Quantumanic Episode

Ant-Man has long been considered a B-list hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will do nothing to repair that reputation.

The third standalone Ant-Man film brings us back to Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) enjoying the easy life as a semi-retired superhero who is universally praised, if not universally remembered, for his role in reviving half the life in the universe after Thanos destroyed it with the Infinity Gauntlet. Lang has fans, an autobiography, and a wealthy, high-powered girlfriend and partner in heroics, Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly). He also has a precocious 18-year-old daughter, Cassie (Kathryn Newton), whose interest in the quantum realm that trapped her father and Hope’s mother ends up inadvertently notifying a malevolent quantum being of their location. 

From there, Scott, Hope, and Cassie are all transported into the quantum realm with Hope’s two retired-superhero parents, Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas). The crew then discovers a hitherto unknown world ruled with an iron fist by Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), a one-time ally of Janet’s whom she accidentally helped to power and then spent 30 years fighting.

All of that is the setup. What comes next is a letdown for longtime Marvel fans and casual viewers alike.