Blog 44: A Let Down, but Quantum

*THIS BLOG CONTAINS SPOILERS FORM “ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA”*

It’s been awhile Pool-Fans, but I’m back in action. So instead of talking about what I’ve been up to the last few months, let’s chat about Marvel’s recent addition to the MCU, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. There was a lot of hype surrounding this movie with Kang taking the stage as the main villain, M.O.D.O.K. being introduced to the live-action medium, and expanding upon the lore of the Quantum Realm. Unfortunately, the movie didn’t live up to the hype it generated, and it at some points felt like a rushed piece of meh. Let me explain.

The movie pretty much jumps into the action with Scott, Hope, Cassie, Hank, and Janet getting sucked into the Quantum Realm by Kang after Cassie creates this “Quantum GPS” that sends to signals to the Quantum Realm (it was like they door-dashed without the actual dashing). Everyone gets separated when they enter the Quantum Realm (Scott and Cassie are Group A, while Hope and her parents are Group B), creating a few sub-plots to follow. We learn through Janet about who Kang is and that she knows him since they were both trapped in the Quantum Realm. She tells us that this variant of Kang destroys timelines and was exiled from his group (the Council of Kangs) because he was considered to be too dangerous (he gives Thanos a run for his money). Janet also tells us that she destroyed Kang’s only escape from the Quantum Realm, which makes her and her family wanted fugitives in the Quantum Realm.

Whole Group B is busy searching for Group A, Scott and Cassie are captured by Kang’s forces while trying to aid some rebels who want to stop Kang’s rule. This is when we are introduced to M.O.D.O.K., to which it is revealed that he is actually Darren Cross (aka Yellowjacket) from the first Ant-Man movie. M.O.D.O.K. tells Scott that he was saved by Kang after Scott “banished” him to the Quantum Realm when he short-circuited the Yellowjacket suit. M.O.D.O.K. then brings Scott and Cassie to meet Kang, who demands Scott to help him retrieve his ship’s power core so he can leave the Quantum Realm (the power core was altered by Pym Particles used by Janet when she attempted to destroy it). Scott doesn’t want to do it, then Kang threatens to kill Cassie, then Scott agrees and retrieves the core, Kang takes the core with Cassie and Janet as hostage, there’s a big CGI fight scene between Kang’s army and the same rebellion that Scott and Cassie met up with earlier, Scott and Cassie are reunited, M.O.D.O.K. has a little redemption moment when Cassie makes him realize that doesn’t have to be, and this was actually said, a “dick” for the rest of his life, and he dies trying to fight Kang.

After the big fight with Kang, Scott and the others open a portal to send them home, but Scott gets pulled back by Kang for a final battle, they both trade blows, Hope comes in to save Scott and they kill Kang together, peace is restored in the Quantum Realm, and everyone lives happily ever after…..for now. Scott is left with a haunting threat from Kang saying that the “others” will come for his world if he dies, and Scott wonders if he did the right thing in beating Kang. Ofcourse, shit does go sideways in the most colossal way when the first of two post credit scenes play.

The first end credit scene showcases the Council of Kangs meeting up to plan their next move against the MCU since Kang the Conqueror was killed by two of their heroes. This is a proper build to the Avengers: The Kang Dynasty movie that is set to come out in a few years since the Kangs will have to go to war with the main MCU timeline since they deem them too dangerous. The scene as a concept is badass, but the actual execution was a little weird that it looked more like a Kang inspired cosplay meet-up at Comic-Con. Although it’s still cool seeing the MCU branch out into the multiverse territory.

The second end credits features Loki and Mobius finding a Kang variant by the name of Victor Timely, who in the comics is a Kang who escaped to the early 1900s after a defeat by the Avengers to become the pioneer of robotics and other inventions (one of which might be time travel or multiverse travel). This scene is basically a teaser for what’s to come in Loki season 2, which we can expect to be about Loki exploring the multiverse with a Mobius variant trying to find/stop Kang before he unleashes hell on the entire multiverse. This scene left me with high hopes for what’s to come in the future for Loki, and I just hope they don’t fuck up his character again like they did in season 1.

I also hope that in whatever future project Ant-Man is involved, he gets more character development than what he had in this whole movie. For all the world-building Quantumania showcased, I felt like nothing really happened to Scott. There were no stakes, nobody died (I don’t Kang the Conqueror is really dead), and the ending was kinda meh. It’s unfortunate for me to admit, but there are quite a few issues I’ve had with this movie.

The whole plot of this flick felt like a rushed college essay that was written from scratch the night it was due by a sleep-deprived student (which I have written and gotten better scores than the current RT scores from the movie). The scene cuts and transitions were sloppy, the cgi could’ve been better, and some of the characters were a tad dull, almost like they were just “phoning in” their performances. Hell, I didn’t even like what they did to my boy M.O.D.O.K. in this movie. Making Darren M.O.D.O.K. from a storytelling perspective makes sense, but him acting like dork/dick didn’t sit well with me. M.O.D.O.K. is supposed to be a formidable foe who can go toe-to-toe to heroes like Hulk, Thor, and he’s even fatally wounded Captain Marvel on several occasions. Hell, the dude is in-charge of A.I.M., one of the most dangerous villain corps along with Hydra and H.A.M.M.E.R.! And what kind of design is this:

M.O.D.O.K. is supposed to look like some ugly robotic nightmare, not some zoomed in CGI face! This looks more comedic than intimidating. What makes this design even funnier is that he looks like he can pass on as a cousin of Mr. Electric from the Sharkboy and Lavagirl movie:

Damn….now that I think about it, with all the CGI, goofy character designs, and childish plot, Ant-Man 3 is very similar to the Sharkboy and Lavagirl flick. Very strange if I do say so myself. Now I didn’t hate this movie entirely, there was a few things I liked it about. One of them being Johnathan Majors’ performance as Kang the Conqueror.

Kang was a fucking beast during the entire movie. You can hear the anger and hatred in each line Kang delivers, and the dude shows zero remorse for anything he does. His suit looks freaking awesome, he fights like a killer, and his arrogance is uncanny. He’s exactly what I envisioned for a live action Kang, and I worry for the hell the Council of Kangs is going to give to the new Avengers team in the future. He is going to mop the floor with them, especially since Earth has lost most of their heavy hitters.

The fights in the movie were also badass, major improvement for some of the more recent MCU content (She-Hulk, I’m referring to you), and I also liked how this movie gave Hank Pym some of the spotlight with him leading an army of super intelligent ants to save the day. Also Janet got some good action shots in, and it made me wonder which Ant-Man and Wasp duo is this movie for.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, if this movie’s main goal was to set up Kang and his variants as the big bads for this new Saga, then this movie succeeded. Though I still expected more from this movie. I wanted more danger and stakes, like I went into the theater expecting that Scott was either going to die or get stranded with Hope in the Quantum Realm when she traveled back to save him, which might’ve been the original ending since it was reported that reshoots for the ending were made a few months before the movies premiere. Having Scott and Janet trapped in the Quantum Realm, with Cassie figuring out how to free them while also being a hero in the absence of Ant-Man and Wasp would have been a better fit for the ongoing theme of new heroes continuing on the legacy of their predecessors (Kate Bishop Hawkeye, Yelena Black Widow, She-Hulk, and Ms. Marvel). I also would’ve had M.O.D.O.K. escape from the Quantum Realm and takeover A.I.M., which would’ve paved the way for new movies and shows with them as recurring villains. Despite all that, this movie wasn’t the worst thing the MCU has done. It’s just decent at best. I would give it a 7/10, which is being generous by my standards.

Anyway, that’s all I have for you today for my triumphant return to the blog scene. I hope you all enjoyed the read, and if you made it this far, be sure to comment your thoughts on the movie (or my blog) below. As always, this is your friendly neighborhood cosplayer saying goodbye, and see you next time.