The thing about Ant-Man is that even when the little guy is essentially saving the universe, he’s still never going to carry the gravitas of a Tony Stark/Iron Man or the heroic majesty of a Steve Rogers/Captain America or the complicated storyline of a Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch. I mean, he’s a regular guy with a cool suit who can get super small or really big. Even as far as superhero monikers go, Ant-Man isn’t in the same league as Thor or Black Panther or Hulk or even Spider-Man, man! What scares you more, a spider or an ant?
So here we are in 2023, with Marvel kicking off Phase 5 with the third “Ant-Man” movie and the fifth overall appearance for the character and the 31st movie to date in the ever-expanding MCU, and let’s toss all those numbers aside and celebrate “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” for knowing exactly what it wants to be, i.e., a mostly comedic placeholder in the greater storyline arc. It relies heavily on the strengths of its wonderful cast, led by the ridiculously likable (and often likably ridiculous) Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, and a brilliant supporting cast including generational icons Michael Douglas, Bill Murray and Michelle Pfeiffer; reliable stalwarts Evangeline Lily, Corey Stoll, William Jackson Harper and Katy M. O’Brian — and a suitably formidable villain played by the greatly talented Jonathan Majors.
