‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ Review: Lang Vs. Kang
It’s been four years since we’ve seen Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly’s Scott Lang/Ant-Man and Hope Van Dyne/the Wasp, in Avengers: Endgame. (And five since Ant-Man and the Wasp). Joining our favorite Marvel power couple in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is his teenage daughter Cassie ( Kathryn Newton). Back again is and Hope’s parents Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer).
The five of them end up the Quantum Realm, and well, Quantumania ensues. It’s very cool looking. Ditto for the realm’s creatures: some are so weird, you’d think they were from Rick and Morty.
In Quantumania, we finally find out what happened in the 30 years Janet has been stuck down there. She doesn’t make it easy, of course. But what kind of movie would it be if we were given all the answers right away?
We find out from the trailer that the Quantum Realm is in fact, its own universe. If you’ve been following the Marvel movies and television shows up until now, you’ve got a pretty decent understanding of the multiverse. And that concept is integral to this film. The antagonist, played by Jonathan Majors, made his debut in the final episode of Loki. In that series, he was called “He Who Remains.” Here, he’s a variant of that character, but he’s called Kang The Conqueror.
Majors’ Kang gives Josh Brolin’s Thanos a run for his money. This film is our real introduction to the chief villain of Phase Five. It gives us a lot to look forward to. Majors’ delivery was truly menacing. We can’t wait to see him cause more havoc and destruction in future films. Bill Murray made his Marvel debut as a character called Lord Krylar. He is the governor of Axia, a cushy community within the Quantum Realm. Seeing him in a space setting made him seem right at home.
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As for the returning cast members, we love Pfeiffer’s performance as Janet, as we haven’t seen much of her in the previous installment. Though frustrating at times due to her keeping secrets from her family, she pushed the story along. Douglas is a little bit older in this film and is now wearing a hearing aid, but he still loves his ants. Don’t worry, even though this film focuses on Kang and the Quantum Realm, we see some ant-action. Unfortunately, the Wasp didn’t have much to do. The shorter haircut on Lilly doesn’t seem to match her kinder demeanor in the third film. Newcomer to the MCU Kathryn Newton is a cute addition to the crew, so we want to see how her character progresses in future installments.
Catch Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in theaters on Friday, February 17.
