Ever since the fall of Thanos, the world has lived free from the dangers of supernatural villains. Until now. Because when Ant-Man, The Wasp and their followers get lost in the quantum realm, they meet the next great Marvel villain who has more than one universe on his conscience.
Anyone who has seen the series “WandaVision” and “Loki” or the blockbusters “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” has already been prepared for the unexpected depths of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) – Multiverse included. This occurs when a being leaves the path prescribed by the “true timeline” and thus creates a new timeline. The phenomenon is called the Nexus incident and made it possible, for example, for three Peter Parker variants to appear in “Spider-Man 3” with Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. Or that Benedict Cumberbatch jumped uncontrollably from universe to universe as Doctor Strange.
With “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” the multiverse now reaches another Marvel offshoot, albeit only marginally. After destroying a number of cosms, Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) was banished to the microscopic quantum plane. In order to be able to escape on his ship, he needs the technologies of Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas). What initially seems impossible in the place without space and time changes abruptly when Scott Lang aka Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), his daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton), his girlfriend Hope Van Dyne aka The Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) and whose parents, Hank Pim and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), are drawn into the quantum realm by Cassie’s fatal error.
Where buildings are alive, some weird creatures have broccoli heads, and other slimy creatures are keenly interested in how many orifices a person has, only Janet knows, having been trapped in the quantum realm for 30 years. She’s not welcome there, as it soon turns out that she has a history with Kang, whom she once accidentally helped turn the microscopic universe into a dystopian nightmare. Faced with the massive threat that The Ruler now poses, Janet, Ant-Man, The Wasp and co must work hard with a resistance movement to thwart Kang’s plans to destroy all worlds.
Anyone who hasn’t seen parts 1 and 2 of “Ant-Man” and isn’t familiar with the MCU’s storylines that have led to this point should be hopelessly lost at this point. Who is this Kan? Where is he from? What is he up to? All of these questions were answered in “Loki” two years ago, where he was already introduced as his alternate timeline variant “The One Who Stayed” and waged a war against himself. Only so much can be revealed: As Kang the Conqueror, one of his variants is now mutating into the next great cross-movie villain of the Marvel Multiverse.
Why such a strong antagonist should have his first major appearance in one of the silliest Marvel strips of all things is a mystery. Because apart from his monologues, there is little or nothing to be taken seriously in the third “Ant-Man” part, especially not his sidekick MODOK (Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing). Although Jonathan Majors plays his role very convincingly and is far more complex as a villain than his predecessor Thanos (Josh Brolin), his late and short screen presence fails to save the weak plot any more than the eternally youthful and charming Paul Rudd as Ant-Man and his sporadic followers. So while The Wasp is eponymous, it has been demoted from a main character to a supporting actress and, like her father Dr. Pym only shows up at key moments to save the day. Only Michelle Pfeiffer and Kathryn Newton steal the show, even if they sometimes seem lost amidst all the computer animation.
The fact that the film is not stingy with psychedelic-looking images and sensory overload is nothing new for a Marvel production. After all, with every strip everything gets bigger, more crass, more excessive. A villain who just wants to wipe out a superhero, world or cosmos is yesterday. Nowadays it needs an impending danger for every single living being in all galaxies and all imaginable timelines. Is that confusing and pointless? Yes. But who needs coherent storytelling when there’s CGI (Computer Generated Imagery)?
Director Peyton Reed has big plans for “Quantumania”, but fails across the board in terms of storyline, action and humor. Instead of looking like a film in its own right, the action comedy seems like an appetizer that is intended to bridge the time until the long-awaited main course – the next “Avengers” film. The promised “mania” is in vain, while the term multiverse hovers over the plot to justify why Ant-Man and co are risking their lives in a sub-atomic war irrelevant to them.
All in all, the comic adaptation cannot stand out from its predecessors and other productions from the franchise. Despite the promising premise and solid Marvel-branded entertainment that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania offers, don’t set your expectations too high. So Ant-Man’s fifth screen appearance remains just one of what feels like 500 Marvel films that we’ve been showered with since “Iron Man” (2008).
