Ant-Man

DUBAI: Fifteen years after the first Marvel Cinematic Universe movie hit the big screens, the studio is ready to kick off Phase 5 of its ever-sprawling ...

“Ant-Man” veterans Rudd and Lilly have less to do in a film that bears their character names in the titles. The movie, not unlike many other MCU films, falters in its third act with an ending that might feel nonsensical at its worst and underwhelming at its best. This will, of course, come as no surprise to anyone who has watched him in his other works, especially HBO’s most excellent “Lovecraft Country.”

Eternals is the only Marvel movie ranked below it with Chloé Zhao's 2021 film landing an average 47% score. Although, while officially both movies fall into the ...

[Marvel Phase 5](https://www.gamesradar.com/marvel-phase-5-release-dates-new-mcu-movies-shows-lineup/). For more on the other [new superhero movies](https://www.gamesradar.com/upcoming-superhero-movies/) on the way, check out our guide to [upcoming Marvel movies and TV shows](https://www.gamesradar.com/upcoming-marvel-movies-shows/). [Ant-Man](https://www.gamesradar.com/ant-man-review/) franchise sees Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) head into the Quantum Realm. [Eternals](https://www.gamesradar.com/eternals-review-marvel/) is the only Marvel movie ranked below it with Chloé Zhao’s 2021 film landing an average 47% score. [Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania](https://www.gamesradar.com/ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania-review-marvel/), are in – and it seems not everyone is a fan of the Paul Rudd-led fantasy. The movie is currently at 53% on [Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ant_man_and_the_wasp_quantumania) (opens in new tab) based on 136 reviews, making it the second lowest ranked MCU movie on the review aggregation website.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has long been accused of being bland, but no one can deny that it's been innovative. The franchise revolutionized the idea of ...

So as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania draws near, it’s worth remembering a time when the MCU was still trying to figure itself out, and having fun doing it. Ant-Man is the She-Hulk of Marvel movies: a bit goofier, built on an existing genre, and only tangentially connected to the core of the franchise. Recently, every MCU movie has dealt with mortality and the afterlife, the time-space continuum, or the multiverse theory, and it’s all become a bit rote. There’s something truly joyful about revisiting a superhero movie that would be an excellent heist movie even if it wasn’t connected to the MCU at all. But its most interesting innovation is also the hardest to quantify: it turned superhero movies into a genre of their own, [a formula](https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/what-if-the-mcu-didnt-exist) that countless movies both in the MCU and beyond have built on. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has long been accused of being bland, but no one can deny that it’s been innovative.

Funnier than most MCU offerings, popcorn movie relies on the appeal of likable Paul Rudd, magnificent new villain Jonathan Majors and their wonderful ...

Mostly, though, Scott and company must contend with Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror, a time-manipulating, seemingly invincible supervillain with a universe-conquering record and megalomaniacal ambitions that make Thanos seem like a small businessman. Everyone smiles at him on the street, folks are constantly asking him to pose for selfies with their pups, the corner coffee shop won’t take his money and he has published a memoir titled “Look Out for the Little Guy.” Scott and daughter Cassie land amidst a band of rebels fighting an uphill battle against a fascist regime, while Hank, Janet and Hope are plunked into a Tatooine-like desert landscape before eventually winding up in a joint that looks like a more elaborate version of the Mos Eisley cantina. As they endeavor to find each other and find a way home, our heroes encounter a number of colorful characters who become either allies or foes, including Bill Murray (effortlessly doing his Bill Murray thing) as the duplicitous Lord Krylar, who apparently has quite the history with Janet; Corey Stoll’s Darren from the first “Ant-Man” film, who now has morphed into the ludicrous and hideous M.O.D.O.K. It relies heavily on the strengths of its wonderful cast, led by the ridiculously likable (and often likably ridiculous) Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, and a brilliant supporting cast including generational icons Michael Douglas, Bill Murray and Michelle Pfeiffer; reliable stalwarts Evangeline Lily, Corey Stoll, William Jackson Harper and Katy M. Marvel Studios presents a film directed by Peyton Reed and written by Jeff Loveness.

This is what the critics are saying about the latest Marvel movie, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.

No—the middle hour is fun in that patented easygoing "Ant-Man" way." Ant-Man is no longer the pure Paul Rudd vehicle some folks accused it of being. They call it, “lot of fun, carried along by a charming gang of goofball heroes dropped into a weird and wonderful world to face a villain who's big enough to change the entire franchise.” There are many different types of people living within the Quantum Realm, but they’re all science fiction stereotypes,” it says. Here's what the reviewers are saying. Quantumania is entertaining in parts, perhaps a little slight and forgettable, despite amping up its sci-fi themes.

"Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" is the second MCU movie to get a "rotten" rating after "Eternals" in 2021.

[Insider's own review calls the movie](https://www.insider.com/ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania-review-kang-fun-clunky-2023-2) "fun, but clunky," pointing out that the script "struggles to keep things flowing in a way that doesn't give the audience whiplash." Critic Mick LaSalle said: "'Ant-Man' isn't an example of bad comedy. Ann Hornaday wrote: "The endearing sweetness of the early 'Ant-Man' movies, which tapped Rudd's ineffable charm, has been bigfooted into a noisy, smash-and-grab extravaganza that, for all its self-conscious bigness, feels smaller and less ambitious than its predecessors. But it could be better." Insider, however, praised Majors for being an "intimidating presence" as Kang and giving the movie a "genuine sense of gravitas." [Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror](https://www.insider.com/paul-rudd-jonathan-majors-ant-man-kang-first-meeting-interview-2023-2), the Marvel Cinematic Universe's new big bad ahead of [two "Avengers" movies in 2025 and 2026](https://www.insider.com/marvel-movie-release-date-schedule-2020-4).

Another success for Marvel Studios. The post Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Box Office and Tickets Sales Predictions appeared first on GameRevolution.

Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, and his allies return to the big screen on Friday, years after the origin story in 2015's Ant-Man cameos in other Marvel films, ...

Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going big with its tiniest heroes, as Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania opens in theaters on February 17.

If it’s a shame the rest of the film is lacking that, there is at least enough of it to hang on to, and enough goofiness to have a laugh with, including some pretty cool ant shenanigans. To even wonder about the answer is to miss that the only real conqueror in “Quantumania” is the MCU. There's a fascinating world to explore here, and Ant-Man finally gets close to the full realization of the potential of his character and this concept, but it all, unfortunately, gets overtaken by the Conquerer. Even so, Quantumania works as a culmination of the Ant-Man series, a way to start things in motion for Phase 5, and a promising roadmap of where the Multiverse Saga is going. It's not a bad movie, per se, which is on some level probably a credit to the Marvel machine. Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going big with its tiniest heroes, as Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania opens in theaters on February 17.

The 31st film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has scored only 53 per cent on the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. It has now become only the second MCU ...

CNN.com's Brian Lowry wrote, "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania works on one key level, establishing Kang the Conqueror as a truly formidable and worthy villain. Joining him are Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne, Kathryn Newton as the adult version of Cassie Lang, Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, and Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet van Dyne. The critical consensus reads, "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania mostly lacks the spark of fun that elevated earlier adventures, but Jonathan Majors' Kang is a thrilling villain poised to alter the course of the MCU."

The MCU sequel now stands as the second “rotten” movie in the franchise (which, considering this is the 31st movie is a pretty good track record) and currently ...

The MCU sequel now stands as the second “rotten” movie in the franchise (which, considering this is the 31st movie is a pretty good track record) and currently holds a rating of 53% based on 136 reviews on the review aggregator site [Rotten Tomatoes](https://movieweb.com/tag/rotten-tomatoes/). As Frank Scheck of the Hollywood Reporter puts it... [Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania](https://movieweb.com/movie/ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania/), and sadly, things are not looking too good. “Marvel, with all their resources, have made a film set in a universe where time and space are not as we know them, yet have ended up with something that looks surreal, but feels shackled. Too bad that, for all its amusing jokes, the world onscreen mostly looks like a Marvel screen-saver.” Jonathan Majors is an absolute beast as Kang the Conqueror.

"Quantumania," which begins the build towards the next "Avengers" phase, will be a test of Marvel's post-"Endgame" popularity.

“Ant-Man and the Wasp” grossed $121 million in China, approximately 19% of its worldwide total, so Ant-Man in particular has leaned on that market to lift up its box office performance. “Quantumania,” on the other hand, is the start of MCU’s Phase Five and introduces Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror, the big bad villain of the next three years of Marvel films. If non-hardcore moviegoers aren’t as invested in MCU’s Multiverse Saga as they were for the Infinity Saga, the global total of “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” in 2025 may be substantially below that of “Infinity War” and “Endgame,” barring of course a return of Robert Downey Jr. That’s why “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” needs to do better than its 2015 and 2018 predecessors, two films that were smaller, more self-contained MCU films. But since the pandemic, Sony’s release of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” ($1.91 billion) is the only MCU film to top $1 billion, something that Marvel was able to do with five out of its six films released in 2018 and 2019, when the words “Infinity Stones” were on the tongues of billions of moviegoers. [Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania](https://www.thewrap.com/ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania-first-reactions/)” doesn’t need to make a billion dollars at the box office to be a hit for Disney and Marvel Studios.

Uh oh. That was my first thought when I saw the review scores rolling in for Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, the third Ant-Man movie, but a seemingly ...

I do wonder if a few more reviews may sink Quantumania below Eternals, though I will say in the middle to bottom ranking order of MCU movies by critic scores, I think they got a long wrong. That’s obviously something DC can’t say, as the DCEU boasts a number of films under that mark, and early on often split between high audience scores for Snyder-era films and low critic scores. Taking place almost entirely in the Quantum Zone, the film is in turn almost completely CGI, and even in the trailers it looked like that could be a problem. Second, since the movie is actually out now, user scores are in and they are not just higher than critics, which you might expect, but much higher, currently at an 84%. That’s a dismal score for an MCU feature, and marks only the second time that an MCU movie has had a “rotten” (below 60%) score on the site, the first time being Eternals in 2021. The thrill isn't just gone, it's been buried beneath a swarm of plot contrivances and truly hideous CGI.” [Whynow](https://whynow.co.uk/read/ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania-review): “Visually, the film is messy and flat; the CGI is shockingly poor and the action looks muddled. It says something that out of 30+ MCU features in a decade and a half, that there are literally only two with sub 60% scores. Of course, many MCU fans may wait and see what audience scores are like. But I would be surprised if this was a huge disparity as this always seemed like a pretty risky film. What’s wrong with the movie? We know there’s currently a visual effects shortage in Hollywood, in part because of the demands of places like Marvel, and perhaps this was too much work given not enough time and the end result is just…not very good. They were never really considered top-tier Marvel movies but this is a huge drop.

The movie has received mixed and lukewarm reviews from critics, though, with the threequel getting the second-lowest score on Rotten Tomatoes of any Marvel ...

[The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/feb/14/ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania-review-paul-rudd-kang-the-conqueror?CMP=twt_a-culture_b-gdnculture) (opens in new tab)'s Ellen E. [Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania](https://www.gamesradar.com/ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania-review-marvel/) is hitting the big screen imminently, kicking off [Marvel Phase 5](https://www.gamesradar.com/marvel-phase-5-release-dates-new-mcu-movies-shows-lineup/). [CNN](https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/14/entertainment/antman-and-the-wasp-quantumania-review/index.html) (opens in new tab)'s Brian Lowry says that the movie "works on one key level, establishing Kang the Conqueror as a truly formidable and worthy villain. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania arrives in theaters on February 17. [Mashable](https://mashable.com/article/ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania-marvel-review) (opens in new tab)'s Kristy Puchko, the movie is "a chaotic, woefully unfunny mess that has forgotten why its hero was such fun. The follow-up to 2018's [Ant-Man and the Wasp](https://www.gamesradar.com/ant-man-and-the-wasp-review/) sees the titular characters, played by Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly, and their respective families transported to the quantum realm where they must face off against Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors).

The movie is getting worse review scores that the first two Ant-Man movies but is expected to make more money.

But it definitely isn't a good one, and certainly not what Marvel needed to jumpstart a new phase in the MCU and give it a North Star to move towards," reviewer Phil Owen said. "It's not a bad movie, per se, which is on some level probably a credit to the Marvel machine. 2015's original Ant-Man made $57 million over its three-day opening weekend. [Earlier projections had the film earning $120 million for the four-day weekend](/articles/ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania-projected-to-make-120-million-in-its-opening-weekend/1100-6510909/), but downward revisions are not totally out of the ordinary. Quantumania is the first new Ant-Man movie since 2018's Ant-Man and the Wasp, which earned $75.8 million over its opening weekend--that total was for a traditional three-day window. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is poised to have a massive start at the box office this weekend, with projections saying it could set a new record for the series.

Returning Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lily in the titular roles, Marvel's 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' is the first event pic of 2023.

Three years later, the second film, [Ant-Man and the Wasp](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/ant-man-and-the-wasp/), started off with $75.8 million in North America before topping out at $622.7 million worldwide. Ant-Man 3 is making a huge 3D push following the success of Avatar: The Way of Water and, more recently, a 3D remastered edition of Titanic. [Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania-review-paul-rudd-evangeline-lilly-jonathan-majors-1235319646/) is hoping to open to at least $110 million domestically over the four-day Presidents Day weekend, including $95 million for the three days. Overseas, Ant-Man 3 could start off with anywhere from $130 million to $190 million. The cast also includes Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jonathan Majors, Kathryn Newton, Bill Murray, Katy O’Brian, William Jackson Harper, James Cutler and David Dastmalchian. [Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania/) reunites director Peyton Reed with actors [Paul Rudd](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/paul-rudd/) and [Evangeline Lilly](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/evangeline-lilly/). The upcharge for the format in North America could result in a bump in the mid- to high teens for Quantumania. The original Ant-Man earned a total of $105 million in China, followed by $122.2 million for the sequel. [box office](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/box-office/) opening of 2023 to date (granted, the year is only six weeks in) and top the holiday weekend chart. [Ant-Man](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/ant-man-2/) launched to $57.2 million domestically — the lowest start of any MCU offering — on its way to earning $519.3 million globally. More bullish estimate services show the movie coming in at $100 million to $105 million for the three days, and $115 million to $120 million for the four. Quantumania is the third title in the more low-key superhero franchise, and the 31st entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It's a real indictment of any movie as unrelentingly loud, bombastic and big when you turn to your plus one in the screening room and find them asleep.

The post-Endgame era of Marvel has been crying out for some kindling, something to throw the afterburners on; this is just more ugly cement. In the meantime, daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton), who has seen no end of shit and is presumably in desperate need of a therapist, has been getting herself in heaps of trouble, protesting the crisis of homelessness in the wake of the snap. The object, then, is to get back to Big Earth: fortunately, Janet knows a guy from her own 30-year marooning down on the Quantum side, who they meet up with in a jovial (again, It's a shame he's given so much of that aforementioned, dawdling exposition to deal with. It's around an hour in that we're properly acquainted with Majors' Kang, by far the most compelling element at play: he emanates movie star gravitas, helped by the fact that he's the only guy who really seems committed to the bit. It's a real indictment of any movie as unrelentingly loud, bombastic and big when you turn to your plus one in the screening room and find them asleep.

Domestically, the superhero threequel is expected to make between $95 million and $100 million in its first three days, according to Variety, with the number ...

[Peyton Reed](https://collider.com/the-mandalorian-volume-technology-peyton-reed-comments/), who also helmed Ant-Man 1 and 2, declared heading into this one that he no longer wanted his films to be perceived as counter-programming within the MCU, and made it a point to craft a more epic narrative. Reviews for Ant-Man 3 have been generally muted, otherwise; this is only the second MCU film ever, for instance, to get a “rotten” score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. The first Ant-Man tapped out with $519 million globally, while the second film finished with a little more than $620 million worldwide. Ant-Man 3 also happens to be only the second MCU film since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame to score a China release. [Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania](https://collider.com/tag/ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania/) have been lowered heading into its opening weekend. Domestically, the superhero threequel is expected to make between $95 million and $100 million in its first three days, according to [Variety](https://variety.com/2023/film/box-office/box-office-preview-ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania-opening-weekend-1235522559/), with the number increasing to $110 million across the four-day extended President’s Day weekend.

The third film in Marvel's Ant-Man trilogy sends the MCU's tinest titans into a subatomic universe, where they — and we the viewers — get stuck.

The characters of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, at least, are flat. Just look at the standard line item in the budget for, say, the Mysterious Glowing Object That's Terribly Terribly Important To Everyone In Whichever Marvel Movie This Happens To Be — in this case, that yellow orb thingy with all those metal rings flying around inside it that Kang wants, for reasons I can't remember now. ... Oh and also throw in a few bucks on coconut oil while you're at it. The voice actors record their tracks in separate sound booths at separate times. In previous Ant-Man films, we may all have looked past the thinness of his characterization, because the charming Ruddishness of the performance blinded us to it. She might as well be one of the CGI barstools.) But as I sat there watching Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, I started to wonder if perhaps, back when we as nerdy little kids wished for it, all those long years ago, someone snuck a monkey's paw into the whole affair. But in absolutely no way does it look like they did, and it sure as hell doesn't feel like they did. They could have made a film together at any time during that period and now, finally, here they are and here it is. When we eventually get a The Making Of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, we might well learn that those three actors actually filmed that scene together. Even more mind-boggling: This third Ant-Man film posits the purple, time-traveling despot Kang the Conqueror as a bad guy to take seriously. This time out, it's the entire Ant-Family that gets sucked down into the MCU's own microscopic Whoville, with its sunless, surreal, slimy Color Out of Space production design.

Before seeing "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," here's everything you should know from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

He is devastated to learn that Hank, Hope and Janet are gone, but he discovers that Cassie survived the snap — and has aged into a teenager (although her exact age is Hank and Hope create a way to safely travel into the Quantum Realm using an invention called the Quantum tunnel. Hank believes that once a person goes subatomic, they irrevocably enter the Quantum Realm, a dimension that exists outside of our concepts of space and time. Despite the assurances of [Marvel Studios](https://variety.com/t/marvel-studios/) chief Kevin Feige that every Marvel title can exist on its own terms, the third “Ant-Man” film is neck deep in series lore as it launches Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — and the second act of the Multiverse Saga. [Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania](https://variety.com/t/ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania/)” is a different beast entirely. And yeah, the introduction of the Quantum Realm in the 2018 sequel lays the groundwork for the time travel shenanigans in “Avengers: Endgame.” But generally speaking, audiences could take in Scott’s size-shifting adventures alongside scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), his daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and Hank’s wife and Hope’s mother Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), without needing to be steeped within the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This is only the second Marvel Cinematic Universe film to earn a Rotten rating. Jonathan Majors shines as Kang the Conqueror, but the film is an overstuffed ...

"Michael Pena's absence should have been a warning," wrote Kristy Puchko in her review of "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" for Mashable. "Ant-Man and the Wasp in Quantumania" held a 53% "rotten" rating from 148 reviews, as of Wednesday afternoon. "The result is an undercooked, overstuffed action movie that feels like a shadow of better pulpy adventure sendups before it." to buckle at the knees," O'Sullivan wrote. "Ultimately, 'Quantumania' does a middling job of both. The film itself is anything but light. There, they face off against Kang, a dimension-hopping tyrant who is trying to escape from the realm after being exiled there for his rampages across time and space. (Majors will also appear as the antagonist in next month's "Creed III." Critics praised Majors' performance in the film, as the actor was able to bring gravitas to the the role and exude the kind of menace that made previous big bad Thanos (Josh Brolin) such a compelling, and threatening, villain. He was introduced in the Disney+ show "Loki." However, Kang's larger-than-life presence overshadowed the quirky and charming narrative that fans have come to expect from Ant-Man side quests, critics say. Peyton Reed's previous Ant-Man installments offered the MCU a smaller-than-life look at what it means to be a hero.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a sci-fi adventure in the mold of Thor: Ragnarok.

The bigger, more general theme is the strength of the little guy, even in the face of overwhelming power. Cassie (Newton) is the heart of the film, Hank (Douglas) does the science and Janet (Pfeiffer) is the plot powerhouse whose worst nightmare catches up to her. Quantumania sets up the future of the MCU, and also manages to pack in some other bigger themes. Still, the number of times characters refuse to divulge crucial information to string out the supposed suspense ("No time to explain!" If Quantumania doesn't quite know what to do with Ant-Man, it really doesn't know what to do with the other title character. Fans have been prepped for the arrival of Kang, who was first seen in the Disney Plus series Loki, and the movie does a fine job introducing the villainous characters to fresh viewers. It's a breezy, bizarro sci-fi adventure in the mold of Thor: Ragnarok, as familiar faces from the Marvel roster drop into an alien realm for fun and fighting before inspiring the locals to rise up and overthrow a hateful dictator. The weirdness of the micro-Mad Max setting gives rise to some entertaining jokes, arresting visuals and one or two mind-bending set pieces. Old enemies come looking for her and her fam, forcing her to face up to what she did during exile. Having rescued Janet van Dyne from the quantum realm in the previous Ant-Man and the Wasp film (and you'd be forgiven for remembering basically nothing about that movie), the Ant-gang is sucked back into the itty-bitty universe layered below the atoms of our full-size world. Kathryn Newton plays the now-teenaged Cassie Lang, Scott's daughter, and in the quantum realm they encounter William Jackson Harper, Katy O'Brian and Bill Murray (yes, that Bill Murray). [Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania](https://www.cnet.com/culture/entertainment/ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania-trailer-plot-cast-release-date/) is in theaters Friday, Feb.

The loopy humor and style of the first two “Ant-Man” movies have been flattened by the M.C.U.'s franchise formatting.

The feeling of giddy wonder is what distinguishes the first two “Ant-Man” films; they help to restore the brand name of Marvel to a common noun and to a verb, and they do so starting from the top, with a sense of the filmmaker’s own experience—his ardent curiosity, free-ranging inventiveness, and imaginative sympathy. What’s absent is a sense of experience—conveying to viewers the extraordinary and quasi-miraculous aspects of what the characters are undergoing, observing, and doing. The best thing about “Quantumania” is, surprisingly, its script (by Jeff Loveness), which is like saying that the best thing about a building is its blueprint. The occasional spectacular idea—such as the weirdness unleashed when Scott is caught in a “probability storm”—gets submerged in a sludge of imagery that offers little but the concept itself, unmoored from its surroundings, its implications, and, above all, the perspective of the characters. It’s sadly appropriate for the degree zero of superhero-franchise synthetics to have been reached, or asymptotically approximated, in the infinitesimal realm in which “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” is set. The scant grounding and bare inner life of the characters give the remarkable actors little to work with. (The MacGuffin is a “multiversal engine core” that Kang needs.) They also encounter the principled underground leader Jentorra (Katy M. The second film in the cycle, “ [Ant-Man and the Wasp](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/ant-man-and-the-wasp-should-have-been-the-godfather-part-ii-of-superhero-movies),” felt tethered—Reed unleashed intermittent flourishes of inspiration, but now they were completely bound by the M.C.U.’s gravitational field, pulled down to the franchise’s established map, and sent forth to do their duty. Its modelling on the “Star Wars” template is made all too explicit by a scene (the liveliest in the film) that’s a parody of the celebrated cantina set piece. (As one of the newly arrived fivesome exclaims, “There’s quantum people in the Quantum Realm.”) It’s not just humans but also a humanoid who can read minds (William Jackson Harper), plus vaguely human-shaped beings with glowing blue heads, others with green floret-topped heads that Hank likens to broccoli, lizardy hybrids, jellyfish-like floaters, gigantic flying stingrays, and buildings that are alive. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), who devised the technology with which they shrink down to bug size yet exert colossal force; and Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), Hank’s wife and Hope’s mother (and the original Wasp), who was trapped for thirty years in the infinitesimal, subatomic Quantum Realm. Just as the trouble with Bible-thumping is the thumping, not the Bible, the problem with superhero-franchise movies isn’t the source material but the uses to which it’s put.

Before you watch Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania, check out great movies like The Incredible Shrinking Man and Downsizing.

While it's not a great kid's movie, The Ant Bully makes good on its premise involving a young boy getting shrunken down to the size of an ant. On the topic of Nicolas Cage providing voice work to The Ant Bully, the movie itself has a surprisingly large and noteworthy cast, with it also including Julia Roberts, Bruce Campbell, Meryl Streep, and Paul Giamatti. [An underrated 1980s sci-fi cult classic](https://collider.com/most-underrated-sci-fi-films-of-the-80s/), Innerspace presents a more comedic take on the core story found in Fantastic Voyage. To (hopefully) no one's surprise, The Incredible Shrinking Woman has a similar premise to 1957's The Incredible Shrinking Man. [rare starring role for Rick Moranis](https://collider.com/best-supporting-actors-in-a-lead-role/), Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is one of those movies that explains the premise directly from the title alone. This means there are plenty of opportunities for interacting with people of a more normal size, which is where most of the film's entertainment value lies. He's certainly a filmmaker who knows how to make a story about transformation exciting and tense, given his mastery of the body horror genre, perhaps best demonstrated by 1986's [The Fly](https://collider.com/tag/the-fly/). He likely had a different idea of what the movie would be, and that idea didn't line up with the overall direction of the MCU post-Ant-Man. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids therefore ends up being a good sci-fi movie for families, with its iconic title and overall solid filmmaking ensuring its status as a minor 1980s comedy classic. While Ant-Man as a character is usually relied on for providing comic relief, Quantumania looks to shake things up by properly introducing Kang the Conquerer, a variant of whom was seen in [Loki](https://collider.com/tag/loki/), and who will be an important overarching villain in the MCU going forward. The popularity of the Ant-Man movies may be largely thanks to the novelty of seeing characters change size and interact with the world from a new perspective. The grandfather of shrinking people movies, the premise of someone getting shrunk down dramatically doesn't get executed much better than in 1957's The Incredible Shrinking Man.

Great performances by all-star actors including Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer don't save Marvel's latest release - out Feb.

Sign in to stop seeing this](//crm.timesofisrael.com/sign-in) If so, please join The Times of Israel Community. I don’t think you should spend your hard-earned cash and see this in theaters, but streaming it in three months or so isn’t a bad bet. Exploring the new world in all its Saturday Morning Cartoon splendor is truly enjoyable, especially with wisecracking Paul Rudd at the center of it all. The movie winds up being confusing (a sin) and dull (a bigger sin.) I’m absolutely flummoxed. Imagine Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren from the recent “Star Wars” movies, then strip him of any personality or motivation — that’s Kang. In the “Ant-Man” movies, the heroes are small and so are the stakes. It’s terrific and the kids oughta love it. The idea, I think, is that they are within an atom, but once they are there, we see it’s also the same place where Janet was trapped for years. He can shrink (down to the size of an ant!) which has proven time and again to be more useful than you might think. These are the least essential movies in the enormous Marvel Cinematic Universe, the culture-gobbling juggernaut that began in 2008 and shows few signs of going away. But one thing makes this picture stand out, at least for me: It’s the only superhero movie I can think of that hinges on two likable Jewish men being good dads.

Ant-Man's upward trajectory looks set to continue with 'Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania', which kicks off the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Phase Five.

I mean, he’s experienced a thing or two, and he’s accepted who he is,” Rudd added. He was brought into this group (of Avengers), he has no innate super abilities, but then he went up and fought Thanos. “When I first started playing Ant-Man, my kids were little kids, and now they are teenagers! “I like the fact that although he is part of this group with some pretty impressive people and superheroes, he would be the first guy to say, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ or ‘This makes no sense at all!’” Rudd ended with a laugh. “As an actor, you want to play somebody who is relatable and hopefully a sympathetic person, and somebody whom you maybe understand what they’re going through,” he said, adding that what he likes most about Scott is that he is a regular guy who still has reservations about all the superhero stuff. “He is happy that all of that now seems to be in the rear view mirror, and now he gets to have kind of a normal life.

Marvel's tiniest Avenger works on a much larger scale as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania launches the MCU's next big bad.

[also played by Majors](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/kang-the-conqueror-he-who-remains-different-in-the-mcu/), at the end of the first season of Loki—is complex, quietly malevolent, and imbued with a great sense of frightening power. In the case of the third Ant-Man movie, bigger does mean better, but not without a few growing pains. The Realm itself is a roiling, psychedelic, cosmic playground right out of the best sci-fi pulp magazine covers of the ’50s and ‘60s. Admittedly, it would be hard for someone to walk into Quantumania stone cold, although not impossible (you really only have to see the previous Ant-Man movies and maybe Endgame to truly get the gist). There are some mind-blowing visual set pieces as well, including one involving a multiplying army of Ant-Men that dive deep into the imagery and lore of classic science fiction, while the central drama has already garnered comparisons to the space opera of Star Wars. On the other hand, the first act also introduces us to the wonders of the Quantum Realm. Those themes also find their way into the character dynamics of Scott, Cassie, and the rest of the Ant-Family, with the relationship between father and daughter central to the movie and the source of most of its emotional pull. Thus the build-up to Kang is unnecessarily drawn out, and padded even more by a pointless [Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-best-and-worst-moments-of-mcu-phase-4/) now in the rearview mirror, Marvel Studios has chosen its arguably most peripheral sub-franchise to officially launch its next big supervillain and overarching storyline. It’s exemplified by Lang and what some are already calling the Ant-Family: his daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton), his partner in crime-fighting and romance, Hope Van Dyne/the Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), and the parental figures of Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer). In fact, it’s Pfeiffer’s Janet who provides the trigger for this story, which makes the elder Wasp one of its true main characters (arguably at the expense of Lilly’s Hope, who is present throughout but does not get a noticeable arc of her own). While the movie gets off to a creaky start and incorporates a few elements that don’t quite land, the heart that has made the previous Ant-Man movies so endearing in their own way is still there.

The film is a vehicle to introduce Kang the Conqueror, the bad guy in phase five of the MCU.

In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Kang the Conqueror is one of the variants that He Who Remains wanted to stifle out of existence, warning of the mayhem that would ensue if his more belligerent counterparts were allowed to exist. It is from this act that the Kang in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania springs. Despite strong performances by the main cast, particularly from Pfeiffer and Majors, it is the supporting characters that put the breath of life in the show. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania signals the start of the fifth phase of the MCU. Though Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania marks the debut of Kang, we first saw Jonathan Majors take up the character — or, at least, a variant of him — in the series Loki. The film retains some of that awkward, quippy comedy that Paul Rudd is known for, but in making the latest Ant-Man offering more significant to Marvel’s gameplan for the next year, the humour has been pruned to serve the blockbuster engine.

Marvel Studios' Phase Five official kicks off with the big-screen introduction of the Avengers' next arch enemy.

The bigger Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania lands at the box office, the better the future looks for the rest of the MCU through 2023 and into the rest of Marvel’s Phase Five. Last year, the MCU was in the same boat as the rest of Hollywood, watching as theatrical revenue slowly improved and got to far better and profitable levels, but still not yet at pre-pandemic levels. If mainstream public interest is “settling” downward to something more in the $700-900+ million range as the average and $1+ billion reserved for breakout franchises and team-up event films, then it speaks to the sustainability of interest in superhero genre films. So the “inevitability” of Marvel’s box office dominance has been shaken through the pandemic and things still haven’t returned fully to the level of audience embrace seen during Marvel’s pre-pandemic Infinity Saga era. This is the Ant-Man franchise’s attempt to swing for the fences. Internationally, I expect an even bigger result to the tune of at least $150+ million and potentially — albeit unlikely — as high as $200 million across the same four-day period, depending on how hungry for Marvel content audiences are in China.

Marvel films may, of course, be critic-proof because fans of the series will undoubtedly want to watch Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) vs Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan ...

The views expressed here are that of the respective authors/ entities and do not represent the views of Economic Times (ET). The [Kang Dynasty](/topic/kang-dynasty)is really the title of an Avengers film. Interestingly, a lengthier wait isn't always a result of strong box office performance (which one might expect).