[Potential spoilers]
Marvel has kicked off the year with their third installment of the Ant-Man series with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The movie was released on February 17th and starred our usual characters: Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne, Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, and Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne. Quantumania took its spot as the 31st movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and promptly set up what I believe is the future of the MCU.
As the title alludes, a majority of this film takes place in the Quantum Realm, which is a microscopic subatomic dimension that can only be reached with Pym particles, a quantum tunnel, or magic. The general plot of the film begins when our group of heroes gets sucked into the Quantum Realm, causing them to separate and have to find a way back to Earth. Along the way, they run into countless problems as they try to reunite and exit the Quantum Realm while even running into some familiar faces. Scott, Hope, Cassie, Hank, and Janet must band together to help the Quantum Realm from falling into the wrong hands.
The most enjoyable aspect of this film was the new perspective on Scott Lang’s life after the events of Endgame. There is a great focus on his relationship with his daughter, Cassie, who is now a teenager and takes a big role throughout this film. Quantumania allows us to see Cassie as a driven activist and a devoted daughter. Not only do we get formally introduced to Cassie, but also Kang. Kang was first seen in the Disney+ series Loki and reappeared in Quantumania. Kang establishes himself as a powerhouse who holds intense abilities. He was seen in both projects as a force to be reckoned with, which could be both good and bad for the future of the MCU.
One of the best qualities of this movie is that it maintained the light-hearted and loving personality of Scott Lang while also bringing in the confusion and overall seriousness the film needed. The movie did a fantastic job of keeping my eyes glued to the screen and took its role as the potentially grounding film for the MCU’s Phase Five seriously. It didn’t get lost in all the technicalities and definitions and made sure to fit in the information that could be understood and appreciated during its two-hour runtime.
Quantumania is the first Marvel film in a while that had me feeling truly excited and anxious to see what’s next after I left the theater. This film perfectly introduced new characters, brought up interesting plot lines, and had exciting end-credit scenes that left me wanting more. This movie was extremely vital in understanding Kang’s character since he has now appeared in two MCU projects and can be expected to be in more. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has truly begun to set up the MCU’s plot for Phase Five in a spectacular way, and I cannot wait to see where it goes from here.