Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania quickly became one of Marvel’s worst films released but it is only the beginning of a new phase of years’ worth of content from the company’s Cinematic Universe.
Ant-man and the Wasp: Quantumania kicked off phase 5 of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe (MCU), further dividing the fanbase and leaving the future of the superhero universe on a questionable streak all within its 125-minute runtime.
Despite Marvel’s frivolous cinematic history with the likes of ‘Avengers: Infinity war’ and ‘Civil War’, recent projects such as ‘Eternals’ and Quantumania raise the doubt of whether the franchise is running out of steam and rather prioritising quantity over quality.
The sequel hit our screen over four years after the release of ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’, with Paul Rudd returning as Scott Lang (Ant-Man), Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne (Wasp), Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, and Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet van Dyne. The movie also featured new star Kathryn Newton as Cassie Lang, after Marvel recast previous Cassie Lang actress, Emma Fuhrmann who played the role throughout previous Ant-Man films.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s synopsis follows the characters, as they explore the Quantum Realm, a universe that was not mapped out in great detail until recently, subsequently introducing new civilisations never seen before within the MCU.
This time, the Quantum Realm triggers the fifth instalment of the MCU. Known as the ‘multiverse saga’, the new stage is set to see releases up until late 2025.
Flashbacks in the film to Janet van Dyne’s 30 years of being stuck in the Quantum Realm show that she found Kang the Conquer when he was exiled by the Council of Kangs for becoming too powerful and longing to be the only version of Kang in the multiverse.
Upon reveal who Kang truly was, Janet destroyed the power source using Pym Particle, ending with both Janet and Kang still being stuck in the Quantum Realm. Despite destroying any chance of Kang refuelling his ship, she gave him back his suit and some of his powers back.
Kang, who is a time warlord, holds superhuman strength, speed and endurance alongside energy projections and of course, time travel.
Films released throughout phase 5 will see superheroes gaining new powers and relationships with one another. These will build up over the phase, as well as tensions between the superheroes and Kang until ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’, where viewers will see the last huge battle between the new Avengers and Kang.
With films scheduled for release across the next three years, we wonder: what does the future of the MCU look like?
Well, screenwriter Jeff Loveness’s abilities have come under controversy after Quantumania received scathing reviews and became one of the worst rated Marvel films to ever be released.
Fans are left wondering if Loveness is up to the job, as he is also set to write for ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’, possibly the biggest film to release in phase 5 of the MCU.
The cringeworthy, often boring, and annoying screenwriting comes with Marvel’s recent downfall in quality, most notably in the form of bad CGI such as the depictions of comic book character MODOK, that clearly shows the company’s recent admiration to quantity over quality.
Marvel is churning out a disproportionate number of characters into the MCU currently. Many speculate that there are too many storylines happening at once, meaning important figures become background personalities and their storylines downsized or missed opportunities.
Next on the Marvel movie release line up:
All images, Ⓒ Disney.