Kathryn Newton)
I should mention that Cassie Lang is never officially given the moniker of "Stature" in this film, it's just that what I knew her as in the comics and once I saw her go "Giant-Sized" in this, I was going to keep calling her Stature. Kathryn Newton replaces Emma Fuhrmann from Avengers: Endgame as the character. I personally didn't have any problems with Kathryn Newton in this role as I honestly couldn't tell the difference in the years that followed from that last film. Besides, I'm guessing that they wanted to go with a more established actress for this third outing in this trilogy and for Cassie's future appearances in the MCU.
Let's be honest here, Marvel Studios is obviously planning and setting up a Young Avengers movie for some point in the very near future or they would not have gone out of their way to introduce so many younger heroes in such a short time frame - Kate Bishop (Hawkeye II), Yelena Belova (Black Widow II), America Chavez, Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan, Kareem/Red Dagger (Kamala's unofficial "sidekick" in her Disney+ series), Elijah Bradley/Patriot (teenage grandson to Isisah Bradley in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), Maya Lopez/Echo, Skaar (Hulk's Sakaarian son) and Riri Williams/Ironheart to name a few. Cassie Lang will obviously be part of whatever team-up they have in store for these younger, legacy heroes down the road.
For those wondering whether or not Cassie would be a "Mary Sue" in this film in terms of her ability to tackle the new challenges of being a costumed heroine, you can set those fears aside. While Cassie is naturally curious about Pym's technology and works with him to dabble with her own experiments and what not, she doesn't take to using the Ant-Man-style technology easily in practice once she has to use it herself in the Quantum Realm. I found it to be a small call back to Scott's on hurdles to learning how to use the technology in the first Ant-Man film while he was training with Hank and Hope. This film didn't have the benefit of spending time on a montage like Scott Lang had to learn how to use the Ant-Man suit and powers properly. Cassie had some on-the-job training in this film, but I wouldn't be surprised if Hank gave her some pointers during their sessions comparing notes and building that quantum telescope/beacon. If you ask me, Hope was more of a Mary Sue in that regard, but to her credit, she had her entire life to master the same technology and become proficient at something that her father didn't want her using in the first place out of fear of losing her like he did her mother. Hope trained herself with it out of spite in that regard. Cassie comes across as more technologically sound in terms of learning and adapting the Ant-Man technology to make it work how it benefits her in the situation at hand. Scott always comes across as he's just goofing around to see how far he could take it in terms of making it work, then being surprised that his goofing off actually paid off instead of killing him or horribly disfiguring him. I tend to forget at times that Scott Lang is actually a skilled engineer, so there is actually a brain between those ears.
I felt that her and Scott's conflict is resolved a little too quickly in this film. Cassie's tampering with the Quantum Realm drags them all down there in the first place, thanks to M.O.D.O.K. piggybacking off her signal to map the Quantum Realm. Her gripes with her father being hesitant to "help the little guys" are magnified when Kang has taken over this world by force and he's ready to merely pack it up and go back home since he clearly specifies that "this isn't our fight". Even when Cassie reveals that she has made her own Ant-Man suit and takes part in the action (contributing to her hipster/environmentalist//activist-like antics that landed her in jail at the start of the film), Scott merely scolds her briefly before going along with it. It's not until they were both captured by M.O.D.O.K. and held prisoner by Kang that she saw the gravity of her own actions and why her father was so adamant and hesitant about leading her into this life of heroism.
What's admirable about Cassie's character is the fact that she witnesses firsthand how powerful and terrifying that Kang is but she doesn't back down for an instant to stand up against him. That's not the signs of a Mary Sue, that's the strength of courage in a hero. Much like a lot of these other younger heroes that the MCU has been introducing as of late, she's developed her own world-view from her experiences from living in this world and deciding on her own to do something to help make it a better place. It's no surprise that she's taken to being an activist in her personal life. She's seen the horrors that came to this world in a post-Snap environment. She doesn't want to sit idly by while so many people do nothing, despite having the power to do so. Much like her father before her, she wants to have a hands-on approach to molding the future for the better. I think that's why she resonates with the Freedom Fighters' cause so quickly. She sees people being treated unfairly and immediately wants to help - throwing caution to the wind in order to do the right thing. That's a trait she obviously gets from her father, but finds herself butting heads with him about that very reckless behavior as he has come to recognize that all of their actions have consequences.
(Laughs) I can easily see Cassie's "Don't be a dick" line getting some marketing for some merchandise down the road once more people see this film. That phrase is just dying to be all over some T-shirts and other merchandise.
Hope van Dyne / Wasp
(Evangeline Lilly)
Hope van Dyne / Wasp
(Evangeline Lilly)
Out of all of the ensemble actors that have returned or have made their debuts in this film, I felt that Hope van Dyne had drawn the short straw in terms of least amount of screentime and contribution to this story. Evangeline Lilly's own real life controversy during the COVID-19 pandemic didn't do her any favors it seems as her presence was reduced in this film out of fear of potential backlash over her views and protests against vaccines mandates and her own shared photos attending anti-vaxx rallies. I don't know if she's ever contracted COVID-19 or something, but she definitely doesn't look as lively as she did in the first two films. It was the point where it was borderline disturbing to me while watching this film and seeing her in assorted interviews promoting the film. Is Evangeline Lilly sick or something? If I may add, cutting off all of her hair isn't doing her cause any favors either.
I know that some people will read that and think that it wasn't "fair" that Gina Carano (formerly Cara Dune in The Mandalorian) was fired from her Disney related projects completely from her stance on that matter, but much like Letitia Wright (Shuri in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Marvel Studios weren't so quick to pull the trigger on giving her the boot. Keep in mind that this is the same company that didn't fire James Gunn following his controversy a while back, so keep that in mind. I guess Marvel Studios rather just give your character next to nothing to do in their next appearance rather than fire you outright as that's a lesser headache to navigate when you have a cinematic universe to maintain.
Hope spends most of this film reacting to what most of the other cast members are doing instead of having her own arc nor character development of her own. I did think it was pretty cool that she's turned Pym Technologies into a philanthropic corporation that solves some of the world's problems, such as world hunger with Pym particles.
It seemed that Hope and Scott have settled into a relationship of sorts, but the film never explicitly goes into detail about it. It just comes down to Cassie spending time with her "foster" or rather step-grandparents in Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne while Hope van Dyne is a bit of a step-mother to Cassie as evidenced during the early moments of the film after Scott bailed Cassie out of jail. Once again, I'm reading between the lines a bit concerning all of this since Cassie seems to respect Hope's authority more than Scott's at that point of the film.
That being said, Hope hasn't lost her proficiency in combat in the least as she is still the capable bad ass that she was in her previous MCU outings. She even manages to save Scott's ass in the final battle against Kang. Hope definitely feels something for Scott as she was willing to be trapped in the Quantum Realm forever with him if it meant that they could stop Kang for good.
Her final contribution in the final battle against Kang felt like a "gimme" just to give her something to do, but doesn't change how her character feels like she's just "there" in this film. To say that this film is called "Ant-Man and the Wasp", it's more about Michelle Pfeiffer's Wasp than Hope van Dyne's own. We're into roughly four appearances of this character and I still couldn't tell you much about her other than being Hank Pym's head-strong, highly independent and very capable daughter. Sad but true.
Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes' Wasp (Janet van Dyne) was so entertaining and just a ball of charisma in that animated series. There's moments where Evangeline Lilly's version of the Wasp feels like the complete opposite, a complete, utter charisma vacuum.
I can't speak for anyone else, but I have all but completely given up that we would get as a great version of the Wasp as the one in Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (voiced by Colleen O'Shaughnessey) in this continuty. It saddens me that Marvel Studios doesn't give this character a bigger role and better yet more love and appreciation in this continuity, especially when in the comics she's the one that gives the Avengers their team name in the first place. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there's a version of Wasp out there in the Multiverse that would compare more to that beloved version rather than Evangeline Lilly's Wasp.
Hank Pym / Ant-Man (original)
(Michael Douglas)
Hank Pym / Ant-Man (original)
(Michael Douglas)
This film sees a much more mellowed out Hank Pym in this film. He's not the cranky old man that we see in the first two Ant-Man films. He's mostly mellowed out, now that he's gotten his wife back and seeing his daughter happy with Scott Lang, who has saved the world using his patented Pym technology. He knows that the future of his technology and its applications is in good hands with Scott Lang, or better yet, with his daughter, Cassie Lang. It's revealed early on that Cassie has been picking Hank's brain concerning his technology and wanting to know more about it after studying his research.
The more that I think about it, Kang's downfall in this film is more tributed to the original Ant-Man and Wasp instead of the modern day incarnation. No disrespect to both Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne, but they were vastly outmatched when they confronted Kang. Hank Pym took the indirect approach (much like his counterpart in Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes), strategizing with his ants who gained sentience and developed their own advanced technology from their time in the Quantum Realm that sped up their evolutionary progression by thousands of years. When Hank showed up with this army of future ants in the film's climax, Kang and his forces were easily outmatched. To Kang's credit, he put up a good fight against them on his own, but M.O.D.O.K.'s kamikaze attack brought down the remainder of his defensive shields, allowing the ants to start mauling through his futuristic armor.
(Laughs) I think it's rather concerning that Hank Pym introduced this new element into the Quantum Realm without thinking about whatever future consequences could be to that act without considering the possibilities of these future ants filling the void that Kang left behind in terms of tyrannical behavior. What chance would the Freedom Fighters and the rest of the inhabitants of the Quantum Realm have against those futuristic ants? It's even more terrifying once you consider if they take Kang's leftover technology and adapt it into their own. That's the threat the Avengers should be worried about on a lot of levels, but I'm sure that it's going to be chalked up as a joke down the line, much like that joke about Ant-Man should've shrunk down, gone up Thanos' butt, and explode his brain to defeat him in Avengers: Endgame.
Hank Pym was rather forgiving of Janet van Dyne's fling with Lord Krylar after revealing that he went on a few dates with a woman named Linda. The only Marvel Comics character that comes to mind when he said that was Linda Carter, the original Night Nurse. That name shouldn't be confused with Wonder Woman actress, Lynda Carter, as Linda Carter was created by Stan Lee and Al Hartley in 1961's Linda Carter, Student Nurse #1. This was one of Marvel Comics' first female-led titles that would follow Linda's slice-of-life adventures as a medical student and registered nurse at New York's Metro-General Hospital. Her exploits had nothing to do with Marvel's blossoming superhero franchise until she was rescued by a superhero and inspired to adopt the moniker of "Night Nurse." In the role, she provided secret medical care for a number of heroes, and later became a love interest of Doctor Strange.
Linda Carter AKA Night Nurse, the star of Marvel's first female-led comics, is who Hank could have been referring to when he mentioned a particular Linda that he went on several dates on.
While Linda and Hank Pym have rarely interacted in the pages of Marvel Comics, they did debut around the same time, with Pym arriving just a year after Linda in Tales of Astonish #27. With that in mind, it would be definitely be unique connection for Linda Carter to be the Linda that Hank dated at some point from 1987 onward. Sure, it might not completely change the MCU, but it would be a charming acknowledgement of Marvel's history in the process. (Comicbook.com)
Janet van Dyne / Wasp (original)
(Michelle Pfeiffer)
Janet van Dyne / Wasp (original)
(Michelle Pfeiffer)
After the revelations revealed about Janet van Dyne in this film, I don't know whether to call her a horrible mother/wife or to just call her a horrible heroine in general. To her credit, Michelle Pfeiffer's Janet van Dyne gets a LOT of screen time in this film.
The biggest revelation in this story is Janet is indirectly responsible for Kang's rise to power in the Quantum Realm. Janet reveals that she sabotaged Kang's power core once she saw his true plans by making it unstable with Pym particles. The device was in a constant flux of enlargement/shrinkage and out of Kang's means to use with his ship. Without more Pym particles, he would be unable to restore it back to its original state. In that aspect, I can understand why Janet wanted absolutely nothing to do with the Quantum Realm after she was able to escape. As long as Kang didn't have access to any Pym particles, he couldn't restore his power core so he was trapped and permanently exiled in the Quantum Realm. Janet had no desires of ever returning to the Quantum Realm, so everything that she left behind there was out of sight, out of mind. When Cassie's experiment went awry and dragged them all back into the Quantum Realm, I can imagine that being back there was like walking back into a nightmare. The thing I don't understand is why didn't she tell her family that all of this transpired. For crying out loud, they worked together with the Avengers to stop a galactic tyrant dead set on destroying all creation to obtain the Infinity Stones. That's what the Avengers do is stop guys like Kang. It would not have hurt to let them know what is lurking down there and what could potentially threaten their lives again if it got out.
On second thought, if we go back down the rabbit hole in terms of Phase Four's themes concerning these heroes dealing with aftermath of the traumatic experiences that they faced during the Infinity Saga, I can easily give Janet's actions a pass. Her coming home and not speaking about what happened in the Quantum Realm is the equivalent of soldiers who have come home from fighting in the war(s) not wanting to relive nor recount those traumatic events. Let's not forget that Janet blames herself for helping Kang restore even a portion of his advanced technology, hence contributing to a pivotal component to his rise to power as a tyrant over the Quantum Realm.
The film also missed an opportunity to have a conflict that would have had the Ant family not see eye-to-eye. I thought the film was building up to this when they split Scott and Cassie Lang into one group while Hank Pym, Janet van Dyne, and Hope van Dyne were in another while in the Quantum Realm. Kang had already blackmailed Scott into retrieving and restoring his power core in order to save Cassie's life. Scott knew how dangerous this man was yet went along with his plans anyway. The missed opportunity came at the moment where Scott had the power core and Janet came between Kang and Scott when he was about to hand over the power core. There was no way that Janet would have known that Cassie was being held hostage by Kang and M.O.D.O.K. so why would Scott have gone along with Janet after she's been keeping this secret about Kang's existence from the rest of the Ant-Family up to this point. Kang said it himself, this woman hasn't told them the truth about him. Janet's reservations about keeping this massive threat to the Multiverse a secret is something that should have had a bigger dynamic/shake-up to the Ant-Family. It's brushed under the rug as quickly as Janet's "fling" with Lord Krylar.
Janet got all of this screen time in this film, but I thought it was a missed opportunity that Marvel Studios didn't explain what "changed" Janet during her time in the Quantum Realm. We know now what happened in terms of experiences now with Kang but from the way that she was acting at the end of Ant-Man and the Wasp, that some sort of physical change happened to her. They can't just hand wave that aspect away either as Janet was able to physically "heal" Ghost's character from being torn from realities. I guess it's safe to assume that she "used up" all of that power repairing Ghost's unstable form to this plane of reality since her, Hank, and Hope sent Scott back into the Quantum Realm (not too deep, mind you...) to gather the quantum energy to help continue healing Ghost at the end of the previous Ant-Man film. That brings up a bigger question. Are Scott, Cassie, Hope, and Hank all now going to manifest additional abilities after their time in the Quantum Realm too?
I can answer my own question to some extent thanks to official information explaining Janet's powers online. Janet was in the Quantum Realm for three decades and developed the means to manipulate quantum energy around her to shape herself and remain stable to order to survive in the realm without substance. After absorbing quantum energies at an unprecedented rate, Janet is able to manipulate the structure of living organisms on the sub-atomic level and prevent them from experiencing quantum displacement; she could also reverse existing quantum displacement, as she did for Ghost. Additionally, she was able to remove the hallucinogenic effects of the Quantum Realm, as she did for Hank Pym (Fandom).
By that logic, Hank, Scott, Cassie, and Hope were all in the Quantum Realm for a few hours to a day at the most (unless you count the five years that Scott Lang spent there following the events of Avengers: Infinity War until he was released in Avengers: Endgame), so they wouldn't have had the time there to be exposed to quantum energy to the degree that Janet has. That still doesn't answer the question of why didn't Cassie, Scott, and Hope all didn't experience any sort of hallucinations while in the Quantum Realm. It might be safe to assume that whatever was in those beverages that they consumed to understand the spoken languages there had a hand in that, but who knows...
Darren Cross / Yellowjacket / M.O.D.O.K. (Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)
(Corey Stoll)
Darren Cross / Yellowjacket / M.O.D.O.K. (Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)
(Corey Stoll)
After all of these years of expressing my gripes with the Marvel Cinematic Universe making their villains as disposable as toilet paper, I'm glad to see that they found a means to repurpose one of their previously killed off villains. Darren Cross/Yellowjacket was thought to be dead after being shrunk down to a subatomic level at the end of the original Ant-Man film, but his body was found by Kang and he was repurposed into the Mental Organism Design Only for Killing (M.O.D.O.K.) in this continuity. I thought that was a clever reuse of this villain instead of going with a brand new (probably comic book accurate) origin story for him, but at the same time, this continuity already wasted the Advanced Idea Mechanic (A.I.M.) in Ironman 3 to groan-inducing results, so I was fine with this new origin story.
I can see where some fans are coming from concerning the fact that M.O.D.O.K. could have been the featured villain for this film on his own, with Kang the Conqueror merely overseeing his actions, much like Thanos monitoring Loki and Ronan the Accuser's schemes. M.O.D.O.K. could have easily taken over the Quantum Realm on his own with some makeshift faceless army in the same manner as Kang's soldiers here or the Chitauri in the original Avengers.
At the same time, I think a lot of viewers are missing the point about M.O.D.O.K. as a whole. He's always supposed to be silly. He's a giant head with baby arms flying around in a mechanical chair.
M.O.D.O.K. disguising himself in a goddamn babystroller to hopes to catch Ironman off-guard was laughably bad.
Unlike most people, I wasn't mortified and disgusted at M.O.D.O.K.'s meme-worthy face underneath his helmet. I busted out laughing, like a lot of people in the Thursday night premiere screening I attended and didn't think much else of it. Mind you, I'm used to seeing this character depicted as a goof and as comic relief after his appearances in Hulu's M.O.D.O.K. stop-motion animated series and his appearances on the Marvel Super Hero Squad cartoon prior to that. Even in the comics, he's had his laughable moments, so I don't get why so many people are acting like this iteration of that character was such a massive "disservice" and travesty to this film. Even when you bring up the details of his CGI, it's not that bad.
I think it's more of an issue from using actor Corey Stoll as a base for the face rather than the model itself. He's already bald, so they couldn't give him any distinguishing hair and Stoll doesn't have a menacing face in the least either, so I can understand their choice to cover it up with the faceplate/helmet during action scenes.
While we're on the subject of CGI, I think a lot of comic book fans and not just the ones who are EXTREMELY anal about every detail of these films and television shows need to chill the fuck out. They are creating this unnecessary notion of perfection for the visuals that no one is going to be able to maintain and none of the VFX studios that they commission this work to aren't going to be able to deliver if the workloads and expectations are more costly and more extensive than they can afford the manpower to create within a shorter window for release. I have to wonder exactly how many of these people actually do any VFX or 3D rendering work and are aware of how time consuming that type of work is. Then a lot of it is trial and error. None of it is perfect in just one attempt. It's NEVER that easy, so in that regard I always try to cut Marvel Studios some slack in their works in that aspect.
Marvel's short-lived M.O.D.O.K. animated series from Hulu.
The fact that M.O.D.O.K.'s short-lived show on Hulu is all of the proof that you need to know that people don't take that character seriously if some of his other previous animated appearances weren't enough proof.
For me personally, I had a bigger issue with Darren Cross/M.O.D.O.K.'s redemption arc more than how he looked visually. Was that really even necessary? Scott Lang's actions deformed and crippled his body to the abnormal state that he is now. He doesn't owe Scott nor Cassie anything, especially after that psychologically scarring experience Ant-Man and Yellowjacket's battle had on Cassie's young mind at the time. I have grown annoyed with this notion in a lot of modern American stories that has to give villains redeeming qualities. This isn't an episode of the Naruto anime where every villain has to have some redeeming qualities or a fucked up backstory to make the viewers feel sorry for them. There's nothing wrong with having villains who just want to see the world burn. A lot of modern pop culture media needs to stop feeding into this idea that every person has redeemable qualities and they can be reformed to do good. One good decision in a life of malign deeds and actions isn't going to change anyone's opinion of said person. It is even less effective when that character is killed off like Darren Cross here. Sure, it brought Cross' story around full circle, but was anyone pining to see more of him after the original Ant-Man film? He came across as an almagation of Obidiah Stane (Ironman) and Justin Hammer (Ironman 2) in a ongoing trend of big bad corporate businessmen in the MCU up to that point who used their rivals' technology for their own personal gains.
Lord Krylar
(Bill Murray)
Lord Krylar
(Bill Murray)
Out of all of the Micronauts characters that were introduced into this film, I think Lord Krylar is easily the most forgettable. The Marvel Cinematic Universe wasted Bill Murray in a throwaway role that just about any aging actor could have filled in without much thought about it. To Bill Murray's credit, his charisma in the role here reminds me of some of his earlier performances in his lengthy career, so I can't knock the guy for at least putting his best foot forward here. The only significant thing we learn about this character is that he and Michelle Pfeiffer's Janet van Dyne had a bit of a fling together during her time being stranded in the Quantum Realm. Hank Pym was really forgiving of that "betrayal" as he stated that he tried dating other people too while she was gone.
I will say that I found it interesting that Lord Krylar and Jentorra have ties to the Incredible Hulk in terms of Jentorra's aunt, Princess Jarella, who had a relationship with Bruce Banner/Hulk in the comics continuity.
Jentorra, Leader of the Freedom Fighters
(Katy O'Brian)
Jentorra, Leader of the Freedom Fighters
(Katy O'Brian)
At first glance, I was fond of Jentorra's costume since she looked like someone straight out of the Horizon: Zero Dawn video games' many tribes. On top of that, I couldn't put my finger on where I had seen this actress before and it hit me after I looked up her work on the Internet Movie Database. Katy O'Brian was the comms officer on Moff Gideon's ship in The Mandalorian (Season Two). Funny thing about that was there was a lot of fan theorizing at the time that she was really Sabine Wren undercover. That character is dead now (EDIT: She reappears in The Mandalorian Season Three after somehow surviving that fate), so much for that theory.
This film marks her second MCU casting when she had a minor role as one of the H.Y.D.R.A. agents working for Nathaniel Malick (Kimball) in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
As for Jentorra in this film, she just seemed like checking off a checkbox for strong female leader for the Freedom Fighters in this continuity. She's another character from the Micronauts adapted into this continuity for this film. I didn't mind her character, but this whole thing about the Freedom Fighters in the Quantum Realm really fell flat for the most part. I did sympathize for Jentorra merely wanting the best for her people and to free them from Kang's tyranny but her character didn't have much more screen time to garner anymore depth than that. It really makes me wonder why this film sought out to introduce so many new characters within one of the shortest films in recent memory for the MCU.
Quaz and the Freedom Fighters (Veb & Xolum)
(William Jackson Harper)
Quaz and the Freedom Fighters (Veb & Xolum)
(William Jackson Harper)
Can't say that I cared much about Quaz and the rest of the Freedom Fighters in this film when I couldn't tell you any of their names until I looked them up online when I was preparing this review. Quaz is revealed to be a telepath, but that isn't very a useful ability to have in this film, especially when it wasn't a vital skill to have when the fighting started in the film's climax. The blob guy (Veb) and the lamp-head guy (Xolum) in the Freedom Fighters had their noteworthy moments, but I can't say that I was overly enamored with the group as a whole. Xolum was easily killed by Kang during the film's final battle but I can't see why they wouldn't be able to rebuild him anyway since he was only a robot, right?
It should be noted that Quaz is based off the comic character, Arcturus Rann. In the comics, Rann is a low-level telepath, the son of Dallan and Sepsis. The possible reason for the change is most likely due to Hasbro owning the rights to the Micronauts.
The Problem With Comparing Kang the Conqueror with Thanos as the Next Big Bad for the MCU
The Problem With Comparing Kang the Conqueror with Thanos as the Next Big Bad for the MCU
As previously mentioned in this review, a lot of people have cited this first appearance of Kang the Conqueror as a failure since he was defeated by Ant-Man in his first outing and have already jumped to the conclusion or rather assumption that Thanos' first appearance had a much significant impact. I think people are already looking at the Infinity Saga with the filter of nostalgia goggles with rose-tinted lens as it wasn't that grand until we got to see him in action and as the titular main character in Avengers: Infinity War.
Thanos' first appearances in the Infinity Saga were first the tease in the mid-credits teaser at the end of the original Avengers film, followed by his lengthier appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy. So much time had passed by the time Avengers: Infinity War had passed that fans were regarding him as "the man in the chair" who wasn't going to take any action at all and was merely all talk up to that point. So let's not pretend like the threat of Thanos was presented well at the start. Much like with Kang currently, it's the word of mouth from comic book fans who knew what his mere presence meant.
I see this as the same situation where as comic book fans are going to have to convey the word of mouth of how big of a threat Kang the Conqueror truly presents to the table in a similar manner. Otherwise, I fear the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to lose a lot of the casual viewers who aren't so patience to stay invested. The Infinity Saga's plot surrounding the six mystical artifacts of undisclosed amounts of power was simple enough to follow for non-comic book fans and casual viewers. Phase Four has taken one of the most frowned upon aspects about Avengers: Endgame and made it a defining plot point for the Multiverse Saga, concerning the confusing nature of time travel, multiple timelines and other variants of existing and to be revealed characters, along with the whole concept of the Multiverse.
Now, the MCU has the problem with almost requiring viewers to watch the tie-in shows on Disney+ and other scattered appearances of these characters outside of their mainline films. I know that I keep saying that the issue of "FOMO" or fear of missing out, is a notion that a lot of MCU fans put onto themselves when one of these projects come out, but the same time, I really have to pity the viewers who jump into this stuff thinking that it's merely the third film in an isolated trilogy when it's not. Marvel Studios has been saying this tagline since Phase One, "It's all connected." I don't call a lot of MCU projects required viewing as I know people who still watches everything that comes down the pipeline and still don't follow nor understand what is going on. I think a better option is that the MCU might want to do one of those recaps or "Previously on..." snippets like X-Men: The Animated Series used to do at the start of every episode. I would love to see all of these future MCU projects start off with something in the same vein to help casual viewers out. That would have been the perfect role for Luis' character in this universe going forward, especially to say that he was painfully absent from this film. Sadly, that couldn't be helped to say that this film spent maybe 10-20 minutes tops on Earth before shifting the entire narrative to take place in the Quantum Realm.
There's no easy way to slice it anymore, folks. It's either you're all in or not with this continuity. It's like jumping right in the middle of The Walking Dead Season 8 and having completely no idea who Negan is nor who the Saviors are and why everyone is at war with each other and why should you care about any of these people. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the 31st film in this continuity. Marvel Studios has produced 57 episodes of television across 8 separate television series - with a sidebar addition to that number to 386 episodes from now defunct Marvel Television across 12 individual series. The people who argue that they shouldn't have to watch something else or do "homework" prior to wanting to see this third Ant-Man film when they have only watched the first two Ant-Man films have already lost that argument in my eyes. Ant-Man and the Wasp ends with Scott Lang being stuck in the Quantum Realm while Hank Pym, Hope van Dyne, and Janet van Dyne were all dusted as a result of Thanos' snap in Avengers: Infinity War. If you didn't watch that film, then you were even more lost at that turn of events in the first goddamn place. If you're jumping from that film (Ant-Man and the Wasp) to this film without any of the context in-between, then you're doing yourself a massive disservice in terms of the enjoyment of this content. You missed out on Scott Lang's contributions in Avengers: Endgame that definitely set the stage for Scott's better standing in life than in previous films.
It wasn't until audiences saw Thanos trivalize a fight against the Hulk in Avengers: Infinity War (WITHOUT the Infinity Stones no less) that they took him seriously as threat, so let's hold off on the quick assumptions on Kang the Conqueror for now, okay?
The Thanos that we saw in Avengers: Endgame was even a deadlier opponent for the Avengers WITHOUT the Infinity Stones than he was with them at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, so with all of Kang's multiverse variants out there, it's easy to imagine how formidable his alternate selves are.
Kang the Conqueror from his Marvel Comics appearance (above) and all of his animated and live-action appearances to date (below).
Understanding Kang in this film doesn't really "require" you to have seen Loki, but it does offer a little bit more insight if you did see that final episode of Season One to understand He Who Remains and the fact that Kang the Conqueror is one of many variants of that character. Variants aren't a new concept either as MCU filmgoers would have heard this terminology brought up in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness too while that plot explored multiple alternate timelines/universes, so it's not a concept that was exclusively limited and bound to the Loki Disney+ series.
The common misconception, or rather reaction, to Kang the Conqueror's first theatrical appearance is just as problematic as Thanos' own in Guardians of the Galaxy. The major difference here being that Kang was presented front and center as the primarily antagonist in this film instead of being presented as the major big bad that all of the lesser villains were answering to in Guardians of the Galaxy, specifically Ronan the Accuser, Nebula, and formerly Gamora. Thanos was pulling the strings of Loki's actions as well, but cut ties with him after Loki had failed in his conquest over Earth, thanks to the formation and intervention of the Avengers. I have always found it ironic that no one seems to point out how stupid it was for Thanos to "loan out" one of the Infinity Stones in the first place to the God of Mischief. If Thanos had come to Earth himself, he could have had both the Mind (Loki's scepter) and Space Stones (Tesseract) in fell swoop right off the bat. Not to mention, he allowed Ronan to take the Power Stone (the Orb) for himself without question before he was defeated by the Guardians. Thanos would later retrieve the Power Stone from the Nova Corps (who the Guardians left it with following Ronan's defeat) off screen sometime prior to the events of Avengers: Infinity War, but his actions were just as puzzling when he got all of the Infinity Stones rather quickly in Avengers: Infinity War when he finally got off his ass out of his high chair barking orders. Why didn't he just "do it himself" in the first goddamn place?
Let's start off by addressing the elephant in the room concerning the common complaint that Kang feels "depowered" in the film's finale. I didn't see it as that. Janet explains during her flashback that Kang was essentially powerless without his future technology, but once she was able to help him restore his Multiversal Power Core, he was able to recall his highly advanced suit of armor. The technology is well ahead of anything in this time period, including anything designed by Tony Stark. If you look at Kang's armor during the scenes with Scott Lang and Cassie Lang within their cells, portions of his armor lights up when he uses various abilities, such as the telekinesis that he uses to pin M.O.D.O.K., Scott Lang, and Cassie Lang to the walls of the prison. I think it's safe to assume that Kang's suit has limited functionality without his Multiversal Power Core powering all of his future tech. He was using the bare minimum to get the point across to Ant-Man concerning how serious he was about the heist he wanted him to commit. In the film's climax, he made short work of the Freedom Fighters once he joined the frontlines and let's not forget that the combined efforts of Ant-Man, Wasp, and Stature were shrugged off by this guy for the most part until Hank Pym came in with the save in the form of his future ants as back-up. Those ants tore Kang's armor to shreds in multiple sections in that skirmish, thus further limiting how much power Kang had at his disposal. This also explains why he took things to a close quarters, hand-to-hand level against Scott. Let's not even kid ourselves, Scott was severely outmatched here against this conqueror of multiple worlds and timelines in a fist fight. Things were looking grim for Scott until Hope came back to help him out. This dude wasn't exactly a pushover.
Kang's actions seem unclear at this moment, but I'm willing to give Marvel Studios the same amount of time and patience to see how this will play out by the time both Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars come around. The more I think about this film as a whole, I think that we as an audience collectively aren't looking at this film properly as it should be interpreted on a lot of levels. As previously mentioned in this review, Kang states to Janet that time doesn't work the way we think it does as well as once one is able to be outside of time, you can see it for the cage it actually is. It's no secret that Kang the Conqueror is a multiversal traveler and a time traveler as well. He doesn't perceive time in a straight line. As far as we know, he's used this rather "simple" defeat at the hands of Scott Lang to escape the very prison that the Council of Kangs have exiled him to, leaving everyone none the wiser of what he is planning.
KANG WILL RETURN.
That is the tagline that this film ends on following the ending credits and post-credits teaser. I think that is all the confirmation that we need that Kang the Conqueror will return. Let's go back to the Council of Kangs in the mid-credits teaser. All of these are variants, but none of them go by the name of Kang the Conqueror. The three main variants of Kang/He Who Remains that are shown here plotting and celebrating Kang's "demise" are Scarlet Centurion, Rama Tut, and Immortus. In the comics, the Council of Kangs have one explicit rule: do not interfere in the timelines of other Kangs. So how could that apply in the MCU? What if Kang staged his "demise" at the hands of Scott Lang to keep everyone in the dark of his future plans, especially since he was aware that his variants were all watching? That would mean that this Victor Timely, who was shown in the post-credits teaser, is really the main Kang or rather "Kang Prime", who has escaped the fate that seemed to have killed him off in the climax of this film. That would mean that Kang Prime would be free to tamper with the other Kangs' timelines as he sees fit to work things out into his favor, amassing more power in the process.
Closing Thoughts
Closing Thoughts
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania feels more like a pseudo-Avengers team-up film rather than an Ant-Man sequel given it's drastic change in tone and especially the change in locale for the duration of its runtime. I don't think that's to the film's detriment nor anything that should be taken as a negative. A lot of these MCU films following Avengers: Endgame have felt like mini-Avengers team-ups (which isn't even a new trend as the MCU has been doing this as far back as Captain America: The Winter Soldier in Phase Two in terms of including an ensemble cast of assorted characters) and it shouldn't be unusual at this point given the fact that a lot of these characters openly acknowledge that they all exist in the same universe and rarely have (completely) isolated affairs/adventures cut off from the rest of the Avengers who couldn't lend a helping hand. Look at the team-ups in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Hawkeye (Disney+ series), Thor: Love and Thunder (barely as the Guardians of the Galaxy's presence in that film was a complete afterthought and a wasted opportunity...) and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. All of those heroes got a helping hand when they needed it. Kevin Feige has publicly stated that there won't be another Avengers team-up film until the two-part event, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars in Phase Six, so I'm fine with these heroes banding together in these individual films like this.
I have always found it to be silly in the comic book medium where these heroes would have isolated adventures on their own and next to none of their affiliated friends and allies (even worse when said characters are actively part of one of the many superhero teams in Marvel Comics) would come to their aid nor back them up. At the same time, I get it. More characters mean that there's less screen time for all of them to get the love and attention that they deserve for any sort of character growth and development. There's some of that evidenced here as Hope van Dyne hasn't had next to any character development since her introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the original Ant-Man film.
In all fairness though, this film fails as the third film in a trilogy if we want to be honest about it. Barely any of the ongoing themes and issues from the previous films really apply here. There's still the dynamic of Scott still wanting to live up to his daughter's perception of his heroism like the last two films. There's that much still present here. The film manages to resolve the issues brought up surrounding Janet van Dyne's whereabouts and mysteries concerning what she did while being trapped in the Quantum Realm for 30 years. It's crazy to see this film do exactly the opposite what Thor: Ragnarok did for its third film that was beloved by a lot of filmgoers. Where Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder did (to it's own detriment in my personal opinion...) is went all in on the comedy and marginalized the comic book aspects and elements that were the foundation of what defines these characters. This film does the exact opposite. It goes all in on the comic book aspects and elements, even though it would come off as too complex to casual viewers, while simultaneously dialing back the comedy elements to create a much more serious film in tone. In a lot of ways, it feels alien compared to the tone in the first two Ant-Man films. In that regard, I can easily see why some portion of the viewing audience was turned off by this film. For the introduction of a character like Kang the Conqueror, the drastic shift in tone was a definite requirement in my eyes.
Watch It or Don't Bother?
Watch It or Don't Bother?
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the first film to kick off what is known as Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the start of the next chapter that is known as the Multiverse Saga. While there are components of this film that feel completely foreign and unfamiliar for what audiences have come to expect out of an Ant-Man film, it shouldn't be frowned upon for thinking outside of the box in a narrative sense. This is a film that I am convinced that a lot of viewers are walking away either confused or have misinterpreted what this film is trying to do. In hindsight, I think this is a film that I'm confident that viewers will look back fondly once more pieces to the puzzle that is the Multiverse Saga begin to form the bigger picture, namely with setting up Kang the Conqueror as the next major threat that will force all of these heroes to band together - not just to save their own universe but all universes across the Multiverse. Speaking of Kang, Jonathan Majors almost singlehandedly carries this film with his performance as the titular villain, but I wouldn't sell the rest of this supporting cast short by any margin. Audiences have come to know what to expect from Paul Rudd's Scott Lang/Ant-Man and not a bad thing. The returning Michael Douglas (Hank Pym) and Evangeline Lilly (Hope van Dyne) both hold their weight in terms of their screentime in this film to despite this narrative not giving them much to work with. Michelle Pfeiffer's Janet van Dyne gets a lot of screentime in this film and rightfully so, while newcomer Kathryn Newton was fine as the recasted Cassie Lang.
This film lacked the usual more personal stakes that made whatever mess Scott Lang/Ant-Man got himself into have tangible, yet very relatable consequences, whether it was continuing to live up to the heroic image that his daughter saw in him or merely helping Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne free Janet van Dyne from being trapped in the Quantum Realm before he was discovered for violating his parole. It's a film with stakes, but stakes that aren't really tangible to the 616 universe that we have come to know in the MCU up to this point, thus creating a notion among the casual viewing audience that are convinced that Kang's actions aren't significant enough as they don't necessarily apply to that universe. This notion is magnified by Scott Lang even flat out telling his daughter, Cassie Lang, that "This isn't our fight." Let's not forget that was a lesson that viewers saw Peter Parker/Spider-Man suffer the consequences of by taking the problems of other universes into his own hands (by starting the whole mess in the first goddamn place) in Spider-Man: No Way Home. By the film's close though, Scott realizes the error in his stance, and opts to stop Kang not to just protect this universe and the Quantum Realm, but the overall threat Kang the Conqueror presents to ALL universes.
If you have been keeping up with everything in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date, then you don't have to ask yourself twice on whether or not to see this film. If you're one of those people who are convinced that the MCU is "dying", didn't care for Phase Four, or has essentially ended once Avengers: Endgame came to a close, then this film isn't going to convince you of thinking anything different.
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