Something big is happening in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, albeit on an infinitesimal scale. Quantumania is the third film in the Paul Rudd-starring series about a divorced-dad ex-con with an incredible shrinking suit, but the first film in Phase Five of the MCU’s overarching, 31-movies-20-TV-shows-and-counting narrative. And that’s significant. Even if it would take an advanced degree in molecular physics to work through the implications.
Far easier to focus on this sunny day in San Francisco, where Scott (Rudd) and the rest of the beautifully blended Lang-Pym-van-Dyne family are living out their happy post-Blip lives. That is until some teen tinkering with a MacGuffin machine gets them sucked into the subatomic “Quantum Realm”. What does that mean? For one, it means more screen time with Michelle Pfeiffer who, as OG quantum-explorer Janet van Dyne, does an excellent job of grounding all the wacky sci-fi in emotional reality. She’s just a guilt-ridden working mom who hopes keeping her own past traumas hidden will protect her family (it won’t. It never does).
