The Pitch: Did you hear Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) saved the world? Because he kinda did, as chronicled in the sacred text known as Avengers: Endgame, and life post-Blip is going well for Scott as a result. The people of San Francisco love him, his girlfriend Hope (Evangeline Lilly) is thriving, and he’s getting to reconnect with his now-teenage daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton). He doesn’t have a lot else going on at the moment… but lest you think this is starting to sound like a pretty boring movie, the Quantum Realm is here to change that.
See, Cassie, with some assistance from Hope and original Ant-Man Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), has been playing with ways to explore the sub-atomic realm where Hope’s long-missing mother Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) was trapped for decades. Unfortunately, before Janet can say “no, don’t mess around with the Quantum Realm, that’s a really terrible idea,” they all get sucked down into that surreal universe, which turns out to be much more populated than previously known.
It’s there that the whole family meets Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), the all-powerful multidimensional being loyal MCU viewers have already met once before. Kang’s been trapped down in the Quantum Realm for years, but made the best of it by doing his best to, well, conquer it with his advanced technology. Now, he sees his chance to escape and conquer the rest of the multiverse. If only there were some heroes around to stop him… (Spoiler alert: There are!)
We Have a MODOK: When considered as a trilogy, the Ant-Man movies are pretty unique within the MCU — all three were directed by Peyton Reed (since this is sadly not the alternate universe where Edgar Wright did get to make his version), and all three are remarkably consistent in tone and approach. Which is to say, unlike more serious or grounded mini-franchises within the mega-franchise (such as the Black Panther films or Captain America-related adventures), these movies know that they are about a guy who gets real tiny and flies around on ants, and thus they don’t waste a lot of energy on overt gravitas.
Quantumania might be key to kicking off the big arcs to come in the MCU Phase 5, but it doesn’t forget to have a good time. In comparison to past installments, the film is a bit lacking when it comes to creative applications of Hank Pym’s signature shrinking/embiggening technology (Ant-Man and the Wasp has it beat on that score). Instead, it channels all of its imagination into establishing the Quantum Realm as a place beyond imagination, populated by stunning and/or bizarre creatures and creations; comparisons to Star Wars are well-earned in the film’s matter-of-fact approach to the denziens of this strange sub-atomic world.
To be clear, the messiest aspect of the film is the world of the Quantum Realm itself, as director Peyton Reed and writer Jeff Loveness don’t establish a great sense of internal logic or rules — there’s an entire civilization living in the space between particles? Sure, okay. (For a film that explores similar ground but in a much tighter and clearer way, you might check out Strange World on Disney+.)
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Disney)
