Directed by Peyton Reed, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania follows Super Hero partners Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) after the events of Endgame, continuing their lives as Ant-Man and The Wasp. Together, with Hope’s parents Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Scott’s daughter, Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton), the family finds themselves pulled back into the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on a new adventure, one that will push them beyond the limits of what they thought was possible and put them to face with their greatest adversary yet, Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors).
This film is the third outing for Marvel’s smallest hero and the official kickstarter of the MCU’s Phase 5. I’ve considered both of the previous Ant-Man films to be very underrated flicks that did a great job bringing Marvel’s weirdest hero to the big screen through unique action, visuals, and plentiful fun through small-scale adventures. But now the filmmakers have decided that it was time to kick things up a notch for the third installment by having the Ant Family thrust into a larger high-stakes adventure deep within the Quantum Realm and pit them against the main threat of the new saga. A very bold move but the question is did it pay off or not? I think it paid off big time.
This is the biggest and wildest Ant-Man film to date, starting Phase 5 on a strong note, giving us a zany sci-fi adventure, and delivering an absolutely epic theatrical debut for one of Marvel’s greatest villains from the pages of comics. Now, this film does have its issues but it never ruined my full enjoyment of this wild ride.
The Ant family once again is a truly wonderful, lovable group, sharing brilliant chemistry and development that has now expanded with the inclusions of Michelle Pfeiffer’s Janet Pym and Kathryn Newton’s Cassie Lang. Being trapped in the quantum realm, they all go on a crazy dangerous journey that puts their wills and skills to the ultimate test.
Paul Rudd returns as our lovable Scott Lang, delivering another excellent performance as the character bringing charm, heart, laughs, and strong emotion to the titular hero. In this film, Scott’s actions with the Avengers have finally been recognized by the public, but now that he has played with the big boys he needs to be one himself, similar to when Spider-Man needed to step up as a hero against greater threats and fight for those in need.
At the same time, he is also trying to keep his family together and safe from the dangers of the quantum realm, forcing him to make choices that challenge him physically and mentally. A massive weight lies upon his shoulders in his greatest battle yet and it’s truly awesome to see him shine on his own in an epic adventure where he pulls out all his tricks and proves himself as a true Avenger.
Partnered with him is his daughter Cassie who proves herself big time as a future avenger in the making and is given a great performance by newcomer Kathryn Newton. The development of her character and her relationship with her father was really great to see, as this has always been one of the best and most heartfelt elements of all the Ant-Man films. Seeing them finally fight together and go through so many emotions had me feeling invested in them from start to finish. Newton gives her all into this performance and really convinced me that she is a great fit as an older Cassie Lang, one I’d love to see more of going forward.
Evangeline Lilly returns as Hope, also delivering a great performance, especially in the emotional department, and kicks serious ass in all her action scenes. But unlike the rest of the characters she doesn’t get any major arc or new development in this new adventure which is strange considering her name is in the title. Now granted she had a lot of development in the previous two films so there didn’t necessarily need to be anything new added for her in this installment, but I couldn’t help but feel she was a bit sidelined by everyone else who felt more front and center.
Michael Douglas once again does a fantastic job as Hank Pym, clearly having fun in the role, as he is paired with his long-lost wife Janet, sharing a truly wonderful and lovable relationship as they venture together through the quantum realm. But with this duo it is Janet who stands out the most thanks mostly to Michelle Pfeiffer’s brilliant performance and a very interesting exploration of her past with the quantum realm that plays a big part in the grand adventure.
We see Janet confront everything she had left from her time in the realm, including her past actions that have led to massive consequences that she had kept hidden from her family. This results in her having awesome and powerful scenes that she shares with various characters including the main villain that she fears so greatly. I’m so glad we got to see Pfeiffer have way more screen time and have her character actually be explored, since in the previous films she was barely given a chance to be fleshed out.
We also get to see a great supporting cast in the form of residents from the quantum realm in all shapes and sizes including an oddly fitting character played by Bill Murray. As for the three wombats from the previous films they are not in this one, which unfortunately means no hilarious recap of events from Luis. Given the story the filmmakers are aiming for it makes sense why they are not included in this film, on top of the fact one of the actors was fired as a result of serious criminal charges.
And now we come to the biggest stand out of all the characters in this film who is none other than Kang the Conqueror played by Jonathan Majors. Oh my god! He is perfect! Perfect! Written perfectly, acted perfectly, and shown perfectly. Loki Season 1 first introduced us to a “less evil version” of this character, establishing him as a man from a futuristic timeline who discovered the multiverse and multiple variants of himself, all of which had similar goals of conquering the multiverse for themselves and igniting a multiversal war. The variant warned that his other variants were more dangerous than him and were capable of bringing great catastrophe to the multiverse, which basically was a big tease for his multiple appearances as the ultimate villain of this saga, taking the place of Thanos.
This first variant we meet in this film is an absolute force of nature the very second he stepped on screen, giving us a villain unlike any other we have seen. A villain who seeks to dominate time and the multiverse by any cruel means and is presented as being capable of destroying realities, crushing civilizations, and killing powerful avengers like it was nothing.
Majors brings such an intense and menacing presence in his performance, eating up every scene he is in, showing his range as an actor, and proving himself to be an absolutely overwhelming opponent for Scott and the Ant family to face, both with and without powers. If you thought Thanos was the greatest threat in the MCU, Kang in this film will make you rethink that and make Thanos look merciful in comparison. And with how much trouble and stakes this variant of Kang causes for the Ant family, the thought of there being other variants exactly like him or worse is terrifying.
The amazing theatrical debut of this character heralds great things to come for all of his future appearances and is a sign that Jonathan Majors was truly meant for this role. Jonathan Majors is Kang. He is Kang! He is the very embodiment of one of the best Marvel villains from comics and deserves every single ounce of praise he’s been getting from everyone.
He truly is the ultimate star of this film but in a rather surprising twist, he’s not the only antagonist that stands out. We have MODOK (Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing), one of the most bizarre villains of Marvel’s endless library of characters, making his official live-action debut in this film and he is glorious! I had no idea what to expect from this guy but he was an absolute blast, being so off the wall bonkers in every appearance yet he was so damn fitting for this wild story and world. Even with a different origin and a surprise identity reveal compared to his comic book counterpart he truly captures the campy nature of the character through his performance, design, and actions. He’s an absolute gem of a character that is definitely going to win over some people.
Now, something I was worried would happen with the MCU’s Phase 5 is that it would potentially lessen the creative freedom of directors and writers compared to Phase 4, due to backlash from “fans,” and that it was going to be more focused on ramping up things to the next big event of the MCU. This meant we would be getting less isolated, personal, and explorative stories about characters and themes that we had a ton of in Phase 4, and that everything would shift to just connecting and setting up everything for future installments.
In the case of this film, while it does indeed focus on being the crucial turning point for the next big event and setting up the saga’s ultimate villain, it also manages to be a self-contained continuation of the Ant-Manstory but one that isn’t as deep as I hoped it could be. The film sets up a high-stakes battle that mostly revolves around Scott and his family going up against Kang, and while it does take time to get things rolling, it’s a fun and exciting story that’s grounded by Scott as the always-reliable guy who wants to do the right thing and Kang as the menacing conqueror who serves as the perfect antagonist for this film and for the future.
It has heart, intense thrills, and wacky quantum mayhem you’ve come to expect from an Ant-Man film, but all of it is dialed up higher and we are given a more mature tone compared to the previous installments. This film wasn’t afraid to embrace the strangest things from the pages of comics and while some may not groove with that I personally loved that it didn’t hold back on embracing the roots of the source material. And while the MCU has certainly delved into the genre of Sci-Fi before in other installments this goes for it in full force, feeling like a mix of Star Wars and Doctor Who, including all sorts of weird creatures, space opera battles, bizarre landscapes, and mind-bending concepts.
But all this craziness comes at the cost of not being able to explore potential themes, making this story feel very simplistic and straightforward compared to the more layered stories we have had thus far in this saga. Now it’s a very fun story that keeps you invested with its characters, weirdly epic moments, emotional moments, high-stakes action, and visuals but I did feel it could have had some additions that could have been more impactful on a deeper level. Again I very much enjoyed the film as it was and was with the wild ride the whole time but I felt it could have had a bit more added on to it.
Out of all three Ant-Man films, this is easily the most visually dazzling and gorgeous, with a vast array of beautiful colorful effects, epic displays of action with crazy powers, and trippy as hell quantum landscapes that are shown through excellent cinematography. It’s a massive step up from the previous films that add on to the size and stakes of this adventure and we get a really fun and sometimes freaky display of both digital and practical effects.
Now there were some times, mostly around the first act, where the editing did seem a bit off, bouncing between certain scenes that felt sloppily put together that could have been easily fixed. After that point though the film’s editing did improve significantly.
The action is big and fun, offering insane Star Wars-like battle sequences mixed with absolutely crazy elements from the quantum realm that come in full force in a climactic battle. When Kang himself steps onto the field though, we get to see him truly live up to his name as a one-man army, especially in one intense and brutal one-on-one fight that he has with Scott, showing just how strong he can be physically even without utilizing his tech. It’s a damn good fight with perfect amounts of tension and really shows how Kang doesn’t screw around.
A lot of the creature designs are truly out of this world and very imaginative, not sharing any similarities with other realms or worlds we’ve seen, giving the quantum realm a unique foothold in the MCU as it should. This is a film meant to be seen on the biggest screen possible to witness its beauty whether it be IMAX, 3D or anything of that sort.
And then we have Christophe Beck back as the composer for Ant-Man, who truly enhances the zaniness of this film with his quantified score and new takes on the consistently good Ant-man theme. Also, it has to be noted that his theme for Kang is deliciously fitting for the conqueror himself.
Quantumania certainly does live up to its title, having plenty of Quantum and plenty of Mania that gets thrown at you in the most unexpected ways. For some people it may be too much to handle or too bizarre for them to accept but those who go with the flow like I did are definitely going to love this. A very clear direction has been paved for where this saga is going to go and just how insane it’s going to be going forward, especially with the two post-credit scenes that are going to blow some people’s minds and show what is to come both very soon and later down the line. This film in no way deserves the severe bashing it has had from critics because it’s honestly a real blast from start to end and it again delivers the perfect theatrical introduction of a fantastic villain that is worth witnessing. It has its faults and for some people it may be too much to handle, but it has a lot more satisfying elements that are guaranteed to give a good time if one accepts the strange and the bold. I for one can’t wait to see what else Phase 5 has in store for us. I’m going to give Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania an A = 95.
You can find more of my writing on instagram, and check out my channel on YouTube!