Revisiting Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Janet Van Dyne supposedly died a hero: she sacrificed her life to stop a nuclear missile, unintentionally stranding herself in the Quantum Realm for many years, until her husband and daughter (and also her daughter’s boyfriend) brought her back. However, despite being down there so long, no one bothered to wonder what could’ve happened during all that time. To the dismay of Scott Lang, his daughter Cassie, and the Pym family, they find out after an experiment with the Quantum Realm goes awry and strands everyone down there. With the cosmic, timeline-conquering, exiled warlord Kang the Conqueror in charge of the Realm and hunting them down, everyone must work together and navigate a hostile, unknown territory to prevent Kang from escaping and wreaking havoc on all of time and space.

Pro/Con #1: The Character Arcs

Most people complain that Scott Lang lost his charm in this movie, and while I mostly agree, I actually like the approach they made with his character. For instance, consider the context of this story: one of the most devastating, cosmic-scale events occurred, but Scott was forcibly isolated from said event for five years. He was stranded in a microscopic universe; everyone who knows and loves him believes him to be dead, while he was alive but missed out on a huge chunk of his daughter’s life. After Thanos is defeated once and for all, Scott focuses on keeping life as peaceful and normal as possible. Honestly, who could blame him? Cassie was already in mortal danger in Scott’s debut film, and the intensity of Infinity War and Endgame would sober anyone up real fast. So, for a single dad and ex-con who is now also a superhero, it makes sense that Scott would try to avoid danger, or anything remotely related to his hero work, any chance he could get. But that didn’t stop Cassie, though. I absolutely love how Cassie was inspired by her dad’s heroics (even the misunderstood ones) and became something close to a hero herself: she was defending innocent protestors and homeless people, and even after being trapped in an unfamiliar microscopic universe, she still has a completely undying sense of duty to fight for what’s right. This is especially great because, for a good chunk of the movie, Scott tries to get Cassie out of the Quantum Realm and avoid the ongoing war, but Cassie wouldn’t have any of it. Instead, she fights twice as hard, even when things get scary or hopeless, and finally inspires Scott to stand up for the rest of the Quantum Realm’s citizens. I always love it when a parent character goes out of their way to keep their child safe, but sometimes the child character needs to remind their parents of the bigger picture.

However, despite this inspirational arc, it still has its flaws. First of all, Scott doesn’t really grow or learn from this experience. He eventually fights Kang, but only because he has his daughter. When Scott is free, he shrugs off the whole encounter like it’s nothing to worry about. Also, as far as Cassie goes, she doesn’t truly grow here either. She spends the whole movie fighting Kang and aiding the resistance, but with little to no difficulty whatsoever. And yes, we know she loves to step up for others, but that’s really all there is to her character. There’s no deeper exploration of why she wants to fight so badly aside from wanting to help, so her character comes across as a bit two-dimensional. But being two-dimensional feels like a better fate than the rest of the team. Not only are the Pyms barely the main characters of their own story, but their arcs are unexplored and sloppy, to say the least. For instance, there is the glaring issue that no one tells each other anything. Cassie and Hope don’t bother to tell Scott that Cassie not only has a suit with Pym Particles, but that she’s been training with Hope for a while. Also, Hank doesn’t tell Scott or even his own wife that they’ve been experimenting with the Quantum Realm in the first place. But the biggest blunder is that Janet never told anyone in the family about her past experiences in the Quantum Realm. Now, I get it: what she experienced was traumatizing; she felt guilty for leaving everyone behind, etc. But this isn’t just some average bad experience you need to keep to yourself; Janet knew an extremely powerful, highly advanced time-traveling conqueror was trapped down there, and sending a signal was the first step in his escape. Every time I think of that scene, I think of the How It Should Have Ended YouTube channel, where Janet revealed the whole truth, prompting everyone to avoid the Realm and leaving M.O.D.O.K. waiting for an opening that’ll never come. It really could’ve been that easy, and the whole movie wouldn’t have happened. Moving on, I have also come to realize another issue many fans complain about: the pacing. Early on, when Cassie rides home with Scott and Hope, they have a brief argument; Cassie argues that she is doing something with her gifts while her dad is parading around. She even says something very hurtful, but Scott immediately jokes around and turns on an audiobook version of his own book as if nothing happened. Later, when Scott and Cassie join the Pyms for dinner, they have a similar argument to the one from the car ride, and even the Pyms tear into Scott about his recent actions. Once again, Cassie says something hurtful, but then Scott turns the conversation to her secret project with Hank and Hope. In scenes like these, arguments are either resolved too quickly or left completely unresolved. In the end, the Pyms do nothing more than remind us they’re in this story, serving as a deus ex machina in rough moments, and nothing else.

Pro/Con #2: The Villains

Despite what most fans think, I actually like the antagonists to a degree. While I definitely don’t like them overall (more on that later), they still have some qualities that I appreciate. For instance, there’s making Darren Cross into M.O.D.O.K. I like this approach because, in the first movie, Hank Pym always warned everyone that shrinking to the Quantum Realm was deadly, which is why he believed Janet was dead for years. However, when Scott and Janet defied that fate, it opened a door to new possibilities. In this case, when Darren seemingly imploded after Scott sabotaged his suit, it makes sense that he would’ve survived that fate, too. Further, given Darren’s obsession with power and control, it makes sense that he would see himself as the ultimate weapon. Finally, with his on-screen death at the end of the movie, we can now confirm that he’s actually dead this time (then again, this is Marvel, so who knows lol). Moving on, let’s address the would-be next Thanos: Kang the Conqueror. Contrary to most opinions, I actually thought that Kang did a decent job portraying himself as a true threat (for the most part). His calm, collected demeanor as he tries to convince Janet and Scott to help him, before snapping and threatening them, perfectly portrays the exiled variant. Also, when he descended onto the battlefield and obliterated almost everyone in the resistance, bragging about how many rebellions and Avengers he destroyed and angrily shouting that he is Kang, it gives us a clue about who we’re dealing with.

However, if I’m being honest, I’m mainly forcing myself to find a bright side with these characters. While yes, I do like how they tied up some loose ends with Darren Cross, making him this universe’s M.O.D.O.K. was a terrible decision on Marvel’s part. First of all, M.O.D.O.K. is one of the smartest villains (and overall characters) in Marvel comics. He is also very powerful with his arsenal of weapons and, in some versions, technopathic abilities. In the movie, though, they made him as dumb as rocks. Darren knew some stuff, but he mostly spends the movie flying around destroying stuff, serving as Kang’s muscle rather than a hyper-intelligent being. Also, let’s acknowledge the elephant in the room: the CGI face was absolutely horrendous. Seriously, how was the CGI for Davy Jones or Optimus Prime in the early 2000s better than this? Making a big face for this guy probably would’ve looked uncomfortable no matter what, but at least put some effort into it. Anyway, despite how I initially saw Kang, he’s just as bad as M.O.D.O.K. I mean, we’re talking about one of the Avengers’ most dangerous villains. The guy can time travel, has tech that makes Wakanda look like the Stone Age, and a vast army. Even in the movie, Kang boasts about how many Avengers he’s killed, implying he has taken down many Thors, Hulks, Captain Marvels, and other powerhouses. So why does he get absolutely torn up by ANTS? Granted, the ants were bigger and hyper-evolved, and Kang may have been limited in power and resources, but that still shouldn’t have mattered. If you’re a man who has killed the Norse god of thunder and a being of literally unlimited strength, why should ants make a difference? Also, for Kang’s first film debut, having him killed off that soon is so bad. I don’t care if this is the weakest variant; if you’re gonna introduce the next Thanos, killing him this early doesn’t make him look good. Even if the other Kangs prove stronger in the would-be Kang Dynasty film, no one will be truly invested because they already have a bad impression from this movie.

Pro/Con #3: The Story

If I had to highlight anything from this movie, I’d say there were two things. First, I simply love the opportunity where we got to explore the Quantum Realm. The only times we actually got to see this microscopic universe were mere glimpses in past movies: when Scott briefly shrunk to that state in his debut film, when Hank went to rescue Janet, when Scott was trapped down there shortly after that, and finally, when the Avengers time-traveled through it to get the Infinity Stones. Aside from that, we got pretty much nothing else about it. Therefore, any chance to take a peek behind the curtain is a welcome one. I loved seeing the weird environment, how the laws of nature were inverted, and all the strange inhabitants of this new world. My personal favorite was Xolum, who had a cylinder-shaped head that could shoot powerful energy beams from it. I can’t quite put my finger on why he’s my favorite, but it still hurt just the same when Kang killed him in the finale. Regardless, seeing all these bizarre microscopic beings truly adds to the nature of this upside-down world and makes it all the more interesting and exciting. Further, I also loved seeing the cultures in this world, such as marketplaces and even bars with their own alcoholic drinks. It’s also pretty convenient that translation oozes are available pretty much anywhere, which is probably why so many species can understand each other. Stepping away from the denizens of the Quantum Realm, however, I’d like to point out my second highlight by returning the focus to Scott Lang. In this case, I’ve noticed people complaining about the lack of humor in this movie, as well as taking the light out of Scott’s character. While I do agree, I actually like what the directors were going for. Ever since Endgame, most sequels, threequels, and so on, have grown a lot more serious and tragic. Spider-Man had his identity revealed to the world and eventually had everyone forget who he was; Thor lost Jane to cancer after already losing countless others, and Shuri lost her brother and mother in the same week. Each character, along with many others, suffered unspeakable tragedies and struggled to find their way through. So, after being stranded in a microscopic universe for five years, coming back to a nightmare left by Thanos, and missing a chunk of his daughter’s life, I liked how they made Scott more serious and cautious. He was always like this when it came to Cassie, but it becomes a whole new level with the context surrounding Infinity War and Endgame. Plus, it’s very interesting to see a character who is normally comedic relief become a shadow of that, because it adds more depth and relatability to the character.

However, that’s about all the nice things I can say about this story. I’ve already mentioned most of the gripes I have with this story in the previous two sections, but one thing I especially hate is how Marvel messed up what this movie was supposed to be. As previously mentioned, Kang the Conqueror was supposed to be “the next Thanos,” or the next cosmic big bad of the current saga. Loki’s spinoff show perfectly set this up with some subtle foreshadowing: glimpses into different timelines, meeting the mysteriously named He Who Remains, and the constant reminders of a war with all of Kang’s variants. However, instead of building up to Kang’s big debut as they did with Thanos, they immediately drop him in a movie where he fights Ant-Man of all people. First, while Scott is a very capable superhero, he is woefully unqualified to fight someone on Kang’s level with only Wasp and Cassie by his side, even if it’s the weakest variant. Second, once again, it’s way too soon to have Kang fight a recognized hero and Avenger, much less get killed off in that fight. Perhaps the cruelest joke is when all the Kangs finally unite in the stadium, screaming enthusiastically at the chance to bring the war to the MCU. But there is a problem with this union: weren’t all the Kangs fighting each other before? Why suddenly unite now? All because a shrinking man who talks to ants killed a variant of themselves that they literally just exiled? Not only is that rushed, but we also don’t even get an idea of what they truly want besides conquering all of time. Thanos’s intentions weren’t fully realized until Infinity War, but the breadcrumbs we got at least kept us curious. With Kang, we get a whole loaf, but it still wasn’t enough. But the cruelest part by far was Scott’s “noble sacrifice.” I remember watching the trailer for this movie and how Scott told Kang, “I don’t have to win; we both just have to lose,” and genuinely fearing for Scott’s life. Not that I wanted him to be stranded down there again, but the stakes of that story and the whole saga would’ve felt more real to me. Instead, a portal opens behind him and Hope, like, five seconds later, and everything is suddenly fine. There were no consequences whatsoever for Scott’s misadventures, and even the Loki finale gave us a hand-wavy explanation of how the TVA was taking care of Kang’s variants. Basically, this movie serves literally no purpose to the Multiverse Saga because nothing that happened truly matters.

Conclusion

Overall, I do appreciate that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania tied up some loose ends and made some memorable callbacks (like Scott working at Baskin Robbins, even bringing back the same guy who played his old boss). I also love that we finally got to see the Quantum Realm in its totality. However, I have to be honest with myself: it’s just not as good as I remember. Honestly, more than hating that they fumbled good storytelling, I’m very mad that this whole film is utterly meaningless. It makes me wish they made Dr. Doom the next big bad in the first place, because it makes way more sense, and doesn’t look as desperate on Disney’s part.