my thoughts on ant-man and the wasp: quantumania

It feels so strange to know that we don’t have to wait for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania anymore! This was one of my most anticipated Marvel projects of 2023 and it feels so weird to know that it’s behind us. I have had a few days to process the movie now (I saw it on Friday) and I would love to share with you all my thoughts on the film, including plot points and characters! That being said, below this paragraph will start discussion INCLUDING SPOILERS, so if you haven’t seen the movie yet and want to remain spoiler free, please don’t read this blog until after you have watched the film!

Okay, let’s jump into it. My first overall thought of this movie is that…it definitely wasn’t my favorite Ant-Man film. Out of the three we have, this is definitely ranked last for me. Those of you who have followed me for a while know that Scott is such an important character to me for many reasons. He’s one of my comfort characters and I absolutely loved him as an addition to the MCU. And who doesn’t love Paul Rudd? But this film kind of fell a little flat for me, and I’m going to explain why.

I thought that the beginning of the film started off really strong! Being able to have this kind of open-ended “what happened to Janet with Kang” situation that we had to figure out throughout the film is something that I love. Like, we had a small piece of the puzzle but that meant that the rest of the movie was open ended enough for us to explore more of it. And I loved that it jumped into Scott’s goofy side right away (omg I am so excited for that book of his now!). Also that Jimmy Woo cameo of them getting lunch together was GOLD. But then I felt like it was almost…too fast? Like, we were in San Francisco and almost IMMEDIATELY jumped into the Quantum Realm. Which, like, I get. It’s in the movie title. But I was hoping we’d get a little more build up, maybe a little more explanation? To me, it felt very fast.

My first thought when they first entered the realm was that it was very Star Wars-esque. It had similar vibes, especially with the bar scenes and the costume disguises. Whether or not that was the intention, from what I’ve been seeing from other people it seems that that was a universal feeling among us! I thought that the Quantum People were awesome. Especially the little blob guy? He was so fun! And I did like how they explored Scott’s thoughts on Super Heroism versus Cassie’s. How Scott was in this mindset that he’s done Super Heroing before but wanting to stay out of fights that isn’t his own versus Cassie’s idea that they should help because they can, regardless if they are directly involved or not (which, I mean, they technically were. Kang was looking for them so it’s lowkey inadvertently their fault here HAHAH).

I think Hank, Hope and Janet’s side plot was kind of unnecessary and slow? I felt the main purpose was kind of this idea of intensifying that Scott and Cassie don’t know about Kang, so that part of it was good. But their meet up with Lord Krylar and hanging out at the bar kind of seemed like a little side mission to extend the plot. Otherwise, I thought that using it as a place to expand on Janet’s time in the Quantum Realm was warranted and necessary. I just wish they didn’t push Hank and Hope off as side characters! It was kind of a bummer that they were seen more as the “extra help” even though they both probably know more about the technology they are using than anyone else in the movie (other than maybe Janet, I mean, she spent her whole life down there practically).

I thought M.O.D.O.K. was absolutely HILARIOUS. I was not expecting him at all to be Darren Cross, so that was amazing to me. But any time he came on screen, I was immediately laughing. He was awesome! And Jonathan Majors is sooo good at playing Kang. I can’t wait to see him expand that role into future MCU movies.

The scene where Scott is in the probability storm I thought was super fun and so cool! That one Baskin Robbins Scott was cracking me up! I loved all the Scott’s interacting with one another. It kind of felt like a multiverse of Scotts and a glimpse into what it would be if Ant-Man had a Spider-Man: No Way Home moment. Loved that Hope came to help him out, too (I adore them). I also loved when they were saved by all the ants. Absolutely incredible scene. That was the coolest Hank Pym moment EVER. Just an army of ants coming to save the day, I loved it.

I felt like the fight between Kang and Scott and the end was also kind of underwhelming a bit. The trailers made it seem like it would be a MASSIVE fight, but to me it kind of ended up being just a few punches here and there that ended up bloodying Scott up a bit. But at the end of the day, I was just glad that Scott lived. That was my main worry going into this. I didn’t want Scott to die! Thank god he didn’t, hahaha!

Scott’s existential crises at the end of the movie was absolutely hilarious and so spot on Scott Lang. I love that he was celebrating his time with Cassie and trying to make up for all the birthdays he missed with her (catch me crying in the theater). And I thought both end credits scenes were fantastic. The first one with all the Kangs was SO awesome and I think is really going to set us up well for Kang Dynasty. But I also couldn’t help but laugh at Jonathan Majors just filming multiple jumping-around-in-different-costumes clips for the purpose of that scene HAHAH. And I LOVED the second end credit scene setting us up for Loki Season 2! I wasn’t a huge fan of the first season, but I feel like this next scene is going to be amazing! I can’t wait for our Loki and Mobius team up again!

Overall I’d say that this film was entertaining, but missed some elements that I really wish we had from past films. I think what makes Ant-Man such a loveable character is his street-level San Francisco adventures, the goofiness of shrinking and growing inanimate objects, and his heist buddies (where was my boy Luis?! I miss him!). I also found myself as I’ve been thinking over the film the past few days a little disappointed because I feel like this movie was marketed as a very big turning event but ended up being more a side episode of the MCU (besides the set up for the future. I think they did a great job with that!). I think between my worry for Scott and the hype of the trailers, I was expecting a little more than what we got.

In terms of Scott, I also felt a little bummed because I think the fact that he was dealing with Quantum problems minimized his characterization in the film. They did such a great job in putting him in “big” situations (no pun intended) in Endgame, and I was expecting something similar to that where he kept his goofiness while fighting the big-bads in this one. But maybe it was because he was singled out rather than on a massive team for this one? I also think that because his main focus was protecting Cassie that this aspect of it was kind of taken away as well. He was so worried about making sure she was protected that he wasn’t his normal goofy self.
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I think this would have been great as a Disney+ Series rather than a movie with all of the little side plots we got, especially since it would have maybe given a little more space to expand on characters and plot points more in depth than trying to cram it all into one movie. Overall, I enjoyed the film regardless of my criticisms here, but it definitely wasn’t my favorite. What did you all think? Did you enjoy the movie? Was there anything that you would want to add or change? Let me know in the comments!