Review of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”: The Curtain Rises on the New Era of Marvel

After Phase 4 of the Marvel movies concluded with “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” premiered worldwide on February 17. The film features the direction of Peyton Reed and the stellar performances of Paul Rudd (Scott Lang) and Jonathan Majors (Kang).

What is the film about?

This film is the starting point of phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After saving the world, Scott Lang dedicates himself to receiving accolades and living a quieter life, going from avenger to bestselling writer. The narrative arc picks up weight when he, his partner, his in-laws, and his daughter are dragged into the Quantum Realm.

Despite what it suggests as a family drama spanning three different generations, the story doesn't sacrifice Scott's charisma, even though he meets Kang in this new world. He will be the great villain that this new phase of Marvel movies will have.

With the mixture of science fiction, action, adventure and comedy, "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" serves as the pilot chapter of another season for the Avengers. There we will see Kang's capabilities and the resources Ant-Man faces as a superhero in a universe unknown to him.

The change with previous deliveries

This installment gives it a much more dramatic touch with the aim of impacting the sensation of threat in the spectators. The comedy can get saturated at times, but unlike previous Ant-Man installments, the danger is far more apparent considering the quality of the new villain.

That is where the raison d'être of the film derives, the expectation was going to focus on the figure of the villain. In fact, this movie is his real introduction, even though he had already made a few appearances in the "Loki" series. In this sense, the film fulfills its mission, since the performance of Jonathan Majors has been one of the most outstanding aspects of the film.

The magnitude of his figure, his dangerousness, and the threat that looms over Kang has the debate on how the villain can keep up with Thanos. While the statement is hasty, most moviegoers would likely agree that it got off to a good start in this phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Kang, as a character, gives too much information about his reason for being without completely leaving the mystery and the enigma. So much so that the viewer and the villain conclude that Ant-Man is not up to their standards, and this film was the pretext to publicize it.

Another of the inputs that stood out with the film was the script. Thanks to Jeff Loveness the film ends up having a very logical development. He – who worked for the "Rick & Morty" series – already has experience with extrapolating the human to science fiction fields without sacrificing verisimilitude.

However, development can falter by taking certain referents in the creation of this quantum kingdom. On that side, there is a need for creativity to establish the rules, creatures, and spaces from the quantum.

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Quantum physics on film

At the height of quantum physics, Marvel gives us one of the commercial films that most explores the phenomenon. From the academy, the conversations about the quantum have come to develop even in philosophy.

The feature film will serve as an approach so that this unknown science for many becomes something more digestible. In fact, the film's staff had to hire Spyridon Michalakis as a scientific advisor in the creation of the Quantum Realm.

For now, "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" unseated "Avatar 2" for first place at the box office. It is probably in the ranks of the highest grossing films of the year and leaves the expectation of the films that come with Marvel, all on behalf of Kang.