The first instalment of Phase Five of the MCU comes with a lot of baggage. It’s not just the third superhero movie about stocky everyman turned size-fluid Avenger, Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man (Paul Rudd). It’s also the big screen debut of infinitely devious multiverse baddie, Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), whose legacy is so powerful that an Avengers project we’ll see in two years’ time bears the title The Kang Dynasty.
Sometimes the weight of all this responsibility causes Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – which is almost entirely set in the “quantum realm” – to buckle at the knees. But mostly this story of a beleaguered little guy and his loved ones stands tall because the cast is so solid (especially Majors). Also, its humour is in the right place. Remember the emotionally damaged scientist, Darren, from the first Ant-Man movie? Well, he’s back, albeit visually altered (imagine Humpty Dumpty, crossed with an angry armchair). Corey Stoll’s slightly dick-ish character all but steals the show. I think I’m in love.
